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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Jockey Club, the largest commercial group in British horseracing, has agreed an exclusive new 20-year deal with Levy, the sports and entertainment division of Compass Group UK & Ireland. The partnership will enable The Jockey Club to make a capital investment of £100 million to revolutionise the spectator experience across its UK racecourses, funded by a payment from Compass as part of the new deal. The Jockey Club's investment plans include a significant revamp of the main entrance to Epsom Downs Racecourse, home to the Betfred Derby Festival. A full refurbishment of Epsom's Queen Elizabeth II Stand is also in the works, along with upgrades to the facilities in the Duchess Stand. At Cheltenham Racecourse, the weighing room will undergo a major revamp to include state-of-the-art facilities for participants and rooftop hospitality for racegoers while, at Aintree Racecourse, improvements will be made to the facilities for owners and trainers, creating more dedicated spaces on site for connections. The investment will also enable the development of the centre of the course during the Randox Grand National Festival, with additional facilities for racegoers. Jim Mullen, Group Chief Executive of The Jockey Club, said, “I joined The Jockey Club because I want it to succeed and with that at the forefront of my mind, I have made it my mission to find money for us to invest in growth. “This is an important moment for racing and The Jockey Club. We have agreed a long-term opportunity with a proven worldwide operator to help us improve our customer experience and grow our ability to invest in the sport. “We want customers at our venues to enjoy the sport, enjoy the hospitality and the overall customer experience so that they come back more often. Levy and Compass have the experience of operating world class sporting venues which, allied to our expertise and experience in racing, means they can play a significant role in helping racing and us grow.” Explaining where most of the investment will be aimed at, Mullen added, “We will be upgrading to a digital-based ticketing system that will make us more efficient but also enhance our ability to grow our customer database and to market to it more effectively. This will cost several million pounds and is a significant piece of work, but it's a key priority. “We will also invest further into our core festival courses, Cheltenham, Aintree and Epsom Downs. These venues host our biggest events and by investing in them, we can improve the experience of the customer and drive returns that can be invested in other parts of the business. We have earmarked a significant proportion of our investment for projects put forward by these courses.” The evolution of the partnership between The Jockey Club and Levy sees the existing joint venture, Jockey Club Catering, rebranded as Jockey Club Experiences. Jockey Club Experiences will now oversee end-to-end hospitality package sales and delivery, conferencing and events and retail merchandising, alongside their role as the ongoing food and beverage partner across all retail and hospitality. Jon Davies, CEO of Levy, said, “This partnership is a defining moment for British racing and a statement of intent. Together with The Jockey Club, we are committed to setting a new global standard for the raceday experience. “Our evolution into Jockey Club Experiences reflects the scale of our ambition and the responsibility we carry. By investing for the long term, we are elevating the experience for racegoers and strengthening the sport's position on the world stage.” The post The Jockey Club Reveals Ambitious Plans Through £100 Million Partnership with Levy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Aidan O'Brien heaped praise on Albert Einstein at a Ballydoyle press morning on Monday and described the unbeaten Wootton Bassett colt as his number one hope heading into the new season. Albert Einstein is a general 7-1 favourite for the 2,000 Guineas. He also holds a Derby entry, for which he is a best-priced 20-1 shot. However, O'Brien acknowledged that Albert Einstein, who has recorded both of his wins over six furlongs, is not certain to stay a mile. O'Brien said, “The number one at the moment is Albert – he's done very well physically. He's big and powerful and very rapid. We won't know if he's going to get the mile until we do it. The stride people, the heart people, the pedigree people, everyone says that he will get a mile, but he's a very quick thinker.” The master of Ballydoyle added, “He's rapid to do anything. He's quick to leave the stalls and very quick into his stride. We're not going to know and we're not going to search to find out [if he'll stay a mile or not] because we don't want to wake him up too much. We're going to train him asleep and see what's going to happen.” Albert Einstein is part of a trio of Ballydoyle-trained colts who have Classic targets this spring. O'Brien continued, “The other horse is Puerto Rico and the other horse after that is Gstaad, and we all know what he's done. At the moment, the three of them are being trained for the Guineas. I'd imagine one of them will go to France and then hopefully come back to the Curragh. “With the way the ground is at the moment, I'd imagine they'd all go straight there. Listening to the lads, I think two will go to Newmarket and one will go to France and then the Curragh – I think that's what they're thinking. “Albert is the main horse. When we started working him in the spring of his two-year-old career, we thought all the two-year-olds were no good and we thought he was the only horse we had. “He was that much above everything else, it was unusual. He had his two runs and won his maiden very easily, it was a six-furlong race and he was keen enough, he was rapid through the race and the second (Power Blue) won a Group 1 after. Then he had the mishap, he doesn't look big but he's powerful, he's wide and strong.” O'Brien added, “He picked up a little fracture at the Curragh. He was so far ahead of the other two-year-olds at the start it wasn't funny. He's unbelievably quick. Everyone is telling us he'll stay, but it's whether he can get down and relax. We're training him without looking at him, he'll go to the Guineas without having come off the bridle.” The post O’Brien: ‘Albert Einstein Will Go To The Guineas Without Having Come Off The Bridle At Home’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Special Agent · Posted
The new inside track at Awapuni was being seeded 10 years ago, and now gone. The cost of $280,000 not insignificant. They appear to be consistent in poor due diligence, talking up their current project like it's the next best thing, treating cost as irrelevant, using the surface before properly consolidated and discarding and moving onto the next bigger and better project with even more experts onboard. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Still on a high after the birth of his first child and a purple patch in the saddle, Andrea Atzeni is dreaming of an upset win aboard Top Dragon in Sunday’s BMW Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) at Sha Tin. Victory in the city’s most prized race would cap a whirlwind couple of weeks for the Sardinian jockey, who became a father just hours after celebrating his best winning haul in Hong Kong – a four-timer at Sha Tin on March 8. Atzeni revealed he almost missed the Sha Tin meeting after his fiancée Emma’s...View the full article -
Jim Tomkinson was my hero from that era. He mixed every feed too, but there again he only ever had 8 or 10 in work. Bought them all [or most of them ] himself for his very select clientele. Jim wouldn't train a horse for me when I asked, but I loved going around on a Sunday morning and discussing what happened over in Sydney and Melbourne the previous day. He was the best.
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