{"id":440462,"date":"2025-09-21T08:05:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T08:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/440462\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T08:05:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T08:05:19","slug":"racing-is-at-a-very-interesting-point-in-its-history-interview-with-ascot-chief-executive-felicity-barnard-topics-royal-ascot-felicity-barnard-ascot-ascot-racecourse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/440462\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Racing is at a very interesting point in its history\u2019 \u2013 interview with Ascot chief executive Felicity Barnard | Topics: Royal Ascot, Felicity Barnard, Ascot, Ascot Racecourse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/Best of British: \u2018It\u2019s true that Ascot has a lot of advantages,\u2019 admits chief executive Felicity Barnard. Photo: Dan Abraham \/ focusonracing.com<\/p>\n

Amid general turmoil for British racing as a whole, the senior executive at the nation\u2019s premier venue is keen to accentuate the positive<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are, of course, two sides to every story. Begin a discussion about the current state of British racing, and many viewpoints will be so relentlessly glass-half-empty it would be enough to drive you to drink.<\/p>\n

\"FelicityThe sport is entertaining a problematic future, it\u2019s true. Yet the other side of the story belongs to those whose glass is half-full, who see opportunities and solutions, who accentuate the positive. Enter stage left Felicity Barnard, the chief executive of Ascot racecourse, whose effervescence lends a glass half-full the impression that it actually runneth over.<\/p>\n

This is easy to do, you might say, when your realm is Ascot, one of the most famous racecourses in the world, a bright fiery beacon of all that is best in the game, with plenty of money for insulation against stormy forecasts \u2013 last year Ascot reported record turnover of \u00a3113 million and pre-tax profits of \u00a38.4m. Barnard acknowledges your cynicism, but fashions that into a wider commitment rather than a local complacency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true that Ascot has a lot of advantages, we have the \u2018brand\u2019 of Royal Ascot, we have 300 years of history on our side,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re not in this fortunate position just because we\u2019re really clever.<\/p>\n

Responsibility to racing<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not okay just to say \u2018we\u2019re all right Jack\u2019, we have to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sport as a whole, we have a responsibility to racing and we\u2019re in a good position to give it our support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnard, 42, has the vigour and enthusiasm of the new broom, having stepped up from the role of deputy CEO at the beginning of 2025. Her four years as second-in-command may give the impression of someone steeped in the culture of the sport, an insider, but the truth lies elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\"By\u201cI always enjoyed going racing with friends and family, but did I ever see myself working in racing? Certainly not,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in the power of sport to enthuse and entertain, though, and that\u2019s a big part of the synergy that has brought me to where I am now, at Ascot, which feels like the pinnacle of anyone\u2019s career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnard\u2019s resum\u00e9 resembles the running order of the old Saturday afternoon television programmes Grandstand and World Of Sport. She has worked on the commercial side in F1, rugby, tennis, NFL and sailing, with the main thrust of her professional career coming via a ten-year stint in Premier League football with Arsenal and West Ham United. Her entry into racing came not so much as a culture shock but a cultural shift.<\/p>\n

Huge influence<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t appreciated before what a huge influence racing has on the culture of the country. I\u2019ve always been a sport enthusiast but I\u2019ve never known a sport like it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a complex industry, so many moving parts, but its stakeholders, all the characters of racing at every level, make you love the sport. They have all been really supportive, which is really unusual. Work in football or rugby, say, and you\u2019re already expected to know all about it. Racing hasn\u2019t had that expectation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAscot is a fantastic place to work, it\u2019s thriving as a business, and I think that racing is at a very intere\"Arsenalsting point in its history. There are opportunities to be exploited and I have a huge amount of confidence that we can do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Positivity is Barnard\u2019s mantra, running like a persistent melody through the steady rise and fall of conversation, and that quality is certainly better than the alternative. She points to the popularity of the major racing festivals \u2013 York, Cheltenham, Aintree, Goodwood as well as her local shindig \u2013 emphasising that racing is in a strong position to market the sport in the right way to attract new customers.<\/p>\n

Another of the central tenets of Barnard\u2019s philosophy is that racing does not have the self-confidence to do itself justice. She considers that racing has a great deal going for it, but given that its various factions have their own objectives and invariably lack the cohesion to pull together in the same direction, any positive messages run the risk of getting lost.<\/p>\n

She references the basic simplicity of the sport \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s very easy to understand at a fundamental level, all about the first past the post\u201d \u2013 and insists that we\u2019re all doing ourselves an injustice by not using the horse as our foremost marketing asset.<\/p>\n

Horse is paramount<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must always celebrate the horse,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s our USP, something no other sport has. We need to make sure we communicate that \u2013 making a hero of the horse is paramount and should be at the centre of everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CalandaganAscot recently announced an increase in prize-money for its flagship race the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with next year\u2019s edition becoming Britain\u2019s richest-ever race with a prize fund of \u00a32m. The King George has, of late, been afflicted by the small-field syndrome that permeates British racing in general and vexes punters and administrators alike, and the allure of all those extra tenners is intended to draw interest from a wider community, a global constituency. This, too, is all part of putting horses front and centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about trying to attract the best horses from around the world, to make sure the race remains internationally relevant,\u201d says Barnard. \u201cIt\u2019s all rooted in the essence of the horse, making the horse the centrepiece, the best horses coming to Ascot and racing in Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n

One element of Ascot\u2019s calendar that already achieves this goal is Royal Ascot, the five-day extravaganza that has no equal anywhere in the world. Indeed, Barnard has spoken before about her surprise at the \u2018sub-brand\u2019 of Royal Ascot being more popular than the \u2018master brand\u2019 of Ascot itself.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalShe believes that the status, the format, the tenor of the royal meeting is exactly where it should be, exactly where she wants it, a viewpoint partly supported by the 2025 renewal \u2013 her first at the helm \u2013 being regarded as one of the best of recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all really delighted with Royal Ascot, on all fronts, and I think most people shared that view,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Shop window<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been telling people about what\u2019s happening here, speaking to colleagues at previous jobs, telling them to come to Ascot and take that experience and be evangelists for racing. I think we managed that at Royal Ascot, putting it in the shop window domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as Royal Ascot is concerned, there is no ambition to get bigger and bigger. The focus is now more about two things, the experience of our guests and the quality of horse they come to see, about polishing and refining what we have already.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor our guests, it\u2019s about entertainment, and providing a richer experience for their day out. On the horsemen\u2019s side, it\u2019s about making sure we stage the best racing, about building equity in Royal Ascot on an international scale.<\/p>\n

\"Gold\u201cWe need to make people feel connected, to extend the \u2018brand\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s what we\u2019ll be focusing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be almost impossible to find someone willing to make substantive criticisms of Royal Ascot, but Royal Ascot is no more the true face of the sport in Britain than Harrods is the true face of the weekly shop, and the rising tide of Ascot\u2019s prominence and financial heft can\u2019t lift all racing\u2019s boats.<\/p>\n

Root and branch<\/p>\n

Transformation at both root and branch may well be imminent within the industry following the commencement of Lord Allen\u2019s tenure as chairman of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), and Barnard is understandably hopeful in regard to the new man\u2019s appointment and the prospects of change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sport has never been easy to govern, it\u2019s reliant on so many factors, but over the last few months we have come together on certain issues,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk all the time, trying to reach alignment in various ways, we\u2019re quite collegiate in that respect although it\u2019s not seen externally. Change has to be made in the right way, made in an evolutionary manner rather than revolutionary, and I\u2019m positive that this can be achieved, although we may be in for a tricky few months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InternationalIn her spare time, not that there is a great deal of that, with a young family (May, eight, and five-year-old Tom) vying with the office job for the limited number of hours in the day, Barnard immerses herself in the arts \u2013 \u201cThat\u2019s my passion, my outlet, I love the theatre\u201d \u2013 while participating in the complicit induction of her children into the sport she has adopted as her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the dynamic of this sport, I love the horses, I love all the characters involved, it\u2019s easy for me to love it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Guessing game<\/p>\n

\u201cMay and Tom are getting more and more into racing as they love it too. When Tom picks out a winner he says \u2018I guessed the right one!\u2019\u00a0He calls it a guess and he\u2019s so excited about his success. Anything can happen in the short window of a race, that\u2019s what makes it so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outsiders are invariably viewed with suspicion by the grizzled old lifers who populate racing, something to which Barnard\u2019s predecessor-but-one Guy Henderson alluded during his first year in the hot seat. Now Barnard finds herself in the same position, literally and figuratively, but typically pursues a positive approach when the subject arises.<\/p>\n

She is not burdened by the weight of received wisdom but instead liberated by the absence of previous involvement, a clean slate, a blank page, ready to breathe new life into one of racing\u2019s oldest and grandest institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a fresh outlook is something we can all benefit from,\u201d she says, characteristically asserting the self-confidence that she says racing lacks. Surely everyone would raise a glass to that, whether half-empty, half-full \u2013 or bubbling over, as Barnard\u2019s must be.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Visit the Ascot Racecourse website<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Singspiel: \u2018He was special\u2019 \u2013 Jay Hovdey on an equine giant whose exploits straddled the globe<\/a><\/p>\n

View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses \/<\/a>\u00a0jockeys \/<\/a>\u00a0trainers \/<\/a>\u00a0sires<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Best of British: \u2018It\u2019s true that Ascot has a lot of advantages,\u2019 admits chief executive Felicity Barnard. Photo:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-440462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115241257957231938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}