Jockey Club Live Sings A New Racecourse Tune

The Jockey Club has launched a new joint venture to secure, promote, and produce music and entertainment events at its 15 racecourses across the UK, known as Jockey Club Live.

The new joint venture will bring together Jockey Club Racecourses – the largest commercial group in British horse racing – and Live at the Races, a new music and entertainment event business formed by tour promoter Andrew Wilkinson and advertising and media executive Simon Halden.

As part of the deal, Wilkinson – a tour promoter for the last 25 years who has worked with artists including Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd and Shakira – will become the chief executive of the new joint venture.

The Jockey Club already puts on around 25 music events following its race meetings each year, with Kaiser Chiefs, Madness, McFly, and Meat Loaf all appearing on various bills across 2013, as more than 200,000 attended the Jockey Club’s ‘racing + music’ events.

In 2012, Jessie J, Tom Jones, Olly Murs (pictured) and Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons also took the stage.

According to the Jockey Club, the aim of the new joint venture is to increase the popularity and commercial performance of the Jockey Club’s live events, ‘through accessing popular artists, well-matched for a given venue; cost-efficiently improving production values; opening up new revenue streams, including producing events beyond the Jockey Club’s own venues.’

The new joint venture – signed after a reportedly competitive tender process – will also aim to bring in brand partners to support the events.

The move is not the first jump of innovation for the Jockey Club in the last twelve months, having launched the first ever retail bond in British sport early in 2013, raising nearly £25 million towards the redevelopment of Cheltenham Racecourse.

Wilkinson, who is also a non-executive racecourse committee director at the Jockey Club’s Wincanton Racecourse, said of the deal: ‘We are delighted to be working in partnership with The Jockey Club after winning the competitive tender process. The whole team are looking forward to working together to develop a range of initiatives and live entertainment opportunities to unveil soon for Jockey Club Live and positioning the joint venture at the forefront of live music and entertainment in the UK.’

Jockey Club Racecourse managing director Paul Fisher added: ‘In an increasingly competitive marketplace it’s essential we have access to talent that has been carefully identified as an excellent fit for each of our venues, as well as the latest marketing expertise. That has been at the heart of this tender process and the Live at the Races team shone through, as well as demonstrating a great understanding of the racing industry and a track record of access to brands who wish to associate themselves with entertainment programmes under commercial terms.’

‘This new joint venture approach as Jockey Club Live sets up both parties to share in success, evolving things from a client-supplier approach we used previously. I am hugely confident our live events will go from strength-to-strength through this partnership and we look forward to announcing a series of exciting developments, including a great line up of acts for 2014.’

The new arrangement replaces the Jockey Club’s deal with Liz Hobbs Group for the provision and production of music acts.