By Ben Cleminson
WE ARE now just 24 hours away from the greatest four days of jump racing anywhere in the world.
Early tomorrow morning thousands of Londoners will pack themselves onto trains heading west from Paddington to enjoy the drama and delights of the Cheltenham Festival.
With 28 races over the four days, the very best horses from the UK and Ireland, a stunning backdrop, electric atmosphere and Guinness and champagne flowing by the gallon, it’s a week like no other.
The commercial success of the Festival over the past 20 years has been remarkable, but The Jockey Club, the largest racecourse group in Britain, cannot afford to sit still with huge competition from other sports and rights holders.
Given the tough economic climate, finding major sponsors might be seen as an unenviable task, but Jack Royle, Acting Director of Partnerships at The Jockey Club, is happy with where things are.
“We’re really excited because we’ve welcomed a number of new partners in the new year,” said Royle.
“We’ve taken a different approach over the last 18 months around how we’ve structured some of our partnership deals, and we’ve modernised our sponsorship strategy to keep up with other rights holders. That’s come to fruition now and has momentum.
“Aston Martin have joined us and will be activating at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time this week in their multi-year deal which is great for us.”
In addition to Aston Martin, My Pension Expert are the new sponsors of the Arkle Novices’ Chase, TrustATrader have put their name to the Festival Plate, insurance broker Gallagher are the new backers of the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle and Gold Cup sponsor Boodles have extended their deal by three years and become an Official Partner of The Jockey Club.”
It’s been a very busy few months for Royle and his team, but these deals show that horse racing continues to be an attractive option for brands.
“We have such a broad demographic of fan and that’s such a strength for racing,” said Royle.
“That’s because we can go to most brands and have a target audience that resonates with them. We can take more of a category approach.
“The types of deals coming through now give exclusivity for a brand in a particular space and they become that go-to brand proposition for the racing fan.
“There’s a lot more strength in doing that and, while we’re all looking forward to Cheltenham with real excitement this week, our Group partners also have assets that are activated throughout the year.
“They’ll be involved at Cheltenham, but you’ll see many of them pop up again at other events and leverage what we’re doing year-round.”
The Jockey Club has secured principal partners at some of its other flagship events in recent years, with Randox at Aintree’s Grand National meeting and Betfred at The Derby Festival, but now is the first time they are offering naming rights at the Cheltenham Festival. Why has this been decided now?
“We invest a lot of time and energy in finding the right partners that are passionate about what we’re doing,” said Royle. “We look for brands that can potentially engage fans and unlock new opportunities for us.
“Our new strategy is about leveraging the Group and the power of The Jockey Club collectively, and we are absolutely in the market for having a title partner of Cheltenham Festival for 2025 in keeping with that.
“They would get high impact exposure across the Festival through the naming rights, and other races across the Festival, but they’d also be involved on Grand National Day, on Derby Day and year-round through our other tracks across the country, as well as benefit from our significant fist party data and our digital channels.”
While traditional sponsorship methods such as naming a race or branding are still being used, rights packages have evolved considerably, according to Royle.
“It’s a holistic approach to how we sell now,” he said. “We’re not necessarily finding that brands prioritise naming a race anymore.
“The deals are multi-faceted. We’ve got lots of assets such as driving our digital channels, database activity, activation on the ground, and having genuine brand experiences at the event.
“There are lots of other ways brands partner with us to drive their business objectives.”
But what does racing have that other sports don’t and why the Cheltenham Festival? Royle is pretty clear in his response:
“When we look at other rights holders across sport and you look at the terrestrial TV coverage we have in racing, and the fact we’re nationwide and always on – we have a lot of strengths.
“There is, quite rightly, a huge boom in women’s sport at the moment, but where racing has been amazing for the last number of decades is that men and women are competing in the same field and with the same prize money.
“We have a huge narrative there that we’ve been telling already. It’s in the heart of our sport and I think we’ve got something really special there.”
But it’s back to the Festival, and those glorious four days in Gloucestershire, for Royle’s final point.
“It is the pinnacle of our sport. It’s four unbelievable days, the third largest attended sporting event in the UK,” said Royle.
“It’s a giant in its own right, but by adding the group benefits we’re giving longevity – we’re not just relying on one event when you pop up once a year.
“We’ve got that narrative leading into Cheltenham and we’ve got a fanbase that are just all over it.
“As a brand, you’ve got lots of opportunities to build around the customer journey and the excitement. There’s a huge amount we can offer.”
The Cheltenham Festival is Tuesday 12 to Friday 15 March. Tickets are selling fast but a limited number can be bought here: www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/cheltenham
