FOR THE LOVE OF RACING
Now and in the future
SHAPING RACING’S FUTURE
WELCOME FROM CHARLIE LIVERTON
In these uncertain times there are opportunities to drive forward our organisation and our sport with bold and exciting ideas. Our new strategy, set out throughout this document, is the manifestation of the ROA’s hard work to reimagine its long-term priorities in this context and shape a better, sustainable future for the sport of racing.
We want to create a world-class, modern and growing sport that brings the passion and excitement of racing to millions of people across the UK. That requires vision and a commitment to clear long term goals that will support ownership in racing, encourage the growth of our sport and modernise its structures.
First and foremost, we want to inspire generations of people into ownership, into the stables and into the world of racing. Racing can be a more open, welcoming and rewarding sport for those that are already part of the sport and those that want to get involved.
For owners, that means creating an experience that acknowledges and respects their contribution to the sport. It means delivering raceday experiences that reward and encourage people into the sport and retains the excitement for those already there.
We will be driving modernisation across the sport, ensuring commercial and governance structures are fit for the future. We must reduce barriers to entry and address the imbalances across the sport. Together we can create a progressive, fair and transparent sport that respects its participants.
That modernisation extends to the ROA. As we look to deliver on protecting the future of racing, we too need to change with the sport and build a stronger, representative organisation that can deliver these long-term objectives.
Working together is vital to this vision. Dealing with the challenges of COVID and delivering a better, growing sport over the next five or ten years will require calm minds, mutual respect and a strong desire to collaborate.
am excited about the opportunities for our sport and confident that this strategy will help drive long-term transformation.
The ROA will be at the forefront of change; for the love of racing and for the future of racing.
Charlie Liverton CEO, The
ROA
CHAMPIONING RACEHORSE OWNERSHIP
Founded in 1945, the Racehorse Owners Association exists to promote and protect the interests of racehorse owners in Great Britain – making ownership more enjoyable and rewarding for every owner who races their horse in the UK. As one of the British Horseracing Authority’s shareholders, we play a central role in helping progress the future of British racing. We recognise and develop the financial and emotional investment that owners contribute to the sport that makes horseracing possible.
23,537
Owners contribute to the racing industry through: horses in training (increased 5% in last 5 years) registered owners
8,364
Resulting in £621m gross expenditure on racing by owners, which:
• Indirectly supports the employment of 85,000 across the racing industry and supporting industries
• Pays trainers £374m a year in training fees, employing 592 trainers
• Pays £13.3m a year in riding fees, employing 450 jockeys
• Supports the racing industry’s £3.45bn contribution to the UK economy, incl. taxes of £275m
• Underpins the £12bn betting turnover on racing
• Keeps over 23,500 horses in training
• Provides runners for the 10,406 races a year
• Owners spent £430m on purchasing horses in 2018
• Delivering a racing product for 5.62m annual attendees (2019)
Progressive partnerships
• We work across horseracing and with many organisations beyond it to connect, support and promote owners’ interests and the sport of racing across the world.
VISION
To create a world-class, modern and growing sport that brings the passion of racehorse ownership and racing to millions as part of the UK’s social fabric.
MISSION
We want to shape a modern sport with a bright future.
Representing the interests of owners through rigorous advocacy
Promoting ownership and racing –its joys and benefits – to current and future generations
Securing the future of the sport through the modernisation of ownership, standards and funding
VALUES
COMMITTED INCLUSIVE
We are strong and single-minded in making ownership and horseracing more positive and progressive
We achieve more when we work with a diversity of stakeholders and opinions – our relationships are built on a shared love of the horse and the sport
PERSONALISED
We are a service orientated organisation and place owners at the centre of everything we do
PROFESSIONAL
We maintain the highest levels of independence and transparency to ensure we play a positive role in ensuring the future success of our sport
GOALS
BUILDING FOUNDATIONS FOR GROWTH
We’re evolving to meet the needs of owners and thrive within the changing landscape of the industry. By continually improving our governance and processes we will ensure the ROA is future-fit – ready to meet any challenge and primed for growth.
COLLABORATING ACROSS THE SPORT AND BEYOND
Our sport benefits when the industry works together for the common good. We’ll continue to advocate cross-sport and cross-border collaboration, working with industry bodies and committees and engaging in completely new partnerships – for the benefit of our owners and racing as a whole.
DELIVERING RACING’S FUTURE
ELEVATE THE OWNERSHIP EXPERIENCE
INSPIRING OWNERSHIP
We’ll continue to enhance our marketing capability –to raise awareness and attract new owners to the community. We’ll also increasingly focus on tactical campaigns and bespoke approaches to engage new and existing owners and highlight the work of the ROA and the industry, from charity work to care in the community, our response to COVID-19 and beyond.
We are working with racing’s stakeholders to create an improved experience to make ownership more rewarding for all levels of interest, enabling the retention, maintenance and improvement for all existing ROA owners and the attraction of new.
We’re working to ensure horseracing and racehorse ownership play a prominent role within British society, creating a bright commercial future for the sport we love.
— BUILDING FOUNDATIONS FOR GROWTH
Serving the needs of our owners and thriving in the changing landscape of the sport means being able to respond to challenges and building solid foundations for future growth. As we look forward, it’s essential that we build robust governance and processes – both within the ROA and across the wider industry.
Objectives
• Undertake a governance review
• Represent Owners and racing participants for the benefit of the racing industry
• Develop industry leading standards in organisation, management and reporting structures
• Focus on the collection and use of data to enhance the ownership experience
• Deliver a streamlined solution for the management of the ownership journey
Initiatives
• Governance and organisational review
• Support the lobbying of government via Public Affairs committee
• Introduce new IT and CRM systems
• Develop an integrated Concierge Solution with key stakeholders
• Introduce an ROA Accreditation Scheme for syndicates
• Industry data sharing agreements
• Sharing of best practice across borders Measures
• Governance and organisational review completion
• Full analysis and monitoring of ownership metrics
• Introduction and feedback on “holistic” ownership experience
GOAL — COLLABORATING ACROSS THE SPORT AND BEYOND
From industry bodies to racecourses, jockeys, bookmakers and beyond, we work with stakeholders across the sport – in the UK and internationally. By engaging in exciting new partnerships we will make a positive, progressive contribution to the future of racing and elevate the experience at every level.
Objectives
• Support racecourses, trainers and syndicates with the ownership experience
• Improve the awareness and desirability of ownership by promoting thrilling ownership stories through racing channels
• Curate desirable 3rd party partnerships to create added value for our owners
Initiatives
• Ongoing racecourse support - providing best practice to liaison officers
• Creating good news stories and work with leading racing partners to promote ownership: The Tote, Jockeys, Trainers, the HBLB, broadcast media and syndicate managers
• Create desirable third party commercial opportunities with value-added initiatives for owners Measures
• Improvement in racecourse Quality Mark score
• Decrease ownership churn rate
• Increase revenue contribution
• Improve awareness of the ROA
GOAL — INSPIRING OWNERSHIP
Marketing is key to raising awareness of the ROA and attracting new people to ownership. By amplifying the excitement and showing people the true joy of ownership, we’ll be able to improve participation in our sport, extend our influence and deliver a better level of service to owners – both existing and new. By diversifying our communications and making them more targeted, we will better engage people and tell the broader story of our work – from representing owners’ interests to working in the community, partnering with charities and going further for the greater good of the sport we love.
Objectives
• Encourage greater participation in our sport at all levels
• Promote ownership through the ROA and inspire the next generation of owners
• Create bespoke marketing strategies to retain and attract owners at all levels
• Make better use of data and marketing channels to inform and tell our story
• Increase the visibility of the ROA and promote our role in racing
Initiatives
• Deliver industry supported ownership welcome packs with key messages from stakeholders
• Develop new and engaging strategies for growing awareness, membership and retention
• Promotion of championships – with a focus on owners
• Create regionally focused approaches –local marketing and face-to-face engagement
• Support ownership stories through racing media – ITV, Racing UK, Racing Post, Sky Sports Racing
• Maximise events in the British social calendar
• Develop a communications strategy to tell our story – including commitment to welfare, diversity and charitable initiatives
• Link with international ownership bodies to amplify the benefits on a global scale Measures
• Increase the number of owners and the number of horses in training
• Decrease ownership churn rate
• Improve awareness of ROA
GOAL — ELEVATING THE OWNERSHIP EXPERIENCE
Racehorse owners are at the very heart of our sport, and the cornerstone of the ROA. The emotional and financial investment they contribute makes racing possible. It’s imperative that we continue to attract more people to racing and inspire them to become owners. Creating an improved membership experience and making ownership more rewarding will ensure that our sport has a bright and exciting future.
Objectives
• Retain and grow more owners than ever by making ownership more accessible, rewarding and fulfilling
• Deliver a more consistent and engaging experience so owners become our greatest advocates, encouraging others to join
• Support partners and service providers to enhance the ownership experience
Initiatives
• Provide tailored and differentiated ownership experience and opportunities
• Improve sustainable provisions to syndicates
• Improve guidance to and representation of small owner-breeders
• Improve and develop the raceday experiences of all our owners
• Support trainers to recruit and serve owners
• Work with regional trainers and syndicates to enhance the syndicate ownership model and develop support systems to increase owners’ involvement and raceday experience
• Improve data collection and its use to help develop differentiation in ownership experience
• Develop cross-border best practice to ensure owners are correctly represented wherever they have runners Measures
• Increase the number of horses in training
• Improve Net Promoter Score
• Decrease ownership churn rate
• Boost average tenure of ownership
• Decrease the percentage of lapsed owners citing service provider as reason for leaving
• Increase syndicate manager accreditation numbers
• Increase the percentage of races with eight or more runners
GOAL —
DELIVERING RACING’S FUTURE
Horseracing and racehorse ownership have been part of the fabric of British culture for centuries. We’re working to ensure they continue to play a prominent and progressive role in our society, creating a bright commercial future across the industry.
Objectives
• Promote the voice of all owners
• Work for the long-term financial stability and wellbeing of the industry
• Establish commercial transparency to develop trust across racing’s commercial partners
• Enhance equine and human welfare standards across all levels of the sport
• Develop our charity, diversity and community-based initiatives across the industry
Initiatives
• Media rights and prize money working group
– To analyse and consider recommendations for transparent and equitable distribution of media rights
– This will also examine and recommend how to distribute prize money
• Commercial agreement – a defined commercial agreement with racecourses including:
– Appearance money scheme
– Race day abandonment scheme
• Welfare body
– Working with the Horse Welfare board and Racing Foundation lead the “Aftercare Funding Review”
• Other charity-based and regional commitments
– Continue to support, and enhance the communication of, the ROA’s recognised charity partners, nationally and regionally
Measures
• Growth of prize money
• Overhaul prize-money distribution and appearance money scheme
• Introduction of industry approved raceday abandonment scheme
• Increase in charity and locally-based initiatives
