MEDIA & MARKETING:The corporate trend has moved from sponsoring races to taking over an entire race day

THERE WILL be no sure bets on the Curragh racetrack at this weekend’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival. But off the track one thing is certain: sponsors are in retreat due to the recession.

Sunday will see the 146th running of the Irish Derby and the fourth to be sponsored by Dubai Duty Free (DDF), who took over sponsorship of the flat season flagship after Budweiser ended its two-decade association with the race.

The Dubai sponsorship is slightly odd to the extent that there is no longer an airline flying direct between Ireland and Dubai. The Maktoum family who rule the emirate have deep links with bloodstock breeding in Ireland, though their fortunes on the track have waned in recent years. The only Arab-owned runner in the derby is Best Hello, a rank outsider.

For the sake of its generous sponsors, the Curragh management wouldn’t mind Best Hello springing a surprise to upset the annual Aidan O’Brien procession. But if favourite Carlton House wins the race, that won’t be so bad either, as it would provide racegoers with another opportunity to applaud the colt’s owner, Queen Elizabeth.

Dubai Duty Free’s sponsorship of the Derby Day card has as much to do with Ballinasloe-born Colm McLaughlin as the Maktoums. McLaughlin runs the massive duty free retail operation in Dubai, which claims to be the largest airport retailer in the world, with sales last year of €900 million.

According to Evan Arkwright, the Curragh Racecourse’s commercial manager: “There is one more year to go in DDF’s five-year contract and we are hoping they will renew. Dubai Duty Free wanted to put a heavier stamp on the weekend so hence it has become the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival and DDF has naming rights to six races on Derby Day.”

This trend for sponsors to move from sponsoring individual races to taking over an entire race day has been noted by Horse Racing Ireland, the industry body. In a recent report on strategic marketing for racing, the racing agency states when the recession ends, new sponsors will bring a professional sales and marketing analysis to the investment.

The report declares: “Merely sticking the company sign on the event as a gesture of support is a thing of the past. The new sponsorship approach seeks to own the event and participate in shaping it. There is an opportunity for racing in the convergence of interests between corporate bodies and their customers. They seek relationship building with customers and want sponsorship opportunities where authenticity and interest meet. This is precisely where racing will position itself in future.”

The other mainstay sponsorship of the Derby weekend used to be Independent Newspapers’ sponsorship of the Pretty Polly stakes on the Saturday. Audi stepped in briefly as the Pretty Polly sponsor when Independent gave it up but this year the race is being sponsored by Stobart Group, the UK logistics company whose Eddie Stobart trucks have become more visible in recent times on Irish motorways.

Stobart’s chief executive Andrew Tinkler is a horseracing enthusiast and Arkwright clinched a two-year deal last autumn. “Andrew liked the branding and corporate hospitality opportunities for Stobart and the ancillary companies in the group,” says Arkwright. “There will be a lot of Stobart trucks parked around the Curragh this weekend.”

Two of the races on the Saturday card are named after Aer Arann and London Southend Airport. This springs from Stobart’s five-year operating agreement with Aer Arann to use that airport. Aer Arann has been making the most of its involvement with an e-mail promotion offering two-for-the-price-of-one admission to the Curragh on Saturday.

Other new derby festival sponsors this year include Today FM, the I rish Daily Mailand Paddy Power, which has replaced Ladbrokes as the official betting partner for the event. The other media partners are The Irish Timesand Imagemagazine. Companies who have maintained their support for the three-day race programme include Woodies and Kilsaran Concrete, while 2010 festival sponsors O'Leary Insurances and the National Lottery are missing this year.

Arkwright estimates that the Curragh’s race sponsorship packages have reduced in price by up to 25 per cent. He says total sponsorship income this weekend will be in the region of €500,000, down 35 per cent from the peak.

“Depending on the day, race sponsorships now start from €1,000. There are 27 racetracks in Ireland so we have 26 competitors. The Curragh has 18 race days between March and October and the derby weekend is vital because we don’t make much money on some of the other meetings. The weather on Sunday morning is critical to our whole financial year. The corporate hospitality is booked and paid in advance but we want to see a full racecourse.”