{"id":86732,"date":"2025-05-09T07:08:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T07:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/86732\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T07:08:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T07:08:19","slug":"racings-best-way-to-engage-audiences-is-to-focus-on-being-the-best-it-can-be-rather-than-going-for-gimmicks-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/86732\/","title":{"rendered":"Racing\u2019s best way to engage audiences is to focus on being the best it can be rather than going for gimmicks \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

With all the inevitability of a favourite getting stuffed, another gimmick to supposedly make racing more relevant to a younger audience has been floated. The horses can\u2019t talk so the plan is to sell the game through their riders.<\/p>\n

Never mind plentiful evidence of how sticking a microphone in front of the horse might yield more insight than if it\u2019s pointed at the jockey, \u201cmorkoting\u201d types have looked at other sports and opted for \u201cpersonality\u201d as an original concept.<\/p>\n

A dozen top flat jockeys, including Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori – although curiously nobody Irish – have signed up to a league due to start next year. It will see them compete for points in up to 10 events at some of the world\u2019s top tracks.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t want for quality. New Zealand-born James McDonald is on board, as is Japanese racing\u2019s most renowned figure, Yutaka Take. So too are Brazil\u2019s \u201cMagic Man\u201d Jo\u00e3o Moreira and Irad Ortiz, the top US-based rider. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have watched the success of other sports take the power of their athletes and build them into global icons, with the outcome being a whole new generation of fans that now feel a deeper human connection with the athletes,\u201d the bumf says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept we have developed with our foundation jockeys is designed around following a similar model to other sports and we\u2019re delighted that the world\u2019s best jockeys have come together to drive this change in the way our sport is marketed to the next generation fan.\u201d <\/p>\n

Not for the first time, the Netflix<\/a> series Drive to Survive has a lot to answer for. A conspicuously successful look behind the scenes in F1 keeps spawning less quality variations such as ITV\u2019s stilted talking heads series, Full Gallop.<\/p>\n

Significantly, in this case it seems the jockeys will own equity and be shareholders in the league concept. The aim is to secure total prize funds of $15 million (\u20ac13.3 million) within a couple of years through commercial partners. <\/p>\n

It suggests assurance about their own attraction to both sponsors and audiences. If the concept looks little more than a variant on the jockey\u2019s challenge concept that\u2019s been around for decades then it is at least an attempt at an ambitious upgrade. <\/p>\n

Crucial to success will be a media hard-sell. Inevitably Dettori seems to be front and centre. The Italian is firmly in the veteran stage of his career, but is a seasoned performer when it comes to selling himself. <\/p>\n

Dettori is also a rare example in the modern era of a jockey with a distinctive image piercing the wider public consciousness.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong-based riders Vincent Ho and Zac Purton are familiar with widespread popular attention, too, although the idea of the taciturn Moore undergoing media training to emote on cue is one to relish. <\/p>\n

However, at heart the pitch smacks of a fundamental insecurity in the sport itself and its wider public appeal, particularly in this part of the world.<\/p>\n

\"RyanRyan Moore is pictured at Chester Racecourse on Wednesday. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst\/Getty <\/p>\n

Dire warnings about how racing is on the skids when it comes to the next generation are nothing new. Neither are silver-bullet attempts to renew the old game\u2019s popular appeal, almost all of which fail to hit the board never mind any bullseye.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s recent racing league contorted the sport\u2019s basic nature into a team structure complete with bells and whistles from other arenas, to which the public response was mostly indifference. <\/p>\n

Practically no other major sport mixes such a cocktail of self-importance and self-consciousness. It ties itself into knots about this stuff when the truth remains now, as ever, that you simply either get racing or you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Different aspects of it grab different people. For many it\u2019s betting. For some it\u2019s the horses themselves. To others it\u2019s the social aspect. And there are those for whom their favourite jockey is like someone else\u2019s favourite footballer. <\/p>\n

But those bitten by the racing bug are mostly in thrall to the overall package. It doesn\u2019t do to be complacent about the next generation. No sector or business gets to opt out of the job of selling itself. But enough of countless generations before have got it, and the safe bet is the same can continue if racing concentrates on getting its basics right rather than resorting to gimmickry.<\/p>\n

There is a role for variations on the jockey challenge theme. But racing\u2019s prime way of engaging with any audience, young or old, is to make it the best version of itself in substantial terms, aiming to be as straight and clean and equitable as possible. <\/p>\n

Much of the motivation behind contrivances like this latest idea is to simplify things for any new audience that might be out there. The problem for those charged with flogging the sport is that it\u2019s horse racing and its central characters are more Garbo than gabby. That can make it a tough sell to any floating audience. <\/p>\n

It also means there is a complexity to racing that ultimately is at the core of its appeal. Audiences either get that or they don\u2019t. It\u2019s like checkers or chess; more people can play the simpler game, but chess buffs tend to be devotees for life. Get enough of them and relevance is assured at any age. <\/p>\n

Something for the Weekend<\/p>\n

Haydock hosts a rare mixed card on Saturday. Trainer Alan King crosses the codes and is in rare form at present including with a bumper success at the Punchestown festival. He has two in the Swinton Hurdle. BIG BOY BOBBY<\/b> (1.35) could relish the quick conditions more than most. <\/p>\n

Later at Haydock, Frankel\u2019s half-brother, Kikkuli, lines up for Listed contest, although he is up against an old rival in TIBER FLOW<\/b> (3.55), who is proven over course and distance as well as ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With all the inevitability of a favourite getting stuffed, another gimmick to supposedly make racing more relevant to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[288,1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-86732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-horse-racing","9":"tag-racing","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114476620926136325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86732","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=86732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}