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We have another good horse on our hands, perhaps a great one, in Sprinter Sacre. He runs fast, jumps well and looks good. Racing For Change will be seeking ways to make the best of him and his promise. Unlike Frankel, we know that, barring injury, Sprinter Sacre will be around for a few years, which is a further bonus.
But how do you get across to a non-racing person just how exciting a horse is? That is always the problem. People have no current context to place Frankel or Sprinter Sacre in.
It’s fine for us to cry brilliance and speed and but even we, the experts, would be hard pushed to just look at a horse or a race outside of the context we are used to. Think about this: you lose your memory and spend some time in hospital. One sunny day you wake up and see a race on TV, a dozen horses galloping round Tattenham Corner. Fairgrounds and cheering crowds are in the background but the sound is turned down.
Would you be willing to bet you are watching The Derby? Could it be a class 3 handicap? A selling plate?
Horses running fast mean little to non-racing folk. With football, everybody can applaud a wonderful goal; they know how difficult it is to score one, even if they’ve never played the game.
So how do we convey the brilliance of good horses? How about circulating a nice colour graphic to the media showing Red Rum only halfway along the Grand National run-in while Sprinter Sacre is passing the post? "When Red Rum was the same age as Sprinter Sacre, this is how far behind he would have been."
You needn’t go in to ratings, or different trips to complicate matters. To many, Red Rum was the greatest horse of all time: full stop. Racing should use that perception to help the public give some context and to whet appetites for coming along to see ‘The horse who would have hammered Red Rum"
This is a difficult question and one I am faced with quite often. In the post-Hello Bud excitement on Saturday, I told a non-racing friend about how brilliant it was that he could win at 14, how most horses are retired by that age etc. She was completely unmoved and thought Sam Twiston-Davies should "get a grip" after his emotional interviews.
As far as the best horses are concerned, explaining the ratings is quite a good method, I find. Tell someone that Sprinter Sacre could run against a horse like Kinkeel carrying another 10 stone (or whatever the figure is) and still be expected to beat him. That gets across his superiority in a way that people can relate to.
Red Rum was around when most people in the country were still interested in racing and the National in particular.Also had the ‘was a cripple and trained behind a used car showroom’story. Dessie was white and always made the main news at Christmas when everyone was watching. Best Mate won three Gold Cups at a time when horses didn’t win multiple GC’s. He was also very beautiful and had slightly batty connections. Sprinter Sacre is very beautiful and talented, and that’s about it. Posh trainer, rich owners. No news there. My daughter who lost the tiny interest she had in racing when I bought her her own pony, has only once showed a slight interest in racing over the past few years and that is when she saw New Approach being led to the start on Derby day; she liked his attitude and quirkiness. SS needs to do something interesting. Swim the channel? Win the lottery? Marry a Spice Girl? Win the X Factor. Go in the Big Brother house……
Sprinter is all speed. Make the horse the star… give it time and he’ll be Sacre(d).
Value Is EverythingPossibly the thing against Sprinter Sacre becoming an immediate star is Nicky Henderson. He divides opinions and has had some recent bad press. Star horses either need a human interest or be seen to have some sort of character. For instance would Frankel have been so big without Henry Cecil?
Let the horse and story develop before pushing him into becoming the new star to those outside racing.
Sell the horse to Wayne Rooney?
Seriously, it is a waste of time. Racing is now a second division sport on television and while that situation remains it will have a limited audience. Five or six wins by said horse, however brilliant isn’t going to change that.
Sell the horse to Wayne Rooney?
Seriously, it is a waste of time. Racing is now a second division sport on television and while that situation remains it will have a limited audience. Five or six wins by said horse, however brilliant isn’t going to change that.
Agree.
You want to promote racing? Forget the horses…seriously. Sprinter Sacre could win the next three Champion Chases in spectacular style and he would be completely unknown outside racing. Ask any non-racing bod what the name of that great Henry Cecil horse that won so often this summer was and by now, you’ll just get blank stares. Followed by "who’s Henry Cecil?"
As Joe hinted, racing is basically lots of horses running around a track. To the uneducated, this means nothing. Unless one knows the form, the action is utterly meaningless. The very beauty of racing to me – it’s arcane nature, the endless search for a little bit of extra knowledge – is what makes it unpalatable to the majority. This will never change.
There was chat on here a few week’s ago about how Channel Four would be aiming to bring racing to a wider audience by concentrating on the fascinating ‘human stories’ behind the races. They did that with ‘Mastermind’ (not Master Minded!) giving a little bio of the competitors so we could learn about their caravanning holidays in Tenby. It was soon dropped. In my experience most trainers, owners and jockeys aren’t even that interesting.
If you want to promote racing to the masses the best thing the powers-that-be can do is ensure that racecourses are colourful and exciting days out for punters. After all, a day at the races is still the overwhelming point of contact with the sport for non-afficianados. Get them coming back and you stand an outside chance of converting some.
Well, maybe.
Mike
Red Rum was a rag-to-riches story, he started out in cheap sprint races and made his way to the biggest jumps race in the world. It was a much different era, too. He had 110 lifetime starts; Sprinter Sacre won’t race half that much. Consider that Red Rum had 12 starts in his 1971-72 season alone.
Furthermore The 2 mile chases that Sprinter Sacre runs in are nowhere near as well recognized by the general public as the Grand National or even the Cheltenham Gold Cup/King George/other "real" chases.
I also think it’s premature to be crowning a 6yo 2-miler who is just graduating from novice races the next Red Rum! Even one who is winning with such style.
Henry Cecil horse that won so often this summer was and by now, you’ll just get blank stares. Followed by "who’s Henry Cecil?" Mike
I think if they old enough to remember Red Rum then they might associate Henry Cecil with Lester Piggott.
Although it’s true racing will probably never be as big in the public’s eye again, we can try and do things to help interest.
In a small way, would it help to replace some of the names of some of our top races? Naming them after people/horses some might have heard of?
"The Ginger" would be nice!
Value Is EverythingGood idea, Ginger. The ‘One Direction Cross-Country H’Cap Chase’ would be a good place to start, given the navigation problems many jockeys seem to suffer.
Miss Woodford is right; easy wins in an uncompetitive division will not do the horse justice. Imagine if we looking forward to a Gold Cup with Sprinter Sacre, Bobsworth, Flemenstar, Sir Des Champs, S Conti, Al Ferof, Long Run; mouth-watering.
Frankels’s profile suffered in the same way; an umambitious campaign
meant he never received the recognition he deserved, either from the international racing community or the general public.
Come on Nick, give the GC a go.Red Rum became a household name solely due to his Grand National exploits. The Great British ( and Irish ) public : i.e. man, woman and child generally have some sort of wager on the outcome of the race – although its overall popularity has definitely waned over the past couple of decades.
Desert Orchid, largely because he was grey, was another NH horse who found his way into the public consciousness. Before them, Arkle was more famous than HM the Queen.
Because of their longer careers, NH horses inevitably resonate more with people.
On the flat, only Nijinsky and Shergar have achieved anything remotely close in terms of public recognition within the British Isles – likewise Phar Lap and Black Caviar in Australia.
Sadly, horse racing’s general appeal has diminished, and with the BBC no longer covering our beloved sport, the prognosis for any upturn on that score is not encouraging.
Kauto Star’s light glimmered momentarily, as did Frankel’s, but sadly, it will take something quite astronomic for Sprinter Sacre’s star to be noticed throughout the land – as brilliant as it is.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Although they are not popular at the moment due to recent events, perhaps we could take a leaf out of the Australian’s book when it comes to promoting our famous horses. Black Caviar was known across the country. How did the Aussies manage to project her outside the racing community like that?
Miss Woodford is right; easy wins in an uncompetitive division will not do the horse justice. Imagine if we looking forward to a Gold Cup with Sprinter Sacre, Bobsworth, Flemenstar, Sir Des Champs, S Conti, Al Ferof, Long Run; mouth-watering.
Frankels’s profile suffered in the same way; an umambitious campaign
meant he never received the recognition he deserved, either from the international racing community or the general public.
Come on Nick, give the GC a go.To be fair, anyone with no idea; a biased, idiotic, non factual or out of date opinion would think that. Wouldn’t they?
Why don’t we get rid of every other distance bar staying chasers? Everything else doesn’t matter.
Value Is EverythingMiss Woodford is right; easy wins in an uncompetitive division will not do the horse justice. Imagine if we looking forward to a Gold Cup with Sprinter Sacre, Bobsworth, Flemenstar, Sir Des Champs, S Conti, Al Ferof, Long Run; mouth-watering.
Frankels’s profile suffered in the same way; an umambitious campaign
meant he never received the recognition he deserved, either from the international racing community or the general public.
Come on Nick, give the GC a go.To be fair, anyone with no idea; a biased, idiotic, non factual or out of date opinion would think that. Wouldn’t they?
Why don’t we get rid of every other distance bar staying chasers? Everything else doesn’t matter.
Temper, temper.
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