Herbert looks ahead
Harry Herbert was keen to look to the future opportunities available for racing when he made his Gimcrack winner’s speech at York racecourse last night.
Herbert was representing the 20-strong Highclere Thoroughbred Racing’s Troy Syndicate in the wake of the William Haggas-trained Conquest’s victory in the Scottish Equitable-sponsored contest in August.
He told guests: “We currently live in a celebrity driven culture, something that must be recognised and embraced by all the major marketeers within the industry.
“At Highclere our new owners this year include Jimmy Nesbitt, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jodie Kidd.
“Thankfully all three are involved with a nice horse or two but through their involvement the interest from the non-racing press has been amazing and articles written about their racing interests have appeared across a myriad of publications thereby spreading racing’s appeal to a whole new audience.
“Racing is very good at bemoaning that things aren’t what they used to be, and when it comes to the racing media, the moans are as loud as ever.
“If, however, you were to say to any other sport that you could have terrestrial TV coverage every Saturday and for many of the midweek festivals, and add to that two dedicated satellite channels, a daily newspaper, and specialist magazines, they would believe it was a utopian impossibility.
“Quite simply, racing has a better and broader range of media platforms than any other sport. These platforms provide a funnel whereby an initial interest in the principle events such as the Grand National, the Derby and the Cheltenham Festival, can be broadened to a regular weekly dip into terrestrial TV and from there on to the dedicated media for those who become passionate about the sport.
“The possibility for promotion is almost boundless if properly used and developed.
“Equally, the greater that racing can participate in its media platforms, the better it will be able to manage its various windows. The increasing involvement of racecourses in the ownership of dedicated satellite channels and the way that Racing UK in particular has just negotiated a multi-platform deal with Channel 4 are evidence of this.
“By being actively involved in the management and ownership of its media, racing can start to understand the way that its media presentation and commercialisation can affect and advance its overall business. It can start to relate to its customers not just on the racecourse but also those who are viewers, punters or internet users.
“If racecourses extend their media successes into the bookmakers’ shops and start to compete with SIS, they must do it on the basis that it will create a better long-term relationship with the bookmakers and thereby align their long-term interests for the benefit of both and not just as a short term measure to increase prices.
“Despite Mr Angry’s (referring to a recent article by Julian Wilson in the Racing Post) 20 reasons to stop owning horses I continue to find myself looking at the racing industry with a cup half full.
“Racing worldwide will continue to expand and develop. By 2010 over half of the racetracks in America are forecast to be polytrack which in itself will create an awesome opportunity for owners and breeders in this country. And who knows what will happen if the wealth being created in Russia and China filters through to the racing industry?
“As we are all only too well aware it will be a testing year ahead with high profile court cases that will question the integrity of a number of people within the industry. Whatever the outcome, it will be a painful time for everyone in the game but racing must look long and hard at how it conducts its business and where there is dishonesty, it must be exposed and severely dealt with or all the efforts to encourage new blood into our sport will have been in vain.
“Our future responsibility will be to continually strive to improve and modernise our sport but we must also be careful to protect those traditions that make British racing so unique and so very special.
“Make no mistake – if there is any perception from overseas markets that we are compromising the quality of our racing then we will all be guilty of damaging the health of our sport.”
Chris Bell, chief executive of Ladbrokes, said in his keynote speech that “it is of course totally understandable that racing and betting will not always agree.
“We should recognise and respect each others position but negotiate hard in our own interest and that of our wider industry, remembering always that either activity without the other will be less successful; fish without the chips, and with no vinegar or salt either, other than to rub into each others’ wounds.
“If each party recognises this, it can then move on and champion its own destiny, accepting the realities of the commercial world we all now find ourselves in.
“We both have much to be proud of.
“British racing and British betting are the best of any in the world – no disagreement about that. Nowhere is there so much quality, choice and world beating experience as in Britain.”
He praised the benefits of the Levy system.
“Richard Caborn, the Sports Minister, whom some also call the Minister for Gambling and Racing, has done us proud. We have been very fortunate to have benefited from his genuine interest and care.
“His preparedness to go back to the House of Commons later this week and recommend the maintenance of the Levy system indicates his desire to: modernise, regulate, and to see racing and betting continue to advance, with the UK continuing to be the world leader. His efforts, and the time he is taking to sort the Tote issue, have been heroic, particularly when you consider that there have been other major issues on his plate, such as being part of the team that won the Olympics for Britain.
“Both bookmaking and racing interests went to great lengths to persuade the Minister, namely Robert Hughes at the Levy Board and Bernard Donoughue, of the merits of continuing the Levy. I hope and pray that none of those self-same interests now reach for the self-destruct button and look upon its retention as a route either for bookmakers to pay nothing, or for racing to increase disproportionately its levy percentage or its income from pictures.
“In this context, I am sure that it is of course a mere co-incidence that what we understand to be the exclusive pooling availability and pricing of British horserace betting shop picture rights for 30 racetracks occurred within days of next year’s Levy Scheme at 10% of bookmakers’ gross win on British horseracing being agreed between the Levy Board and the Bookmakers’ Committee. Co-incidence indeed!”
