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The Tuesday Take: I couldn’t understand the best ad I’ve seen for racing

Advertising, it’s getting people to engage with your product by effective messaging. Rule number one? Make your messages understood, right? Well I’m starting to think perhaps not. The best advertisement I’ve seen for racing in the last year was in Japanese. I don’t need to send you my CV for you to know – I don’t speak Japanese…

It’s a simple ad really. Dare I say – nothing special in a way. Evocative images of a day at the races. However, something hit me and it wasn’t that I had spotted a Japanese grammatical error. It’s that it’s not about a day at the races. It’s about the ways that we enjoy the races during our day. The couple watching TV at home. The professional watching on their iPad in a coffee shop. A young woman watching on her phone.

This resonated with me. Some of my best days at the races were not spent at the races. I watched Cabaret Queen win the Munster National in a bar in London. I watched Sea The Stars win the Derby in a hay barn in Tinnakill. I placed a bet on State of Rest to win the Saratoga Derby for the groom at a wedding I was at and had the wedding party hunched around an iPhone to shout him home – if you told me it would have been more exhilarating if I was there I wouldn’t have believed it.

We’re proud to have owners from all around the world – they don’t need to be in Gowran Park or York to get the same thrill as those on track after a winner. The way we experience our sport has evolved – it’s a digital experience not just a tactile one. We love bringing that to life with our communication. I love the shrill of the bookies ring at Galway but I think it’s also okay to acknowledge the joy of pulling over your car and cheering home your chosen steed.

So how do we get your eyeballs engaged with our sport beyond your loyal readership of the Tuesday Take. There are two paths we can take.

In basketball, the NBA has been proactive in allowing its content to be distributed across several different platforms, which has meant they’ve been able to extend their reach in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. They are not precious about their image rights, they let their image rights increase the value of their underlying sport by allowing their biggest moments go viral not hidden beyond a paywall.

In contrast, World Rugby were highly restrictive during last year’s World Cup – one of rugby’s greatest assets is their fanaylst community – the best for my money is Squidge Rugby. Instead of his informative work being celebrated and empowered during the World Cup – the logical move during such a vital year – they decided to take down a marquee video reviewing the Rugby World Cup Final that would have amassed a million views. As we are seduced by media rights income, we must chose the path the is proactive not protective to further grow our sport.

In 2023, the Japanese Racing Association announced their Tote betting handle for 2023 was ¥3,275,467,907,000 – that’s not my phone number, it’s coverts to $34 billion dollars of cold hard cash. This represents the 12th straight year of growth for Japanese betting – the growth of their sport is so relentless it will be a teenager next year. I spent a summer working on a Japanese stud farm and what struck me was the fandom – the passion to identify with individual horses, the experience – cheap to attend, world class to enjoy and the prize money – it helps when you have the world’s best Tote monopoly.

In creating this ad the Japanese Racing Association are celebrating not only the ways we enjoy our sport but also the ways we fund our sport. Each of these participants enjoying the race away from the course is likely adding to the equine economy by betting, ownership or maybe just buying a plush toy of their favourite horse. Every time you watch a race you are casting a vote in favour of the future of the sport. It feels weird to acknowledge it but that investment from your armchair can make as much of a contribution as that of going racing.

Want to make a difference for our sport? Maybe Japan is sending us a message. Perhaps it’s no harm to sit on the couch.


Jack’s Pick of the Week

Far Above

Look it’s January – I need to calm down but the breeze-up chatter is starting to begin so this week you’ll have to indulge me. Stallions are a bit of an overwhelming responsibility. You select them. You promote them. You breed to them. You foal them. You raise them. And then – you wait. Will they be fast? I really can’t tell you but what I can tell you is they have passed every test so far. Great numbers, excellent foals and now the first reports of an ability to gallop. Eddie Lenihan is a top class judge – he sold one of Havana Grey’s earliest stakes horses and sent a tweet yesterday to say Far Above catching his eye. It’s too early but my excitement is undimmed – it’s a big year ahead and that’s why he had to be my pick of the week.

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