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The Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest events in the UK horse racing calendar, attracting a record attendance of more than 280,000 last year.

Despite that popularity, organisers of the event are acutely aware that the average age of the attendees is on the rise.

CheltenhamRacecourse @CheltenhamRaces

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This has led the Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham racecourse, to try a number of tactics ahead of this year’s event in a bid to try to shake off the race’s stale image and to bring more young people through the gates.

The most obvious of these approaches has been the changing of the dress code. In February, the Jockey Club made headlines when it confirmed that formal dress codes will be dropped with immediate affect across all 15 of their racecourses.

Speaking on the matter, Chief Commercial Officer, Charlie Boss, said the organisation had seen an opportunity to “knock down barriers and make racing more accessible and inclusive for all.”

The Jockey Club @TheJockeyClub

We believe that racing should be enjoyed by all ❤️ 👕 So that’s why we’ve created one very simple piece of guidance - “come dressed to feel your best” as we say goodbye to formal dress codes. More information: bit.ly/DressCode2023

The new dress code, which is open to anything but ‘offensive clothing’ and replica sports shirts, is designed to make the festival more accessible to younger people, who may not have the means to invest in formal attire.

“Hundreds of thousands of our fans every year will still choose to celebrate their day at the races by dressing up, just as they have done for centuries. Fashion and style are a wonderful and authentic part of our events – and we don’t expect that to change. But it is the customer who should and will dictate that, and we want them to come wearing whatever makes them feel most comfortable and confident.”

This change to the dress-code is also being met with a change in the vibe of the festival more broadly, too.

This is perhaps best encapsulated by an unlikely partnership which was announced earlier this month between the Jockey Club and DJ Cuddles, a ‘mainstay on the British clubbing scene’. Together, the pair have released Roar Remix, a three-minute dance track sampling the famous festival roar that reverberates around Prestbury Park at the start of the opening race. DJ Cuddles is also set to put on a two hour ‘techno’ set during the festival.

ITV Racing @itvracing

🔊 Sound on! 🎶 @mrmitchmusic and @TheJockeyClub have teamed up to produce '𝙍𝙤𝙖𝙧-𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙭’ - a brand new dance track for Cheltenham Festival 🦁 @MCYeeehaaa is going to love this 🕺 #ITVRacing | #Cheltenham2023 | @CheltenhamRaces

“I think of racing as a unique combination of sporting and leisure product,” explains Boss. “We have core fans who attend multiple race days and consume our product regularly on ITV or Racing TV, but we are also part of the consideration set for people simply looking for a fun day out.”

“I think we have achieved that by filling the gaps between races with brilliant experiences – from our hospitality, the chance to see and get close to the jockeys and horses, to theming like our family days, style awards, and so on.”

Music nights are another extension of this. The Jockey Club hosts between ten and fifteen music nights every year where they combine a day of racing with an evening concert from a top music act.

“What makes these events different to how other sports incorporate music into their events is that we give each element – the racing and the music – room to breathe,” explained Boss. The customer gets a full race day and a full-length concert for one ticket, not a single musical performance squeezed into a break in play during the action.”

The Jockey Club has embraced a joint venture with Music Plus Sport in order to stage the concerts. They have also tapped into this model for hospitality (with Compass they serve over 170,000 hospitality guests a year) and within media rights and pool betting alongside other racecourses. This is a practice which is more typical in the media and technology parts of the sports industry than with other rightsholders.

While some traditionalists may view these changes to Cheltenham Festival this year with scepticism, the festival's willingness to innovate and evolve ensures its continued relevance and success. With the event having started yesterday, it will be interesting to see how these changes are embraced and if there is any notable shift in the demographic makeup of the audience.

Overall, the Jockey Club's efforts to appeal to younger audiences through a more relaxed dress code and a wider range of activities reflect a broader shift towards inclusivity and accessibility that is being witnessed across all of sport.

Few understand this better than Boss, who is soon-to-depart the Jockey Club to join Premier League side Southampton FC. It will be fascinating to see how many of these parallels can be pulled across from race day to football match. Football arguably has even greater scope to build out experiences as, having drawn everyone in, it currently only seriously constitutes 90 minutes of fan attention/ engagement before letting them all go again.

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Jockeying for position: Cheltenham Festival…