by Hans Ebert
The weather gods can never be controlled. They march to the beat of their own drum. And though there were some commoners’ type faux pas at Royal Ascot this year, there was no taking away from the fact that this is where jockey Oisin Murphy became a game changer.
This is not to take anything away from the exploits and successes of Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore, William Buick, Jim Crowley and others. But times change.
What happened at Ascot this year on horse racing’s most prestigious stage was a very obvious changing of the guard. The baton was being passed to a new generation of riders with Oisin Murphy being the global torch bearer and his Neptunes Sports Management building the Oisin brand.
No matter how much some may huff and puff, change can’t be stopped in any industry. Horse racing has often either been late in coming to the party or else reluctant to man up and accept the fact that ageism has caught up with it- as a pastime and as a sport struggling to compete with everything else being served up to those at the same buffet table.
At Royal Ascot, there was something actually approaching excitement happening in the recipe used for the “cake in the Oisin”- something young, relevant, articulate, likeable and in sync with the times and racing’s future. It had to happen.
After all, they’re even changing the guard at Buckingham Palace and that sense of history is not what it was. One wishes it could be, but…
Could the presentation of those five days of Ascot been better? Of course it could have. The presentation of the actual horse racing wasn’t as random as what continues to be shown from Japan, but it was still pretty ordinary stuff for the pastime’s growing television audience.
As for having some bloke with a pogo stick as a microphone trudge through what aren’t exactly fields of gold and try to interview a rider after a gruelling race over 2000 metres and ask the most inane questions? Dear gawd, who comes up with these “innovations” in absurdity?
As for racing’s cardboard cutout type presentation ceremonies, these, wherever they take place, also hardly make for great television.
If anything, these presentations, especially in 2021, other than scattering that streaming or home television audience, show up the great divide that exists between the Haves and the Have Nots and the wannabes. Yet, these pedestrian exercises in photo opps continue because this is how it’s always been.
Despite all the talk about being “customercentric”, the blinkers are firmly kept on and things carry on whether no one is on course or online or on anything. It continues to be an ageing members only club with some extras brought in to create “atmosphere”.
If horse racing wants to be seen as being part of the bigger world of sports entertainment, there’s a need to understand exactly where it belongs- and how it can own this space. But with what?
This is where, especially technology-driven business partners and sponsors with their own marketing machinery like Apple TV must come into play. They should have come into play at least a decade ago.
What’s there, however to attract them and audiences when all they ever see and read are the bad news bears and reportage about the gambling albatross and how there’s been another Baffert brick in the wall?
Of course, the perception that horse racing is “bad” is not going to be easy to change. But, who amongst the leaders of this industry are going to tackle this head on once and for all without trotting out the same old arguments?Anyone out there?
Meanwhile, the captive market of racing’s purists aren’t going anywhere until forced to be passengers on that mystery train leaving for the coast.
It’s well and good looking at and implementing Big Picture business models, but, more often than not, these take years to complete, and most of this news is attractive enough to be understood by consumers and the mainstream media.
It’s racing kept in its own little bubble- and it’s an old bubble- where the media and wagering landscapes have been allowed to carry on as if the world is still in the Nineties.
To move forward, it’s all about timing and knowing Use By dates and admitting when one has outstayed their welcome.
It’s about learning and being inspired by what’s come before, and from this, seeing how to remain relevant without trying to force it.
The plastic fantastic is as easily spotted as faked out social media numbers and those masquerading as marketing gurus.
In the entertainment industry, think about how the eightysomething Quincy Jones has remained relevant.
Q is an extraordinary force of human nature who’s gone from being a musician to being a record producer and has worked with everyone from Lesley Gore and Michael Jackson to Oprah and Steven Spielberg. He has kept changing with the times.
Who is and where is horse racing’s Quincy Jones and the new game changers?
Love him or not, one cannot ignore Mark Zuckerberg. He saw Facebook becoming an online meeting place for the more mature visitor, and something that wasn’t attractive enough to be accepted by a younger demographic. This is why he created Instagram.
Those running horse racing should realise that right now, they might have a Facebook- might- but what’s also needed is its own version of Instagram- something young and vital with a future and sponsorship appeal to big consumer brands. Any successful business is always judged by the company it keeps. There’s a rub-off effect.
Oisin Murphy, Joao Moreira, Hollie Doyle, James McDonald, Zac Purton, Jamie Kah, Tom Marquand- these are all very marketable (and young) racing personalities who are brands waiting to happen.
These are brands horse racing needs to reinvigorate a pastime that needs more than a forklift and facelift. It needs a blood transfusion.
While we’re at it, and closer to home base, with the Greater Bay Area project accelerating, there’s the China market with its own social media platforms and massive numbers of followers.
Imagine what smart and strategic lifestyle marketing in Chinese can do for horse racing in Hong Kong by introducing the billions on the mainland to jockeys like boom apprentice Jerry Chau, Matthew Poon, and Vincent Ho.
Imagine attracting a big business name like Alibaba. And if the content veers away from anything to do with gambling, perhaps Tencent.
Content- the right content- and those capable of creating and presenting this by able to see the forest for the trees- is everything.
It’s time to stop imagining.
It’s time to stop thinking about what cannot be done, but what can and how to make the impossible happen.
As Mr Nike says, it’s time to Just Do It.
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