Ascot CEO on Royal meet, pooling media rights and the best of Britain
The chief executive of Ascot Racecourse has suggested major horse racing meets could pool their media rights to compete with rival sports.
The 300-year-old Royal Ascot festival returns to Berkshire next week with record prize money and 300,000 fans expected over five days of racing.
And chief executive Felicity Barnard has floated the idea of linking up with major meets in the United States and Australia to work together to ensure horse racing expands into new markets.
“I’m pretty comfortable saying that Ascot’s a loved and trusted brand with integrity, and it’s 300 years old,” she told Morning Wire. “Are we going to have a shop on Oxford Street? Not in the near future.
“We’re very close to the Breeders’ Cup, Melbourne Cup and Hong Kong Jockey Club and actually, as organisations, we’re really similar in our outlook and what we want for the future.
“Could there be a future where we work closer together? Absolutely, and I’d love to explore that.
“We haven’t really explored it yet, to be honest, so it’s not going to be what you would call a league or a series. But there are, because of our aligned values, definitely opportunities around content, for example, and perhaps even shared rights that would allow more coherence around what we do globally around major festivals.”
Ascot excellence
Barnard, formerly of Arsenal, describes Royal Ascot as a “tapestry of Britain”, bringing food, fashion, sport and entertainment into a festival environment. She is conscious, however, of how the festival can come across to some casual fans and stresses it is accessible through £25 tickets and exciting enough for those new to racing.
But the traditional exclusivity remains, with 38,000 hospitality covers set to be served by 30 Michelin-star chefs.
“I want Ascot to be positioned alongside Wimbledon, The Open and the Monaco Grand Prix with our Royal Ascot product as a moment in time in the British summer,” she adds.
There are headwinds across horse racing at the moment – Barnard wouldn’t say whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves had received an invite; “we do have a quite comprehensive political program” – with changes to betting regulation but Royal Ascot remains a staple of the calendar, and makes up around 70 per cent of the course’s £120m turnover.
“You must come for a festival, which is the world’s best horse racing and a tapestry of experience,” Barnard concludes. “[There will be] 100 different music acts, 38,000 hospitality covers, and international horse racing, the likes of which you will never see anywhere else.
“We are a moment in time in the British summer, and it’s not to be missed. I honestly think it is like nowhere else in world sport. And I would say that very confidently.
“We see it as a responsibility, not only in racing but in world sport, to put on an incredible [offering] of world-class sport, all things Britain – a melting pot of the best that we can really show.”