September 2017 www.racecourseassociation.co.uk updatenewsletter RCA Update Newsletter September 2017 Contents Showcase & Awards 2017 03 Racecourse in Focus 05 07 BHA Graduate - Simone Martin 06 Badges & PASS / Technical 08 Did You Know... 09 Medical 10 Racegoers Club 12 Sponsorship 13 Five Minutes of Fame 14 GBR 15 GBRI 17 Racing to School 18 Racing Together 19 Racing Foundation 20 Racing Welfare 21 The Thoroughbred Club 21 BHA 22 RaceTech 24 Watt Fences 26 Pitchcare 27 British Racing Seminars 2017 28 Careers in Racing 29 Job Board 30 PJA Pro AM 2017 35 Diary Dates / Contributors / 36 Staff Contact List 18 20 24 Contents RCA Update Newsletter September 2017 Showcase & Awards 2017 Book Your Place The RCA team is pleased to present details of how you can reserve your place at this year’s Showcase & Awards, to be held at Newbury Racecourse on Thursday 16 November. We are most grateful for the support of our headline partners Moët Hennessy and Racing Post to help deliver the event. The attached booking form highlights this year’s ticket prices. I am pleased to confirm these have been held at 2016’s prices, offering fantastic value for racecourses (in particular for those who send multiple delegates). Full Showcase & Awards £275 (£225 for subsequent delegates) Showcase seminar only £200 Showcase awards only £125 The Showcase Awards Accommodation has been reserved at the Doubletree The Showcase Awards represent excellence and Hilton Newbury North and Newbury Racecourse’s own innovation and give us opportunity to reward those who hotel The Lodge. Competitive rates have been secured have excelled in the previous year. The competition is and you can reserve a room for £90 B&B on Wednesday fiercer than ever and we look forward to seeing what 15 November and £80 B&B on Thursday 16 November submissions are put forward this year. at either hotel. Rooms will be provided on a first come, first served basis so please do book early to avoid 2017 sees two new awards introduced to the roster, the disappointment. RCA Outstanding Achievement Award and Love of the Sport, so we will wait with anticipation to see the inaugural The Showcase Seminar winners. A lot of work has gone into making this year’s Showcase The Showcase & Awards received international acclaim at Seminar our best yet. The RCA team has spent time this year’s European Association Awards which would not discussing plans with racecourses, GBR and other have been possible were it not for the outstanding support partners to ensure that both the content and speakers are and enthusiasm offered by racecourses. of the highest calibre. We look forward to welcoming you to Newbury on This year, we will welcome Wimbledon, BBC and Sunday Thursday 16 November, but should you have any queries Times journalist Simon Calder and Two Circles from in the interim please do not hesitate to get in touch. outside the sport whom I am confident will offer a first- class perspective of life in the wider sports and leisure For more information on the Showcase & Awards 2017, world. From within racing, Hamilton Park Racecourse please visit www.racecourseassociation.co.uk/showcase and 2016 Champions Ascot Racecourse will demonstrate excellence within our own field alongside Harrison:Fraser and GBR. The full programme will be finalised soon, so please keep an eye on your emails and the regular bulletin Showcase News. The Seminar is highly valued by those who attend, as demonstrated by the testimonials provided here. 3 Back to content page RCA Update Newsletter September 2017 Showcase & Awards Racing Post Readers Award 2017 The Racecourse Association and Racing Post are last summer to raise money for the Injured Jockeys Fund delighted to announce the launch of the 2017 Racing Post and the reception they received at Bath stood out from the Readers Award which continues to grow as it reaches its crowd, making them worthy victors. fifth year. The other previous winners have all come from the north The Racing Post Readers Award is voted for by the with Hamilton Park, Pontefract and Aintree collecting the readers of the Racing Post and celebrates outstanding first three editions. customer service on racecourses. It is hugely valued by racecourses owing to the direct nature of the feedback Paul Swain, RCA Racecourse Services Executive, from customers and the insight this provides. said: “This award is a hugely important part of the RCA Showcase & Awards, giving racegoers the chance The award is part of the RCA Showcase & Awards, the to directly tell us about their positive experiences on marquee event celebrating excellence and innovation racecourses. It is always a closely fought competition and on racecourses which features eleven categories as we look forward to receiving the entries and crowning a well as an overall Showcase Champion and Groundstaff winner at Newbury on November 16.” Champion. Louise Agran, Racing Post Marketing Director, said: “We Individuals can submit a maximum of five different are delighted to be supporting the Racing Post readers entries allowing them to pick out more than one top-class award at the RCA Showcase awards for the fifth time this experience. Whoever submits the winning entry will be year. The award is so important as it gives our readers treated to a VIP day out at the winning racecourse. and users the chance to comment on their experiences as racegoers and to recognise those racecourses who put The longlist of entries will be shortened down by the their customers first.” RCA and Racing Post before the independent Showcase judging panel will decide the winner. Racecourses are encouraged to promote the award to racegoers via the official collateral which was sent to all Last year there were a record number of entries as Bath on Wednesday 30 August. There are no limitations on took the prestigious prize through Gavin Priestley’s entry. how you promote the award, so get creative and see the Gavin and his family visited all 60 racecourses in 20 days submissions come in! Words by Paul Swain 4 Back to content page RCA Update Newsletter September 2017 Racecourse in Focus Racegoer reaction used to come “Last year we had three single-star through the post. Now, the internet reviews for a meeting, from people has unleased a myriad of means who’d had an awful time for one for customers to make their voices reason or another. I contacted each heard more quickly than the Royal of them and asked them to give Mail could ever deliver through us a chance. All three came back the racecourse letter box. Take and afterwards they wrote five-star Pontefract’s attention to reviews on reviews.” TripAdvisor as an example. At the last count, from 213 reviews Assistant manager Richard Hammill posted, 87 per cent of respondents admits he used to turn to the site for rated Pontefract races very good hotel and holiday destination advice. or excellent, and the racecourse Not any more. has shot up the league table in the WF postcode area, alternating in “The assessors from VisitEngland TripAdvisor’s top two places with the pointed out that racecourses year-round attraction of a nearby needed to do more with regard to farm shop. TripAdvisor,” he explains, “because “In December last year, when tickets for every town and city in every part VisitEngland’s advice has paid for all our 2017 race meetings went of the world it lists the popularity of off, just as collaboration with Two on sale, we had half price across the local attractions. We hadn’t really Circles has significantly benefited board, which went on until the middle taken on board its importance, and Pontefract’s approach to advanced of January. Then we knocked 25 per were languishing middle to bottom booking. cent off until the end of February, of the list, so last year we made a before reverting to our standard concerted effort through emails to “You should never think you know pre-booking, which offers a small people on our booking data, saying it more than anyone else, because discount up to midnight on the day would be great if they would leave a there are always people who can before racing. review of their visit on TripAdvisor. give advice that you’ve never thought of, and the impetus for looking at “This approach has definitely “We were a little nervous at first, our pricing and packaging has come worked. It’s a time of year when Flat because with the best will in the from the Two Circles’ workshops. racecourses are quiet and there’s world there are always people who very little income, so it worked well will send in a complaint, whether it’s “On pricing, one of the messages for our cash flow. We’ve also found your fault or not, but the great benefit Two Circles always drill down is that by offering early-bird prices, of TripAdvisor is that the attraction that the best price has to be the advanced booking for every race has the final word of reply, and we first price, to encourage early sales, meeting this season has been up, make sure we respond to every so that people who book tell their some considerably but without fail it’s review, good or bad. friends and the message is passed across the year.” on through by word of mouth. Words by Will Aitkenhead 5 Back to content page RCA Update Newsletter September 2017 RCA Update Newsletter September 2017 BHA Graduate - Simone Martin n VARIETY being one of the great strengths of “I was keen on business, and going through the “On the subject of ethnicity, I made the point that the British racing, as well as the spice of life, Simone Equestrian Sports Science degree course, I thought my most influential people in British racing – the sheikhs Martin believes that as a member of the 2017 BHA skills would best mix with equine through racing, which and princes from the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – Graduate Programme she could not have found a is how I fell into TRIC.