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On ATR’s Sunday Forum today Claude Duval claimed teh Frankel/Canford Cliffs duel didn’t need any marketing. It sold itself was the gist.
What nonsense.
If ever racing had an opportunity to bring exactly the type of contest that is likely to ‘hook’ people onto the sport this is it. Does Claude think that people are somewhow magically going to know about this clash?
Of course they won’t, racing needs to bring it to peoples attention.
The BHA (and RFC) should be working behind the scenes (and maybe are for all I know) with both camps to arrange TV interviews, press features, radio soundbites, etc, etc, to ensure as many people as possible know about what could be the race of the century (so far). Head to heads sell. Get selling.
Clock’s ticking.
Claude Duval is a what is wrong with everything in Racing.
A free loader waiting for his press trips and so he can chat with the great and good and eat some great sandwiches and drink some of the finest tea. He is conservative arse licker of the highest order and foams at the mouth when anyone challenges him.
His opinion is worth squat!….
This race should be hyped but I not sure it has the same appeal as the Eclipse IMO.
Couldnt agree more Corm – I told one of the RFC guys back in November, if you want more people to come racing get down to Cecil’s yard now and start filming the beast. Get the public excited. "well what if he turns out to be no good?" – oh pleeeasssse!!! We all knew he was going to be great! The public missed Sea the Stars and they are going to miss Frankel if something isn’t done soon. The Sussex is the place to start.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Agree with what’s been posted.
Sells itself? Yes, but only to the already converted. How is that going to attract new fans?
50 years I’ve been following the sport, and it’s STILL infested with complacent deadbeats like Duval who think that publicity, marketing and promotion are dirty words.
Imperial Commander
What was that about then? says a perplexed Joe and Jo Public
Sorry, says the BHA and marketeers of "the match", that’s racing
You can keep it then, replies Joe and Jo
Those interested in the Frankel v Canford Cliffs "match" are best left to find it on their own: and thence best left to formulate their own opinions once the field is known
Goodwood is a racing-eternity away
RIGITS – C.Duval does talk quite a lot of sense most of the time so I wouldn’t dismiss him in quite the terms you’ve done.
In fact today he was quite vociferous about some of his press-room colleagues who he felt wouldn’t have the gumption (that or ‘b***s’) to call up a Stuote or Moore on the phone for a quote.
Come on Drone- I’d say, despite the Imperial Commander outcome, that campaign did quite a bit of good for racing’s PR. After all how many Champions League finals have been poor? That doesn’t stop them pitching the next one as if its the be-all-and-end-all of footballing history.
We should be selling the sport for what it is (or can be at its best) – a thrilling event which pitches man and beast into an arena where no quarter is given, where one tiny error separates the winners and losers and where the outcome hangs on a knife-edge. The racecourse should be sold as a modern-day Colloseum.
Crikey, I’ve even psyched
myself
up to a frenzy there. Off for my cocoa to calm down.
Is the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes – Britain’s only 3yo+ 12f Group 1 – not taking place this year?
Selling a match-up on the chance one might take place, with massive hype, doesn’t seem to be a structured, long-term approach.
Providing the media with a "race of the century" quote in July about Frankel taking on Canford Cliffs is one thing. Expecting a new "race of the century" in August between Frankel and So You Think (just a possible example) at York to receive the similar coverage is another.
I remember a few friends of mine who had no interest at all in racing, apart from the annual flutter on the Grand National, asking me who I thought would win out of Pennekamp and Celtic Swing in the 95′ Guineas. I was pretty new to the game back then, so it had no real significance at the time. I even recall a few strangers coming in my local bookies to have a bet on that race specifically, before shuffling out…
Sixteen years later, and with the exception of the odd Gold Cup, none of my non-racing friends or associates have asked my opinion on a flat race since – not even the Derby – and I’m pretty sure there have been many opportunities to ramp up interest.
I’m sure someone else must remember the build up and how they managed to go about selling the clash back then in 95 (cross-channel rivalry? I think ‘Grandstand’ may have had an influence thinking about it) but iirc, it seemed it worked, did it not?. Or did it somehow sell itself?
For me, the prospects of any potential clash of two champions on the flat is flogging a dead horse. If it has no ‘freak factor’, ‘david and goliath’ or juicy well-documented pre-race scandal surrounding it, then it’s lost on joe public. It’s a waste of time and money. That’s the reality.
Not sure how Duval thinks
any
mid-season summer flat race can ‘sell itself’. Mystifying stuff.
The fact remains that with the race falling on a wednesday, the vast majority of non-racing fans will be working or doing "other things" that day, and no amount of aggressive promoting will persuade them to head to Goodwood, or to find the nearest tv or radio in order to catch the Frankel vs Canford Cliffs showdown – and simply because they have no interest whatsover in any horse race outwith the Grand National.
I tend to side with Mr. Duval here, in the respect that this particular race already sells itself to nearly all racing fans, without exception – the hardcore, as well as the fairweather variety. Those others with any smidgen of interest will make sure they, a) tune in, b) bet on the race, or c) do both – promotion or no promotion.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
The fact remains that with the race falling on a wednesday, the vast majority of non-racing fans will be working or doing "other things" that day, and no amount of aggressive promoting will persuade them to head to Goodwood, or to find the nearest tv or radio in order to catch the Frankel vs Canford Cliffs showdown – and simply because they have no interest whatsover in any horse race outwith the Grand National.
I tend to side with Mr. Duval here, in the respect that this particular race already sells itself to nearly all racing fans, without exception – the hardcore, as well as the fairweather variety. Those others with any smidgen of interest will make sure they, a) tune in, b) bet on the race, or c) do both – promotion or no promotion.
I think this post hits the nail on the head. Unless you are a racing fan you are not going to be watching the Sussex Stakes whoever runs in it because who will take time out from work etc for something that doesn’t really mean anything to them?
RFC are my pet hate anyway I really can’t stand them. Why are we trying to get more people into the sport anyway? Attendances are very good on the whole we do not need to attract a load of yobs. Keep racing for racing fans – what is wrong with doing that?
Corm , out of the tiny goldfish bowl that is racing , the wider world dont care too much about british racing , most of them when asked think its a bent affair run for the rich and benefits the bookies
On the Wed in question , how many non racing folks will stop working and head for a betting shop ……..very few
If it was on a saturday (it soon will be methinks ) I guess a few more would watch for curiosity
The question is what can be done to get more folks involved and have a bet on it , go and see it live (good luck with that project )
I detest RFC , but in fairness they have an uphill battle to climb , probably the first step would be for Roy and mates to go , and have a complete restructure ….
will pigs fly ….nope
Ricky
Corm,
Did Nicklaus v Watson turn you into a lifelong golf fan?
Did Borg v McEnroe turn you into a tennis fan?
Did Johnson v Lewis turn you into an athletics fan?
I rather doubt it, because to appreciate the quality of those head to heads, you had to have an understanding of the background of the sports involved, and of how the contestants had reached the peak of their sport.
You can’t explain the significance of the Lockinge/Queen Anne winner meeting the 2000 Gns/St James Palace winner to someone that doesn’t know what those races mean or when and where they are staged.
And if you think you can, why not give it a try – give us a ‘marketing piece’ designed to attract a newcomer to racing to the Sussex Stakes in 300 words.
AP
I don’t think there should be too much marketing until nearer the time. Just in case one does not turn up. Sure, it isn’t a two horse race, but unless Dick Turpin (the Imperial Commander of the field) takes them on, can’t see them both beaten unless it’s pace related.
So what about marketing it something like:
Clash of the Titans and running styles. Potentially the race of the century.
Last year’s effortless winner
Yet he goes in against the relentless,
Frankel is frankly marvelous, but can he top the Cliff?Value Is Everything
- Total Posts 17716
Far too literate and imaginative, Ginger.
I suggest something simpler – nay, an aphoristic tweet:
CUM AN SEE FRANKL V. CANFUD CLIFFS
FREE BEER TENT!
I’ve suggested this line to RfC, who are enthusiastic.
- Total Posts 17716
I don’t think there should be too much marketing until nearer the time. Just in case one does not turn up. Sure, it isn’t a two horse race, but unless Dick Turpin (the Imperial Commander of the field) takes them on, can’t see them both beaten unless it’s pace related.
So what about marketing it something like:
A clash of the Titans and running styles. Potentially the race of the century.
Last year’s effortless winner Canford Cliffs, a horse who last time defeated French trained World Champion and winner of an unheard of 13 top class races, wonder-horse Goldikova. Defending Goodwood Champion jockey Richard Hughes set a new record of 9 Glorious Goodwood winners in 2010 including Canford Cliffs. The "Mauler From Marlborough", is a Royal Ascot winner three years running and has a change of speed seldom seen on a racecourse.
Yet he goes in against the relentless, Frankel, a front runner who sustains terrific pace from start to finish. Trained by a man beloved in racing circles, who’s come back from cancer, the recently knighted Sir Henry Cecil. Never has a Classic been won so early. A mile clear before half the race was completed. A horse rated the best in decades, is he the best of all time?
Frankel is frankly marvelous, but can he top the Cliff?
I don’t think someones illness should be glorified, has nothing to do with the horses in question.
I would cringe if anything you wrote up come Ginger!
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