Tuesday 10 February, 2026 - The unprecedented health of major racing carnivals around the world was the focus of session three on day one of the 41st Asian Racing Conference in Riyadh on Tuesday, with industry leaders sharing their secrets to success.
After Mr Andrew Harding, Secretary General, Asian Racing Federation (ARF), opened the session titled ‘Marketing: Major Racing Carnivals’ by declaring that “in 2025 racing carnivals around the world shone brilliantly and illustrated quite emphatically both their strengths and indeed their future potential”, Ms Kylie Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, Victoria Racing Club, explained why a strategy targeting under 40s resulted in one of the best Melbourne Cup Carnivals ever seen.
With world-renowned DJ Fisher the closing act, the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival attracted its largest crowd since 2018, with 286,000 people converging on Flemington, and saw a 49.5 per cent increase in racegoers aged from 18 to 29.
“We had a superb Melbourne Cup Carnival last year, mainly because we had a brand new marketing and experience strategy that was really targeted and it was focused on the under 40s,” said Rogers.
“Our data has been telling this for some time – that new fans and younger customers are coming back to the track. We’ve really doubled down on that this year and went about this new experience and marketing strategy to build an authentic relationship with new fans.
“We wanted to bring everyone into the track. We wanted to create that festival vibe and create that social cohesion and make sure everyone was having fun.
“You have to have an offer for everyone, you have to have a creative space that’s different for each segment and you have to have a media mix that’s different for each segment because you’ve got to attract them with the right message.”
Just days out from the seventh running of the Saudi Cup, HRH Princess Nourah Al-Faisal, a designer, entrepreneur and industry leader who has worked with the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, outlined that drawing on the Kingdom’s rich history was key in making the event unique, as well as bringing more women into the sport, connecting to the younger generations and opening it up as a family event.
“I think for us it was about what the DNA of the event would be. It had to be something that was authentic, it had to be something that was representative, and it had to be something that was also different from all the other offerings,” she said.
“We were at a time where sport was quickly developing across many different fields, so what would make the Saudi Cup different, what would make it a draw? That really landed on the decision of going back to our roots.”
Ms Felicity Barnard, Chief Executive Officer, Ascot Racecourse, spoke of the six pillars that make up their marketing mix, with advertising, the importance of storytelling, content ensuring year-round engagement and an unparalleled on-site experience at the forefront.
Mr Mohamed Al Ahmed, General Manager, Jebel Ali Racecourse, explained how a focus on ensuring every race day was unique has served his organisation well.
“We wanted to invent something new, something that can bring a new generation of people into the races,” he said.
“We came up with an answer – why don’t we make every single race meeting incredible? It doesn’t matter what type of racing you have – the concept can bring people from different societies. That’s what we’ve done for the past three years and it has worked really well.”
After holding race days built around cultural celebrations like National Day and an Irish Race Day, community engagement concepts like the Ramadan Racing Festival, cross-industry partnership events like Motorsports Day and University & Student Days, the path forward for Jebel Ali is clear.
“Our aim for the future is to make 75 per cent of the racegoers understand the sport – not just to attend for the entertainment or hospitality side,” said Al Ahmed.
H.E. Ali Abdulrahman Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Racing Club, touched on the recent restructuring of the Dubai World Cup Carnival, adding things like Fashion Friday and Festive Friday, and the increase in attendances that has come with this.
With the 30th anniversary of the Dubai World Cup little more than a month away, Al Ali also spoke of how “we stopped selling tickets to races and we started selling tickets to experiences” to attract a wider audience throughout the carnival.
Mr Bill Carstanjen, Chief Executive Officer, Churchill Downs Incorporated, confirmed the Kentucky Derby is the crown jewel for Churchill Downs and revealed that the “special sauce” to one of the biggest weeks in American racing is “not just the racing and it’s not just the event – it’s the community”.
Mr Harding closed the session by expressing his hopes of finding a way of creating “something more global” from the similarities between the world’s best racing carnivals.
“Something we’re looking increasingly at in Hong Kong is racing tourism and is there not perhaps scope across the globe to make that another dimension of the great racing carnivals? That a racing fan in America might also enjoy going to Royal Ascot, going to Dubai or coming to Hong Kong,” he said.
