£10m bid by racing to attract fans

Lydia Hislop13 April 2012

Leading sporting celebrities today joined top jockey Frankie Dettori to launch a high-profile campaign designed to attract new fans to horseracing.

Triple Olympic gold medallist rower Matthew Pinsent, former world snooker champion John Parrott and Olympic gold medallist hurdler Sally Gunnell have been signed up to racing's biggest promotion in its 300-year history.

At a press conference in the aptly named Jockey's Field at Gray's Inn Walk, London, today, BBC sports correspondent and Standard Sport columnist Clare Balding explained how the Discover Racing campaign was designed to break down the barriers between an eager public and a sport often seen as complicated and exclusive. Racing's biggest equine star, 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Desert Orchid, was also there.

It is hoped the £10 million investment in a variety of projects over the next three years will broaden the sport's customer base and increase racecourse attendances by 20 per cent - equivalent to one million new racegoers. Initiatives include a ground-breaking centralised booking system, allowing prospective racegoers to buy advance tickets for any fixture at Britain's 59 racecourses either online or via a new telephone information line.

National and regional promotions and competitions will complement the campaign and an interactive mobile exhibition unit will tour Britain's high streets.

Teresa Cash, the British Horseracing Board representative in this joint venture between the racing and bookmaking industries, said the informative www.discover-racing.com site offers a central point of access to information on going racing around the country for the first time.

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