BLENHEIM PALACE HORSE TRIALS

Galloping ahead

Ian Renton, regional managing director, and David Mackinnon, head of operations, discuss The Jockey Club’s new role as organiser of Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials

While The Jockey Club’s long and distinguished history in horseracing is world-famous, its delivery of this year’s Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials (BPIHT) was the organisation’s first venture into the wider spectrum of horse sport.

Ian Renton, The Jockey Club’s regional managing director, is BPIHT’s new event director. He hopes that The Jockey Club’s involvement will help bridge the gap between horseracing and eventing, which have different governing bodies.

He explained: “It is very exciting for us to get involved with massive international horse trials and for us to be able to apply The Jockey Club’s expertise and experience to such a thrilling sport.

“All equestrian events can learn from each other. Both sports have two different governing bodies so I hope that The Jockey Club and BPIHT can bridge that gap.”

SHARING EXPERTISE

Renton saw Blenheim Palace’s invitation to tender for the running of BPIHT as an exciting and interesting opportunity; an opportunity for The Jockey Club to share its operational and commercial expertise.

“It’s been brilliant to use our team, who have already done a huge amount at Cheltenham. It’s exciting for us to have a bite at something as exciting as this.

“The budget we have is not the same as Cheltenham, as the revenue is not there, and we have to balance the books, but we do want to increase expenditure so that we can increase the facilities.”

HUGE JIGSAW

The Jockey Club does have plans for BPIHT. However, firstly, it was important to deliver on this year’s event, which did feature several new elements. These were overseen by David Mackinnon, regional head of operations at The Jockey Club, who was supported on site by Rebecca Elvin, operations manager, Kenny MacDonald, technical event manager, and Rupert Bassadone, founder of Event Site Design, who was responsible for site layout and site management.

Mackinnon said: “We wanted to focus on improving the experience for owners, riders and visitors so there have been no dramatic changes to the footprint at BPIHT; we’ve used the same areas, but we are using them differently.”

Mackinnon said that he and his team have had a real opportunity to try things out, develop the course and event throughout. For example, when The Jockey Club was appointed to deliver BPIHT, it appointed an advisory committee. Its advice impacted operational measures.

Mackinnon explained: “One of dressage’s disciplines was in a ‘peripheral’ area… a car park. The committee advised that for a prestigious event they felt that the car park was not the right location. So, we looked at the site plans with fresh eyes and moved some of the competition to the main arena.

All Images: © Peter Nixon/Nixon Photo

“However, you have this huge jigsaw. When you move one thing, it impacts on another so using Event Site Design [site planning experts] has been amazing. We’ve been able to look at everything, and how we can make everything work.”

EXPERIENCED HANDS

The Jockey Club has introduced hospitality for the first time, which has been well-received, and the event’s main arena has been “turned” so to visitors it looks like a diamond shape. It gives ticketholders great views of the palace. This is an important point.

The Jockey Club wanted to “take advantage” of the view and an iconic venue that “most of us would die to work in.” Therefore, Mackinnon and his team reconfigured the trade stand area. It meant that all visitors walking through the trade stand avenues had improved sight lines and a view of Blenheim Palace. Plus, the new layout helped with crowd flow.

But that’s not all… The Jockey Club tweaked the site’s accreditation procedures and introduced new access control technology.

“We’ve been comforted by the experienced hands around us,” continued Mackinnon. “Those that have been on the journey with us, with regards to the redesign, have gone ‘ooh, that really works’.”

FRESH EYES

The Jockey Club appointed a mix of “loyal” Jockey Club and BPIHT suppliers. Mackinnon commented: “Supply chain was first and foremost about recognising challenges in terms of a hugely different year and our first port of call has been about loyalty to individuals who have worked with us before. In conjunction with that we have a large supply base of Jockey Club contracts and bolted on top of them as well. There are a number of suppliers here who we have a long-standing relationship with at Cheltenham, for example, such as GL events and Arena, so we were able to bolt on to those contracts.”

According to Mackinnon, The Jockey Club’s major relationships have been helpful and have created value. He said the whole experience of working on the event has been “highly emotional” and that building BPIHT has resulted in “more collaboration” within the organisation than it has been used to. For example, The Jockey Club has had to liaise with other organisers that have been using the site for events that precede BPIHT. Lessons have been learned, which will be drawn on in 2022.

Mackinnon concluded: “We’ve had an opportunity to look at BPIHT with fresh eyes. Sport is leading the way here and the customer experience is hot on its heels. In terms of the future, we’ve got plenty of thoughts and ideas so watch this space.”

SUPPLIERS LIST

Temporary structures – GL events UK, LH Woodhouse and Oxford Marquees Grandstand seating – Arena AV and comms – DB Pixels Toilets – Andy Loos Traffic management – CTM Fencing – Hire and Storage PA – Showhire Trackway – Sunbelt Rentals Portable buildings – Wernick Events