Introduction

This week, ahead of the Grand National on Saturday, we are delighted to welcome Nevin Truesdale to the show. Nevin is the CEO of The Jockey Club, the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the UK. It owns 15 of the country’s most famous racecourses, including Cheltenham and Aintree, as well as thoroughbred horse breeding farm ‘The National Stud’ and land management company ‘Jockey Club Estates’.

Horse racing is the UK’s second most attended sport, with nearly 6 million people visiting racecourses each year. It is a sport steeped in history and tradition, but has come under fire in recent years for not embracing change, appealing to younger audiences, and of course well documented animal welfare concerns. 

Nevin, who has been Chief Executive since 2020, gives us a very honest account of the challenges the sport faces, but at the same time, all of the positive steps being made and the developments successfully implemented to counter some of the critique levelled at racing. 

On the show, we discuss:

The success and history of racing:

• Where does racing sit in the UK and global sporting ecosystem in popularity and participation?
• The difference between jump and flat racing.
• What is the role of The Jockey Club? How has it influenced the sport over the last few hundred years and what is the organisation doing to ensure the sport continues to move forward.
• How is racing governed, and is it set up to be able to modernise and develop it’s proposition in this competition for eyeballs and attention?
• The importance of racecourses to local economies and an increasingly varied use of venues for commercial, events and social purposes.
• The international growth of the sport and the opportunities and challenges that presents to racing in the UK.

Challenging negative perceptions:

• Animal welfare issues have been a continuous issue for racing in recent times. How legitimate are these concerns and what is being done to improve safety in the sport.
• Accessibility and exclusivity. How The Jockey Club and the wider sport are tackling critiques around elitism and a lack of diversity, and how this is not an accurate representation of the sport.
• The fight to win the argument for reasonable opinion: how you are unlikely to change the minds of the most passionate critics, but it is the people in the middle that need to be convinced.
• How removing restrictions around dress codes and better cross platform communications can make the sport more appealing to the younger demographic.
• The importance of betting to racing, and the controls put in place to ensure people can participate in this side of the sport safely.

Media rights and content:

• How racing’s deal with ITV brings over 100 days of live racing to fans in the UK and continues to ensure the biggest events remain free-to-air.
• The opportunity to build relationships with ‘new media’ platforms, from social media companies to OTT platforms, and what that adds to the offering.
• The imminent release of a behind the scenes documentary in the summer will bring a new level of access to the world of racing and how it operates.
• Social media success has made some of the content produced a new staple in sporting TikTok and short form content. What is the impact of this on attracting new fans?

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