The difficulties of promoting major Flat races in the face of uncertain running plans may be seen from the latest viewing figures from Channel 4 Racing, showing that last week’s Juddmonte International Stakes at York achieved a slightly smaller audience than the same race last year. A peak figure of 468,000 for last Wednesday’s race is disappointing on the face of it, following a full week’s anticipation of the clash between Golden Horn and Gleneagles, although the final figure was surely undermined by the fact that Gleneagles was withdrawn due to rain-softened ground about two hours before the race.
That peak was 4% down on last year’s International, also a high-quality contest, in which the dual Derby winner Australia beat The Grey Gatsby. Though those who tuned in last week did not see the promised head-to-head they still witnessed a sensational race in which the previously unbeaten Golden Horn narrowly failed to reel in the 50-1 shot Arabian Queen.
The non-appearance of Gleneagles last week continued something of a theme, since he also failed to turn up for last month’s Sussex Stakes, in which he was due to meet Solow, while Ascot’s King George suffered from the late withdrawal of Golden Horn. On both occasions heavy recent rain prompted connections to seek alternative targets.
Channel 4 on Monday reported that the King George’s peak audience of 634,000 all but matched the figure for last year’s race while the Sussex Stakes achieved a 6% increase in its peak audience at 462,000 compared with last year, when Kingman took on Toronado. That figure would surely have been more impressive had Gleneagles not been taken out of the Goodwood race two days beforehand.
“Obviously it is a disappointment to experience last minute non-runners but horses are not machines,” a spokeswoman for Channel 4 said. “Thankfully racing fans understand the nature of their sport and our strong peak figures for feature races seem not to have been affected by the non-runners.”
Still, there is a feeling among some at Channel 4 Racing and elsewhere in the sport that audiences for Flat racing are harder to build and retain than those for jumps racing, in which star horses have longer careers and their connections are less picky about recent weather conditions when sending them to the track. That idea was developed on Monday by Rod Street, the chief executive of Great British Racing.
“There is a bigger factor with Flat racing about the familiarity or rather lack of it,” he said. “We’re promoting what we feel is an exciting clash between two good horses but that assumes public knowledge of who they are. When it comes to three-year-olds, they’ve had a limited number of months for their names to resonate with the wider public.
“Frankel really only started to have an impact as a four-year-old, when his unbeaten record started to mean something. Black Caviar’s owners told me she didn’t resonate with the Australian public until her winning streak had gone into double figures. It takes time.
“If a horse has sprung to prominence by winning the Derby [as Golden Horn did], he’s only been around for two months by this stage. It’s expecting too much for the wider public to have made a connection with him. What’s really good for the sport is horses staying in training for longer.”
But Street pointed to a 10% increase in York’s attendance over the four days of last week’s Ebor meeting, along with other good attendance news this summer “as a sign that Flat racing is reaching people. We have to make sure they come back”.
Victoria Pendleton may have her first ride as an amateur jockey at Ripon next Monday. The Olympic gold medallist took part in a charity race at Newbury last month and has since completed the required course for obtaining an amateur’s licence, which the British Horseracing Authority may provide this week.
Pendleton has her eye on a race for amateurs who have ridden fewer than three winners. If all goes to plan, she will be aboard the Lawney Hill-trained Royal Etiquette, a low-rated animal who was able to win a similar contest last August.
