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I think it would be better going all-out as a team event, rather than the half-way house it is now. At present it is marketed as a team event but team riding is strictly against the rules and I’m sure jockeys owners and trainers don’t really care much about the team aspect. They get paid on team result, same as every other race.
No, make it a proper team event. Allow team tactics, remunerate connections based on team result, have betting on team positions.
worth a try for a year.
Neither owners nor, I suspect punters, would allow team tactics. It sort of happened once by accident, quite a few years ago, and was immediately stamped out, quite correctly, by the stewards.
The jockeys get rewarded in 3 ways – they get their normal prize money percentages, a prize depending on where their team comes and there is a financial reward included with the Silver Saddle ie the individual performance.
This year Ascot have got uninterrupted coverage on ATR from next year the competition will have to share the day with Haydcock, Newmarket and Redcar (if the fixtures are the same) on Racing UK.
So it could become just another day in the race calendar if RUK cannot give it the prominence ATR have today.
Good point Steve, I’m sure Racing UK won’t be able to give the meeting the same level of coverage due to having to fit in so many other fixtures. In my view they should move the event to Sunday next year where it can give the fixture comprehensive coverage.
This year Ascot have got uninterrupted coverage on ATR from next year the competition will have to share the day with Haydcock, Newmarket and Redcar (if the fixtures are the same) on Racing UK.
So it could become just another day in the race calendar if RUK cannot give it the prominence ATR have today.
Good point Steve, I’m sure Racing UK won’t be able to give the meeting the same level of coverage due to having to fit in so many other fixtures. In my view they should move the event to Sunday next year where it can give the fixture comprehensive coverage.
I think Sunday will be a no brainer Phil.
There is no way C4 would show any, yet alone all, the races on a Sunday.
The sponsors would not be keen without terrestrial coverage.
Finally the supporting features around the meeting would also not work on a Sunday
It was worth watching for two masterclass rides: Mosse and Gary Stevens. Gary led nowhere but the line yet barely used his whip – wonderful. Horses might well be the stars of the show, but watching top jocks deploy skills and finesse is a joy, imo.
To most attending Ascot, and, I suppose, many other big Saturday meetings, jockeys are just little guys who get animated at the business end and wave funny-shaped sticks around. If there were come way to convey to the masses the levels of expertise at play in every race, I think it would, at worst, enhance enjoyment, at best stimulate an interest that might last for life.
As for marketing, racing will always be a sport you either get or you don’t. All the marketers can really do is throw as many bodies at it as possible and hope a few stick. So long as no harm is being done to the sport, well, any marketing is better than none.
The perception that there is some secret marketing mix that will suddenly bring huge numbers of new fans is a pipedream. Part of the sport’s attraction, I think, is that those who do ‘get it’ feel blessed.
We are the people!
It may well pull in the crowds, as do the meetings around the country where after racing concerts are held. But doesn’t that prove that the people marketing racing have given up trying to sell racing as a great sport and relied upon completely unrelated activities to increase attendances?
Comparing Shergar Cup day with a concert with low grade racing attached is not comparing like for like.
From your comments it is clear you have never attended Shergar Cup Day – more than any other race day an attempt is made to explain to those on course what is happening.
The jockeys and trainers are far more accessible than usual and even those who are already racing fans get the chance to see some top International jockeys live.
Don’t be fooled by the "team" branding – there is decent money at stake for the top jockey of the afternoon as well as the kudos.
At the end of the day it is one meeting out of some 1,500 and I believe is does far more good for the sport than it does bad.
The courses who should be criticised are those like Epsom and Sandown who stage a concert then pay lip service to the racing by framing a card of low grade races most punters would not even pay a tenner to watch.
The fact remains that a lot of very highly paid executives charged with the task of widening the appeal of racing have failed dismally. They are using the high attendance figures resultant from marketing rock/pop concerts to justify their actions and nobody in authority is asking them to explain how they intend converting a new generation of kids into racing enthusiasts.
The solution would be to hold the concerts on non-racing days so that the tracks continue to benefit from the income generated. Then the marketing executives would have no hiding place and be forced to come up with racing related solutions to the dilemma of widening the sport’s appeal.
I was away over the weekend so didn’t tune in to the Shergar Cup. However I passed a few advertisements for the Shergar Cup on the tube last night on my way back. Well, you wouldn’t have known it by looking at the adverts. They simply listed off the bands playing on Saturday – no "Shergar" or "Cup" to be found.
I’ve been venting about this for well over a decade now so the record is wearing thin, but is racing really so insecure that it is utterly incapable of marketing its own product? It was bad enough seeing huge billboard ads for the Derby a couple of years ago with not a photo of a horse in sight (but a Zebra for Investec if that counts). Surely some serious questions need to be asked here?
I’ve attended Shergar Cup day at ascot in the past and, while everyone seems to enjoy a summer card with competitive handicaps at an outstanding venue, very few people seemed to care about the actual team contest among the jockeys.
In fact, very few people seem to be taking any notice at all of what is coming over the tannoy all day long generally.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Gary Stevens may well have ridden a good race in the last, but in the previous race he rode a stinker. He totally ignored the trainers orders to sit covered up and took on Gary Moore’s other horse, a front runner who needs to be left alone, and effectively took both horses out of the race.
I suppose, if I’m to put my tuppence worth in, I watch racing and enjoy it very much, but it really is the betting aspect which makes me pour over races for hours on end if I’m honest.
Don’t get me wrong, the Cheltenham Festival gives me palpitations even without a penny on, but it just makes it perfect when you have the expectation that your horse (and it is your horse when you’ve got money on it) may just get his (or her) nose in front and you have been a right clever clogs beating the bookie.
As for the Shergar Cup, I’ve already nailed my colours to the mast that I’m a jumps man, and it takes particular flat races to get my interest, so the bottom line is the Shergar Cup just doesn’t do it for me. I have so little interest in the meeting as a betting prospect that I simply don’t watch it. It’s more like a family fun day with your uncle racing against your neighbour in the sack race. They are all very amenable at the end, and it’s jolly good fun, but "it’s racing, but not as we know it Jim".
That being said, it’s one day in the year so I don’t have any problem with it, whether people enjoy it for the right or wrong reason (if a day out at the fair with candyfloss, roundabout rides and Pimm’s number whatever is wrong)so I am more than happy for it to carry on, but I’m afraid I will be posted absent without leave.
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