Giles Thompson
Racing Victoria Chief Executive Innovative race concepts in Australia Giles Thompson Australian racing landscape
• Foundations of the industry are built on a rich history of feature races
• 2020 will see the 160th running of the Melbourne Cup and 100th Cox Plate
• Significant evolution over the past 3 to 5 years with the introduction of new races
• Record prizemoney underpinned by wagering growth and Government support What is The Everest?
• Australia’s first slot race launched in 2017 to headline the spring racing period in Sydney
• 1200m sprint with 12 slots sold for three years each
• $14 million prize pool in 2019 making it the world’s richest turf race
• Race supported by an extensive national marketing campaign What is The All-Star Mile? The objective of The All-Star Mile
Attract a new audience to 1 Victorian Thoroughbred Racing
2 Create a ‘hero concept’ to anchor the Festival of Racing
Drive long term engagement with 3 Victorian racing fans Why a fan voted race?
• Unique concept to Australian racing – a point of difference
• Fan engagement trends across international sport and entertainment
• Validation from customer research and pretotyping
• Alignment with our vision of “Racing for All” The original All-Star Mile Fans create the race Race rates highly despite debate
DATE RACE COUNTRY WINNER RACE RATING
Mar 2019 The All-Star Mile AUS Mystic Journey 120.25
Apr 2019 Doncaster Mile AUS Brutal 116.75
May 2019 Hong Kong Champions Mile HK Beauty Generation 115.5
June 2019 Yasuda Kinen JPN Indy Champ 120
June 2019 Queen Anne Stakes GB Lord Glitters 117.50
July 2019 Sussex Stakes GB Too Darn Hot 117
Aug 2019 Prix du Jacques Le Marois FR Romanised 116.25
Sep 2019 Prix du Moulin FR Circus Maximus 117
Oct 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Mile GB King Of Change 117.50
Nov 2019 Breeders Cup Mile USA Uni 118.50
Dec 2019 Hong Kong International Mile HK Admire Mars 119.75 Other notable metrics Positive impact on media coverage Other racing innovations
• Australia’s longest flat race (4600m) • 7 straight track sprint races at recreated in 2018 to celebrate desert Flemington, Sunday 4pm-7pm
horse race in World War 1 • Two teams of 7 seven jockeys • Open to Australian and New Zealand competed in the same colours bred horses only with qualifying races THANK YOU