Asian Racing Conference delegates hear about horse racing’s biggest events
The 35th Asian Racing Conference (ARC) yesterday heard from eight major racing nations about how they are promoting their most prominent race days in a session titled “Big Events – Today and Tomorrow”.
Executive Director of Racing of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), William A Nader, told delegates about the successful evolution of the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races.
“State-of-the-art quarantine facilities, outstanding hospitality and a comprehensive marketing and media strategy have all been keys in the growth and success of this meeting, which is now the world’s third biggest single raceday in terms of prize money on offer,” Nader said.
The presentations highlighted eight events, eight different approaches and eight chances to elevate horse racing to the top of the sporting calendar, giving delegates from around the world plenty of food for thought.
In another session, conference attendees heard that horse racing was leading the fight against corruption in almost all sports worldwide, but that international co-operation would be needed to face the challenges ahead. That was the consensus from a panel of industry experts during the global convocation’s third and final day, which explored the subject of “Sport Integrity: Racing As the Frontrunner”.
Delegates were told that the scale and sophistication of corruption in sport would be so great in the near future that national sports regulators in many countries would be unable to address the problem without assistance.
Nick McKenzie, an award-winning investigative journalist with The Age newspaper in Australia, called for innovative strategies in the face of global organised crime involvement, and suggested that racing authorities consider the formation of a worldwide body to fight corrupt practices. He said that the industry must involve private and public agencies and embrace the media.
“Do we need some sort of international sports corruption body, to at least provide some cohesive global system of investigation or penalty? I think that’s sorely lacking,” he said, citing the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as an example.
Mark Warby, one of the strategists behind the British Horseracing Authority’s approach to tackling betting corruption over the past two decades said: “I think that the risks that people run in undertaking corrupt activities are not big enough (under civil law). What sports governing bodies can do is hit their own sporting participants with serious sanctions.”