Jockeycam And Coral Launch VR Experience At Sandown
A pioneering virtual reality experience will give racegoers at next week’s Coral Summer Festival at Sandown Park, the chance to experience what it is like to ride a racehorse over the same course and distance as one of the world’s elite Flat races, the Coral-Eclipse, for the first time.
The new Virtual Race Experience is a collaboration between JockeyCam Ltd and betting firm Coral, whose support of the Coral-Eclipse is the longest-running sponsorship of any Group race in the world.
Fans at the Coral Summer Festival will be given VR headsets to wear, offering a 360-degree jockey’s eye-view to get them closer than ever before to the cut and thrust of a race at one of the UK’s most popular venues.
The footage was captured from a ‘race’ which was organised, staged and filmed by Coral and JockeyCam at Sandown Park on May 27th over the same 10 furlongs which some of the world’s best horses will compete over in next Saturday’s (July 2nd) Coral-Eclipse.
Simon Clare, Coral PR Director, commented, “Coral and JockeyCam are working together to get racing fans even closer to the action of this amazing sport than ever before.
“The 360-degree camera technology is just incredible and delivers the most realistic and intense experience of riding a racehorse over the exact same course and distance of the Coral-Eclipse which Coral has proudly sponsored since 1976, making it the longest-running sponsorship of any Group race in the world
“In line with our long-term commitment to race sponsorship in the UK, which stretches back to the early 1970s, we want to get as many people as possible closer to the action and will be taking the Virtual Race Experience to all our race sponsorships throughout the next couple of years.”
Sam Fleet, CEO of JockeyCam Ltd, said, “Most people have kicked a football or whacked a tennis ball but very few people have ridden a horse, let alone a racehorse.
“With the Virtual Race Experience it’s our intention to show what it’s like to ride in a race. It means people can feel really engaged with the sport and understand just how challenging a jockey’s job is.”
