Covid-19 and Racing

The 16th running of Qatar Racing British Champions Day at Ascot this Saturday will once again bring together the very best horses from across Europe, with many of the season's stars confirmed on Monday. Eight of the horses currently in the top 20 of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings are confirmed in the shape of Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder), Almaqam (Lope De Vega), Bay City Roller (New Bay), Gstaad (Starspangledbanner), Scandinavia (Justify), Calandagan (Gleneagles), Constitution River (Wootton Bassett) and Kalpana (Study Of Man). The £1.3m G1 Qatar Racing Champion Stakes was officially the joint-best race in the world last year and will highlight a stellar card, with 11 confirmations headlined by the 1-2-3 from last year – Calandagan, Ombudsman and Almaqam – plus Bay City Roller, Constitution River, Gstaad and Hotazhell (Too Darn Hot). Between them they have won 11 Group 1s this season across five different countries. George Scott, trainer of Bay City Roller, said, “He's come out of the race in Paris [when second in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe] really well. He's a very easy horse to get a read on and seems to thrive on his racing. Arguably his two career-best performances have come off the back of a two-week break, so he's bright and well and all set for the weekend. “He's been a model of consistency throughout his career, especially this year, and he's in fantastic shape. His optimum trip is probably a mile and a half, but ten furlongs is no concern. Ascot is a stiff ten furlongs and that wouldn't worry me at all. “If they all turn up, Ombudsman is the king around Ascot, Calandagan was the world's best horse last year and Almaqam won the Tattersalls Gold Cup. You've also got Gstaad stepping up in trip. It's a fantastic race to be part of and I'm really looking forward to it. It's about competing at the highest level against the top operations. Bay City Roller has trained so well since the Arc and it's very exciting to be going there with him.” Legendary Irish trainer Jessica Harrington is hoping to pull off a historic Champion Stakes double as Hotazhell bids to follow up his dramatic victory in the G1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last month. “Hotazhell winning the Irish Champion Stakes was an amazing lift for everybody here in Commonstown,” said the trainer. “Winning a big race, a Group 1 race like that, which features all over the world, it's fantastic for the owners. The yard really gets an unbelievable kick out of it and everyone came in on the Monday morning with a large grin on their face. “He came out of the race really well and he lost very little weight. He's done a bit of work at the Curragh since and we were very happy with him. So, all systems go for Ascot. I'm hoping for the best, it's going to be a very competitive race. They're all very high-class horses but, if you're not in, you can't win. Knowing it's his last race, we really want him to do well, especially for his future owners.” Constitution River has also been supplemented for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Sponsored by Qatar Racing), with trainer Aidan O'Brien yet to confirm where he will run between the two races. Other confirmations for the £1.1m Queen Elizabeth II Stakes include the G1 Queen Anne Stakes winner Ten Bob Tony (Night Of Thunder), Irish Guineas winner Gstaad and Rayif (Sea The Moon), a dual Group 1 winner in France. Talk Of New York (Wootton Bassett) has also supplemented for Charlie Appleby, taking the total number of entries to 13. The first of five Group 1s on the day is the Qatar Racing British Champions Long Distance Cup, which could see Scandinavia and Caballo De Mar (Phoenix Of Spain) renew their rivalry as they head 12 confirmations. Scott plans to run Caballo De Mar after he got the better of Gold Cup winner Scandinavia in the G1 Prix du Cadran at ParisLongchamp, adding, “He's come out of Paris very well. He's given us all the right signs and we've been delighted with him. “The key with him is keeping him fresh and happy. We've changed the way we ride him and train him a little bit, and he's a horse that seems to be evolving all the time. “I won't lie, I was hoping to run into Jan Brueghel rather than Scandinavia again! We won the race fair and square in Paris, but Scandinavia is a top, top-class horse. I think the ground was a bit softer in Paris than it was given, and I expect him to bounce back to his best at a track where he's been devastating before. Although we just about beat him in Paris, I think it will be very tight.” Joseph O'Brien has supplemented the St Leger winner, Highwayman (Persian King), while his number one rider Dylan Browne McMonagle returns to the saddle on Monday ahead of the weekend. “Highwayman has been supplemented for the staying race,” O'Brien confirmed on Monday. “He's had a good preparation. I'm happy with him and he's trained well since Doncaster. It's a step up to go against the older horses and up further in distance. Hopefully, he can cope with it. “Dylan's back riding today, so hopefully everything goes smoothly this week and he'll be back riding this weekend. He's been off for a while now, so it's great for him and for us to have him back.” Almeraq (Dark Angel), the leading sprinter in Europe, is among 17 speedsters confirmed for the G1 Qatar Racing British Champions Sprint Stakes, with Soul Love (Starman) supplemented for Karl Burke. The race is set to have a distinctly European feel to it with G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Samangan (Blue Point) in line to represent France, G2 Minstrel Stakes winner Power Blue (Space Blues) coming over from Ireland and Great Wish (Night Of Thunder), a Group 3 winner at Deauville this year, flying the flag for Denmark. Two-time winner and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes heroine Kalpana heads 15 entries for the G1 Qatar Racing British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, alongside G1 Irish Oaks winner Johanna Walsh (Sea The Stars) and fellow three-year-olds Lilt (Lope De Vega) and Sparan Nua (Dawn Approach). Francis-Henri Graffard's Tajlina (Kingman) and the Andrew Balding-trained See The Fire (Sea The Stars) have been supplemented. The day is set to open with the second running of the Qatar Racing British Champions Day Two-Year-Old Conditions Stakes, with the G2 Gimcrack Stakes hero Arapaho Gold (Bayside Boy) and the profilic Night In Vegas (Lucky Vega) featuring among 18 confirmations, along with Inner City Blues (Blue Point) and Nabati (Night Of Thunder), both Group 2 winners for the Charlie Appleby stable. The Balmoral Stakes (Sponsored by Qatar Racing) will conclude the day and 54 horses have been confirmed, including last year's winner Crown Of Oaks (Wootton Bassett). The going at Ascot is currently 'Good' with GoingStick readings taken at 10am on Monday, October 12. Chris Stickels, clerk of the course and head of racing at Ascot Racecourse, said, “We're in really good shape ahead of Saturday and can confirm that we will be on the normal Flat track. “There could be the odd shower early in the week and then some rain is forecast for Thursday night into Friday, but only between 2-5mm is expected. Unless the forecast changes drastically – and I don't think it's going to – I would expect us to be similar ground to where we are now, which is Good all over on both the Round and Straight Course.” The post Stars Assemble for Qatar Racing British Champions Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Justin McDonald brings nearly 30 years of marketing experience to his role at the Breeders' Cup, where he oversees strategy for brand management, ticketing, broadcast and media, wagering, digital and social marketing, advertising, consumer research, customer relationship management, public relations and promotional programs.    As attention turns to the Breeders' Cup, McDonald discussed how his organization markets the championship. Q: This is the 43rd Breeders' Cup since its inception in 1984. How has it evolved since you joined the organization in 2012? The racing product has always been extraordinary from day one, so what we try to do is invest more significantly in the experience around it – from enhanced hospitality, elevated food and beverage offerings, and just the overall fan and participant experience. We want to make sure everything surrounding the racing feels just as amazing as the product on the track and be worthy of a world championship. We've also become a little more sophisticated in the way we build and engage an audience. When I started, marketing was much more concentrated around the two-day championship event. Social and digital have changed a lot in that same period, so it's really given us the tools to cover Challenge Series races more deeply and connect them to the championships by telling some of those stories. And we've become a much more global property. This year, [Challenge Series] races were held in 14 countries. We're attracting much more international participation. That allows us to distribute our content to more audiences globally.   Q: Forever Young's victory in the Classic last year was a win for the Japan market. How much of a priority is international to your strategy? It's near the top. Our marketing efforts start with the horse. If we can get the best horses from around the world to participate, everything else can build from there. Forever Young, just look at his journey last year and even this year: Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup both years, and Jockey Club Gold Cup this year. All Challenge Races leading to Breeders' Cup Classic. Then he went to the Dubai World Cup. He didn't win them all, but he's still establishing his pathway to the Breeders' Cup. So that allows us to wrap our arms around it on social, start telling the stories. And then that gets international markets like Japan more interested in broadcasting it, making it accessible locally, and then giving those fans a genuine rooting interest in the World Championship.   Q: Your annual report boasts that you're reaching more people through social media. What content has the most appeal for people who don't follow racing regularly? I think this is probably true for a lot of sports, but it's personality, it's emotion, it's access. Obviously, the competition. Take [viewers] inside the paddock, or back to the barn to introduce them to the equine athletes that are our stars, and also the jockeys who have great stories behind that we want to try to tell. Giving people a connection and a rooting interest through personality and emotion. We're also increasingly working with creators, because they introduce us to a whole new audience that might not come across us through our own channels or through traditional racing media. And the key there is authenticity. We're not trying to make the creator suddenly be a racing expert. We're allowing them to take what we have, which we believe is something special, and then tell that story in their own voice across their channels. And then, hopefully, once we get someone interested, we have the opportunity to take them down the marketing funnel from there.   Q: What international championship events do you look to as aspirational models or benchmarks? There's not one property we're trying to copy. We take different lessons from different sports. Formula 1, they've done an extraordinary job creating year-round global storytelling and cultural relevancy. Then you have the Masters and Wimbledon, who demonstrate that an event can be incredibly premium and scarce on site but still reach massive audiences off-site. And then, the Ryder Cup and somewhat the Olympics. They show the power of international rooting interests. We as a sport and particularly at the Breeders' Cup have all those elements. Our opportunity is to build on what's unique about us, rather than trying to copy somebody else.   Q: Regarding your premium ticketing strategy, in 2024, you cut general admission ticketing in half to create a less-crowded experience for patrons. Last year's event at Del Mar was the least attended in 20 years (excluding Covid years). Did the exclusivity go too far? I don't think so. I mean, look, we have the best horses in the world, and we want to match that with the experience. We could pack in the small tracks fairly easily, but we don't believe it's going to provide the experience that our fans want. I think there's a fine balance in there, to your point. We've got to find the right mix of what is scarce and what is premium, and what's still going to allow people to have access to the Breeders' Cup. Ultimately, we want the experience to work for everybody: the serious racing fan, the bettor, the owner, and the participant, or someone attending the Breeders' Cup for the first time.   Q: What marketing considerations go into host track selection, like raising the sport's profile in host markets? First and foremost, it has to be a world-class racing venue capable of hosting the World Championships, from the racing surfaces to stabling capacity, safety and operations. They all have to meet that standard. Then we look at the fan experience, the hospitality, the ticketing capacity, local market hotel inventory, transportation, what's the experience going to be like getting in and out. And then the ability of the host community to support an event of our scale. We also want to make sure the venue can contribute to the growth of our brand and the Breeders' Cup to feel special wherever it goes.   Q: How does your partnership with NBC work? Your annual report says your marketing spending on television was cut last year to save on costs. I can't talk about the specifics of our contract, but NBC is a valuable partner to us. And that partnership is much more than just a t.v. rights relationship. NBC broadcasted the first Breeders' Cup in 1984. They've been our home for 36 of our 42 events, and they've been great partners. This year, we'll have ten-and-a-half hours of coverage, with all 14 races shown live, across NBC or USA. And then we'll have our continuous streaming coverage on Peacock. Then there's the promotional support that they provide, which is incredibly invaluable. In the week leading up to the Breeders' Cup, they're promoting us across some of the biggest sports properties in the country, including Football Night in America, Big Ten Saturday Night, the NBA, and the Premier League. So that's millions of dollars of national promotional value and puts us in front of sports fans who might not be considering watching the Breeders' Cup. We've changed our broadcast strategy to be more of a distribution strategy. We're able to stream our live races across social media, and that really allows us to meet the fans where they're consuming content. And NBC has been incredibly supportive of that broader multi-platform strategy.   Q: How do you leverage the Challenge Series to develop storylines that build interest for the main event? We now have 95 races around the world that lead to the Breeders' Cup. That gives us more of an opportunity to tell stories and engage fans throughout the year. We work with NBC and our friends at NYRA and FOX to see what available windows we have each year to put Challenge Series races on TV. It's an ever-changing scheduling discussion. The tracks are helping us promote their Challenge Series races and connect them to the World Championships, but then we're promoting their races. It's a two-way partnership. Our social team is at pretty much every major Challenge race throughout the year. They're getting behind-the-scenes content in the barns in the days leading up, whether it's to be on FOX or NBC or FanDuel, making sure people know where to watch that weekend, to tell those stories of these horses and the journey that they're on to the World Championships.   Q: This year's event falls on Halloween. Last year's event competed with Game 7 of the World Series. Will you alter your future schedule? I don't think we've found a material issue with running the event on Halloween. All major sports are running on that day. You have college football, you have NHL, you have the NBA, potentially Game 7 of the World Series will be on Halloween this year. From a national sports landscape and consumption standpoint, it's certainly something we think about, but there are a lot of other factors that come into play when our dates are set. The post Q&A with Justin McDonald, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Breeders’ Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

There has been plenty of intrigue surrounding the early outside bias at Happy Valley this season, but is it simply a “self-fulfilling prophecy”, or is there a rhyme and reason to the current state of play? The early statistics suggest it is not a coincidence. We’ve had four meetings at the city circuit this season, with all the configurations of the rail being utilised, from the A track to the C+3 course, where the rail is pushed the furthest it can be from the inside. At the first three...View the full article

depends who pays for it i suppose as to whether they should do it. The article in the southland paper a couple of months ago suggested some of the money would come out of the forbury money. But if entain wanted it and were going to significantly contribute to it,why not. hrnz i think want it designated a metro track,maybe they get more funding if they do that and maybe the lights would help them get that classification.Who knows,no one ever tells us anything. i personally think they should close southland down over winter.I think in a few years time smarter people will come to that conclusion and it will be a given,so lights probably not a good investment ,but hey would you turn down a freebie if you were invercargill. one thing i wonder about invercargill racing. How much are the williamsons charging their owners to transport their horses o race there. Hey maybe the williamsons are taking the hit,i don't know,but surely if a transport company was doing the same thing they would be charging around $400-$500.I was talking to a bloke recently who told me it cost $400 for him to travel his horse to invercargill each time. And he was not far from oamaru.You would have to run top 3 just to break even and then you would have training costs on top of that.

tabcorp vic div win 2.30 / pool 4,692 tabcorp vic div place 1.30, 1.70, 2.10 / pool 3033 tabcorp vic quad NA / pool 21 tabcorp vic div trb NA / pool NA tabcorp vic div f4 235.60 / pool 12,386 tabcorp vic div dbl (running) 63.10 / pool 100 tabcorp vic div qn 5.70 / pool 4,949