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British Horse Racing Adopts a New Commercialism that Belies the Traditional Image of the Sport of Kings

London, UK (PRWEB) January 16, 2006

Youthful racecourse manager Jon Williams dons a ?King of Rock ?N? Roll? outfit as he publicises an Elvis Night for the local press.

Tomorrow ? 24 hours before the horses burst out of their starting stalls ? he?ll be targeting shoppers at a Sainsbury?s superstore in the West Country and addressing the local WI.

Bath Racecourse ? the home of the Ladies? Derby ? in the Somerset spa town is enjoying a renaissance by attracting an audience ranging from grandparents to toddlers and everyone else in between. Once a backwater for horse racing, Bath has become a vibrant and thriving sporting venue where Frankie Dettori is a frequent visitor.

There are 59 racecourses in Britain, and many are altering the sporting landscape. Forget Royal Ascot and its pomp, a revolution is under way.

The British horse racing industry is changing. Gone are the days when racecourses just opened their gates and waited for customers to enter.

Now racing fixtures are themed, and all manner of entertainments are laid on before the horse racing starts and between races.

Ladies? days; Abba nights; Country & Western days; Bastille days; Harvest festivals; and promotions with Tesco Clubcard and Nectar. Even James Bond evenings. The imagination of racecourses for attracting the crowds is almost limitless.

And, like the sport itself, it?s ?horses for courses?.

At Fontwell Park Racecourse near Arundel, a festival celebrating all that?s best about food and drink in Sussex draws dozens of niche rural businesses selling everything from marmalade-flavoured honey through to Sussex real ales and wine. And that?s before Katie Melua is on stage for a racecourse concert.

Three hundred miles north at Sedgefield Racecourse, in the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister, there?s greyhounds racing along with the horses, and bingo. Tony Blair?s constituents lap it up.

Ladies? days and nights are a staple in the new horse racing industry.

?At the races, women are treated with courtesy and respect. They?re treated as ?ladies?. It?s old fashioned chivalry, and it sets this sport apart in the most wonderful way,? explains Rod Street, the former holiday rep and stand-up comedian who is now Group Managing Director of Northern Racing PLC, which runs nine racecourses nationwide.

?Like Frank Lampard being first on Jose Mourinho?s team sheet at Chelsea, Ladies? nights are first on our racecourses? annual plans.?

One of the strategies is to use these innovative methods to attract first time visitors to horse racing. For the sport finds that, once people have crossed the threshold once, they return because racing is an unthreatening and friendly sporting and social environment. On occasion there is plenty of drinking, and there?s certainly lots of gambling, but no one feels intimidated.

But the racecourse businesses are equally determined not to turn the sport itself into a sideshow. It does have its own language, so breaking down that jargon is fundamental to encouraging the ?first-timers? to return. New signs and information points, explaining horse racing in user-friendly terms, have been erected around the racecourses, with the sport ?sold? in an entirely new way. Visitors are not talked down to, but if they are unfamiliar with their surroundings they?re put at their ease.

It?s all working. Attendances at Britain?s racecourses ? at more than six million ? are larger than they?ve been for half a century, and horse racing is firmly installed as the country?s second most popular spectator sport after football.

And it?s a lot cheaper than its soccer rival.

Admission is from just a few pounds. And children go free.

?Racing is a sport that?s made for the attention span of children,? explains Rod Street, ?because the action takes place in the space of a few minutes, broken up with 25-30 minute intervals. If we lay on plenty of other attractions and entertainment, we?re on to a winner.?

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