Coral launches ground-breaking free-to-join Racing Club

Coral is launching a new ground-breaking Racing Club which will enable its customers to experience the thrill of racehorse ownership, win thousands of tickets to race meetings, and receive exclusive behind-the-scenes insight and access to racing stables, all completely free.

The Coral Racing Club will launch with four racehorses in training for the upcoming Jump season, with Jonjo O’Neill, Joe Tizzard, Rebecca Menzies and Scott Dixon all training one apiece, and a fifth horse is currently being sourced by Jonjo O’Neill to complete the five-strong team.

All Coral customers will be invited to opt-in to join the Coral Racing Club for free, and as Club members they will then be able to enter ballots to receive the full ownership experience on the racecourse when the Club’s racehorses run, with any prize money won going to the lucky owners.

Coral Racing Club members will also get the chance to win thousands of tickets to go racing during the year at major Coral sponsorships, from the Coral-Eclipse to the Coral Scottish Grand National, including access to an exclusive Coral Racing Club Lounge experience at the majority of events, where they will be able to mix and chat with the Club’s trainers and Coral ambassadors.

Coral Racing Club members will have access to a dedicated, password-protected content hub, where they will find regular updates from the trainers, premium behind-the-scenes video content from the yards, and competitions to own the racehorses when they run, access to stable visits, and tickets and hospitality to the races.

The Coral Racing Club will launch with a unique naming competition for the unnamed four-year-old gelding by Westerner in training with Joe Tizzard, and the Club member who successfully names the horse will become the owner of the horse for the day when he first runs.

Coral has created a bespoke Coral Racing Club TV advert for the launch with a multi-million pound media investment put behind it, making it the biggest racehorse ownership campaign ever run in the UK.

The launch of the Coral Racing Club follows hot on the heels of a significant expansion in Coral’s sponsorship portfolio this year, which has seen exclusive betting partnerships at Glorious Goodwood and the St Leger Festival, and sponsorship of the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury, the Coral Trophy at Kempton and the Coral Lanzarote at Kempton all being added to the long-standing sponsorships of the Coral-Eclipse, Coral Welsh Grand National, Coral Scottish Grand National and Coral Cup.

Coral has also this year worked with Equine Productions to bring the thrill of race riding to racegoers across the UK through their sector-leading innovation – The Coral Virtual Race Experience.

Simon Clare, PR Director for Coral, said: “In launching The Coral Racing Club as the only free-to-join racehorse ownership experience in the UK, our ambition is to make it the biggest and best Racing Club in existence, getting thousands of our customers closer to the action than ever before, and in doing so helping to broaden the appeal of the sport for the benefit of everyone in racing.

“For many years Coral has demonstrated a deep passion for, and commitment to, British Racing through some of the longest-standing racing sponsorships in the sport, but this year we have significantly expanded our sponsorship portfolio to become the leading bookmaker sponsor in the UK.

“These high-profile Coral sponsorships and partnerships will fuel the Coral Racing Club with thousands of tickets and hospitality for its members, while the five racehorses in training and the Club’s four leading racehorse trainers will be the subject of a rich narrative of content designed to engage and excite members, as well as providing members with the opportunity to own the horses for the day when they run and keep any prize money the horses win. We believe this is a game-changer for Racing and will position Coral as number one for horse racing in the betting sector.

“It couldn’t be simpler for Coral customers to join, they just log in to their Coral account and then ‘opt-in’ for free to the Coral Racing Club. We expect to have many thousands of customers signed up within the first few weeks. There really is no limit to our ambition for the Coral Racing Club, and we are already in planning mode to assemble a team of racehorses for the 2023 Flat season.”

“There have been times in the past when bookmakers have been accused of prioritising other products like football ahead of racing, and not promoting the sport enough. But by creating and launching the Coral Racing Club, on top of doubling our investment in racing sponsorship, Coral is now doing more than any betting operator has done before to grow the appeal of racing, and promote the sport. We look forward to working on this project with all of our racing partners and ambassadors to make this a great success.”