Interview - Simon Bazalgette (Sovereign Series)

I can pretty much find anything on the internet, and after yesterday's news about the Sovereign Series I made it a mission to get in touch with the brains behind the operation. And luckily I not only found Mr Bazalgette, but he agreed to an interview. Here is part I, of what I hope will be 2 parts: Your background seems to be in the music business, have you always had a passion for racing? My background is in a broad range of media and entertainment businesses, particularly music and broadcast. I have always been an occasional racegoer, but more as a day out with friends than through any interest in the sport. I got involved in the launch of Racing UK more because of my broad experience in successfully launching media projects. Coming from outside racing also gives the perspective to challenge the received wisdom as to how things should be done. You were once a director of marketing. What are the big hangups with getting horse racing back onto the front pages? Racing is a very insular sport and has focused more on its existing audience than generating a new audience. The main challenge is to understand that it is also competing in the media landscape where other sports have modernised or addressed the market much better than horse racing, and we need to gear up for this challenge. That's precisely why the Sovereign Series had been created. In America we deal with different states having different rules and just a littany of people in charge of different things. In what ways does having a national body help? How much of a hassle is it bringing horses to the different jurisdictions of Europe? Horse racing is complicated in every country, and there are different challenges in each country. However there is a common theme that racing focuses too much on internal competition, and not enough on the external competition from other sports and leaisure activities. This is the change of focus that is needed everywhere to meet the challenge of globalisation and the opening up of markets that is an inevitable long term process. In the UK we have been successful in rallying broad support for this. I would hope to see similar realisation in Europe and North America. Where did you get the idea for the Sovereign Series? The Sovereign Series was created as a response to the challenge for horse racing to address the plateau-ing of its influence in the mass media and with mass audiences. Other sports have addressed this (UK soccer in the early 1990s, F1, cricket in recent years are all examples of this) and it is clear that integration with media rights is a core element. So the aim was to use the tools and elements that already exist to come up with a conecpt that is simple to understand but also engaging across the season. Have you gotten any feedback from trainers or owners? Trainers and owners have been very supportive. Chris Wall, President of the National Trainers Federation, and Paul Dixon, President of both the Racehorse Owners Association and the Horsemen's Group both willingly gave public support to the launch. Europe doesn't really have to worry about full fields, but in what ways do you see this helping the sport, from the business side? In the UK it is always a challenge to ensure full and competitive fields, and in general we are reasonably successful. However, we would still like to see more of the best horses racing against each other in the UK - that is what creates the consumer buzz. Achieving this means more consumer interest, more racegoers, higher media and sponsorship values and a range of other commercial benefits. You've recently been apointed CEO of the Jockey Club. Congratulations. In what ways will that position help you further the Sovereign Series? The Jockey Club has around 50% of Racing UK and has been a powerful supporter since launch in 2004. It is becoming increasingly clear that even greater co-operation across racing media and commercial projects will yield greater benefits to British racecourses. In my new role I will be in the perfect position to develop this, generating greater commercial returns that can be applied for the long term good of horse racing. PART II