also cynicism in the sport. People like to talk it down. And now?
I genuinely believe there is a much greater spirit, a sense of partnership, in that you have to work these things out together. People are very much more on the same page when it comes to promoting the sport effectively. We have a new promotions group and REL (Racing Enterprises Limited) is up and running. What about REL? It took a long time to set up at a time when it was really needed...
I think it’s clear now that while the BHA may help to promote the sport, it does not intend to get directly involved with the commercial exploitation of that promotion. That’s the job of REL. They have appointed Chris McFadden, who has owned horses but is essentially from outside the sport, who is smart, has vision and can bring fresh ideas. I think Chris is already doing that. He’ll bring a lot more creativity, as well as some structure, to that commercial aspect of the sport, but he’ll need a lot of support from the Racecourse Association and the Horseman’s Group. So how do we go out and appeal to the individuals we didn’t attract before?
I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t attract them. They may have less to spend, but even though times are harder, racing still has exactly the same appeal. We have to make sure it happens by marketing the sport effectively. How much better off would racing be if this had been done two or three years ago?
A lot better. I said at the time I was amazed that we hadn’t attracted more people from areas of massive wealth creation in the last five to ten years. In that time numerous people have prospered – the City and hedge fund industry, and before that the internet entrepreneurs. Then there was the finance boom and the emerging markets boom in places like Russia. How many Russians have we attracted into the industry? Very few. We should have been out there marketing, being proactive. As I said, people want to talk the sport down and I cannot understand why. A good example of that is the Sovereign Series. Some say it will be successful, others say it won’t be, but the thing that struck me when it was announced is that everybody dived straight in and said it won’t work before they listened to any of the arguments. We still don’t know. I personally think it will have some success. I think there are a number of other examples like that. Such as?
Well, let’s look at it from the other side. I recently went to the Professional Jockeys’ Association Dinner. It was interesting. Clare Balding spoke more eloquently than I could
46 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER DECEMBER 2008
“We should have been out there marketing, being more pro-active” about the qualities of the jockeys, as sportsmen and athletes; what they have to go through and how extraordinary they are. Jockeys can do a lot more to help market racing. This is important. Look at the England rugby team – they all do media training. We can’t rely on Frankie Dettori all the time. We have a lot of heroes in that jockeys’ room. I spent a while talking to Joe Mercer; I could listen to him all night. His recollections of the game are very rich, full of colour, and this is what we need to project. But I think the various constituent parts are getting it. They are recognising how they can do their bit to market the sport. Also, an awful lot of celebrities love racing and want to help to promote the sport. We are drawing them into the net. I recently had a fantastic letter from Michael Owen about how much he loves racing. People like him can be poster material for the sport. Does racing have the finances to go on the marketing front foot?
I think these are common-sense things that don’t cost much. At the end of the day, no, the finances aren’t there. When times get tough, one of the first things people generally do is cut back their marketing spend. I come at it from a different angle. I’ve always thought there’s a lot