September 2016 contents 3. Racing Post Readers' Award 18. Five Minutes of Fame 4. #TopSpot 19. HBLB / Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival - Collage 5. Raceday Experience Group 20. Sponsorship 6. Insight=Growth 21. Sponsorship 7. GBR 22. RaceTech 8. GBR 23. RaceTech 9. GBRI 24. Badges & PASS 2016 / Technical 10. Racing to School 25. Technical 11. Racing Welfare 26. Technical 12. Horse Comes First 27. Technical 13. The Thoroughbred Club 28. Technical 14. Racing Foundation 29. Diary Dates / Contributors' Contact List 15. Pony Racing Authority 30. PJA Pro AM 16. Retraining of Racehorses 31. The Stobart Lesters 2016 17. Racecourse in Focus Racing Post Readers' Award Hamilton Park’s VIP Experience for VIP Customer Rosie Heenan’s nomination for Hamilton Park in the 2015 Racing Post Readers’ Award was a glowing testimonial of a racecourse at the top of its game providing a warm welcome to racegoers. Here, 10 months on, Rosie was back enjoying a VIP raceday at the course as a celebration of the Hamilton Park’s success. “Hamilton Park is my favourite racecourse” explains Rosie. “Everything is so well organised which makes for a relaxed atmosphere. This is helped by the friendly staff who always offer a hearty welcome.” Part of Rosie’s prize for her nomination was a VIP raceday. “We were treated like royalty from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. Vivien Kyles, the Chief Executive, came over to personally thank us for our nomination which was a lovely touch. The food and champagne were delicious too.” Rosie’s nomination for Hamilton focussed on the excellent team spirit emanating from the staff. “Everyone wants you to have a good time at Hamilton Park, and we certainly do each time we visit. Even the bookies were smiling last week, although perhaps not after my husband and I backed a 20/1 winner!” Of course, the celebrations were felt by the racecourse team too by collecting a coveted Showcase Award at the 2015 ceremony in Ascot. Vivien Kyles commented "We venue, its facilities and the incredible hard work of our staff were thrilled to win the Racing Post Readers' Award. and their dedication to provide visitors with an outstanding race day experience. It was a real honour to be presented "Most importantly for us, this award is voted for by Racing with it and perfected by meeting Rosie when she came to Post readers and our customers and is recognition of our visit us gain last week." The Racing Post Readers’ Award returns for Showcase 2016 and it couldn’t be easier to drum up support from your racegoers. Simply promote the artwork provided on the RCA website via social and digital media and encourage your racegoers to nominate your racecourse. Entries must be received by no later than Monday 26 September. Good luck! September 2016 3 back to menu #TopSpot Another month closer to the Showcase & Awards, another month of #TopSpots! We’ve seen some great initiatives sent to @RCAShowcase so please do keep them coming in. Remember, a #TopSpot is a standalone initiative, large or small, that enriches the racecourse brand and/or raceday experience for customers. Some of our recent favourites include: Chester Selfie Booth A selfie is always a fun part of the day for many groups of people, but how do you get the perfect angle? Simple, use Chester’s Boodles selfie booth! Market Rasen Celebration Food Having a runner in a race is always an exhilarating feeling, even better if your horse manages to bring home a trophy or two. Even better still if it’s at Market Rasen as you’ll be taking home some Ascot Drone Race delicious locally sourced sausages. The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup is unique in the fact it’s British Racing’s only team event. What better way to promote this than a drone race around the famous racecourse featuring the team colours form the big day!? York Pies Described as the best pork pies in York, local bakery Ged Bell’s are now venturing out to the Knavesmire to supply hungry racegoers with their trademark pies and pastries. Bangor/ChesterBet Bangor and Chester Bet have enhanced the on-course betting experience by offering customers the chance to place a bet via contactless payment, giving people more time to spend enjoying their day rather than stood in queues. September 2016 4 back to menu Raceday Experience Group The Raceday Experience Group met on Tuesday 6 September and was represented by the following: Caroline Davies (Chair) Steve Parlett (Jockey Club Racecourses) Chris Bevan (Ascot) Cat Smith (Jockey Club Racecourses) Jo Hall (Bath) Rob Boobyer (Newbury) Kate McKee (Beverley) Bill Bailey (Racegoers Club/RCA) Fraser Garrity (Chelmsford City) Paul Swain (RCA) Gregg Taylor (GBR) Matthew Taylor (RCA) Sarah Bullen (Goodwood) Amy Swales (York) David Fraser (Harrison:Fraser) The following is a summary of the discussions that took Bath—Racegoers at Bath place. Should you wish to know more about any area of have the option to upgrade the Raceday Experience Group, please use the contacts on the day to the beautiful provided above. rooftop terrace. What makes this unique New Group Membership is the smart, elegant The Group welcomed Jo Hall and Hayley Locker of Bath branding promoting the and Uttoxeter Racecourses respectively as the new ARC upgrade initiative which is representatives. The Group also thanked Brian Barrass, highly aspirational . who had stepped down, for his time and engagement. Good Ideas Roundtable York—As part of the Paddington Family Sunday, Showcase & Awards children were The Group was asked to promote any further speakers presented with they felt would be useful additions to the Showcase name tags (like Seminar programme. The Group indicated they were keen their favourite bear for the speaker to be from outside of racing and sport in wore in the film) to general given the depth of racing and sporting coverage be very much part already within the programme. of the day. The Group agreed the remainder of the programme was shaping up well and looked forward to attending the Goodwood—At the recent racing carnival fixture, a fire pit Seminar. complete with toasting marshmallows was prepared for Paul Swain thanked all racecourses to date that have racegoers which proved extremely popular. sent a draft Showcase submission and reminded all that the Showcase Surgery would remain open for objective feedback until Monday 19 September, with the final Kempton Park— deadline a week later on 26 September. Throughout Ladies’ Day, water hawkers Social & Digital Media were proactively Gregg Taylor presented the audit report and top tips from approaching the recent Social & Digital Media Project. Members of the racegoers with free Group who had undertaken the audits highlighted how water to promote beneficial they had been and were not overly bearing on the #PaceYourself resource. campaign. Gregg reminded all racecourses that there was still the Over the course of opportunity to participate in an audit and should contact the afternoon over 80 him as soon as possible if so. pints of water were The Group agreed that this subject could be included distributed. within the Good Ideas Speed Dating at Showcase and should certainly be built into the Technology & Operations Seminar in 2017. Raceday Experience Group ‘On Tour’ and Date of Next Meeting Ascot—Phase two of Ascot’s rebrand will see much of the David Fraser proposed that the next ‘On Tour’ visit could racecourse itself be brought in-line with the new brand be incorporated into the next Raceday Experience Group guidelines. Inspiration has been drawn from shopping meeting. The Group agreed this would be valuable and centres, airports and luxury cruise liners to ensure signage welcomed the RCA’s proposal of topic and date. and customer orientation is at the cutting edge. Paul Swain September 2016 5 back to menu Insight=Growth INSIGHT=GROWTH – Growing Horseracing Attendance Through Insight-led Customer Marketing The Insight=Growth Steering Group, comprised of and how horseracing compares to other sports/leisure racecourse stake holders, the RCA, GBR and Two activities. Circles, are just adding the finishing touches to the National Horseracing Customer Survey which is The results of the National Horseracing Customer scheduled to launch in mid-September. Survey will be shared at the ‘Planning’ Workshops, which will take place in October/November. These will This survey, the second of its kind within the be each RCA Racecourse’s second workshop of the Insight=Growth programme, will enable the industry to year and will also cover the findings from the Raceday gauge perceptions of horseracing from both racegoers Experience Surveys that have been rolled out over the and non-racegoers on a national scale. Among other Summer and, as the name suggests, will look forward key insights the survey should provide a deeper to 2017 to identify opportunities and threats to growing understanding of motivations and barriers to attending racing attendance. horseracing, the ‘Depth of Rejection’ of a non-racegoer Charlie Wood September 2016 6 back to menu Great British Racing Michael Owen’s Riding Masterclass with Ryan Moore Ahead of QIPCO British Champions Day on 15 October at Ascot Racecourse, Michael Owen, the former England International Footballer and QIPCO British Champions Series Ambassador, has taken part in a riding masterclass with top jockey Ryan Moore. The two champion athletes chat candidly as Ryan gives Michael some tips on how to ride a winner (with a little help from his son). The video was released on Tuesday via the British Champion Series social media channels and also distributed to key national media contacts with the aim of broadening the appeal of racing to new audiences, in particular general sports fans.