The Arena Racing Company (ARC) has made a number of changes to the format of the All-Weather Championship, including adding MansionBet and Coral to its portfolio of partners.
In preparation for the ninth season of the championship, the two operators will join longstanding partner Betway as sponsors of races throughout the campaign.
Coral will sponsor the Fillies & Mares and Three-Year-Old racing categories, whilst MansionBet will sponsor the Mile races at Kempton, Newcastle and Wolverhampton.
“We are delighted to become a partner of the All-Weather Championships,” said Dana Bocker, Head of Integrated Marketing at MansionBet.
“MansionBet is committed to supporting British Racing and will be sponsoring over 360 races in the UK in 2021, with this expected to increase further in 2022. The All-Weather Championships is crucial in our increased commitment to racing.”
The ARC has further detailed that both Coral and MansionBet will see their branding ‘feature prominently’ across the four All-Weather Racecourses, whilst also securing the aforementioned naming rights to their respective categories.
For MansionBet, the agreement represents an expansion of its marketing presence in UK and Irish horse racing, building on previous deals with Sky Sports Racing, Newbury Racecourse, brand ambassadors Hayley Turner OBE and Brian Hughes and both the ARC itself and the Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR).
Meanwhile for Coral, the partnership also marks a strengthening of its horse racing focused marketing, building on its sponsorship of the Coral Burradon Stakes and its launch of its ‘Against the Odds’ documentary series on ITV tonight.
David Stevens, Coral spokesperson, commented: “The All-Weather Championship is now firmly established as an important part of the racing calendar, rather than just being a filler when Jump racing is lost to the worst of the winter conditions, and we are delighted to once again be a title sponsor of the series.”
In addition to striking new sponsorship arrangements, the ARC has also moved to reorganise the structure of the ninth season of the All Weather Championship by rescheduling season’s Finals Day to Newcastle Racecourse, where all six Finals will run alongside the aforementioned Coral Burradon Stakes.
Furthermore, the ARC will add the ‘All-Weather Championships Vase’ at Lingfield on Good Friday 2022. This new fixture will feature six Championship Vase races, similar to the category structure used on Finals Day, with the aim of offering a ‘significant end of season target for connections on what is a popular day’.
Mark Spincer, Managing Director of ARC’s Racing Division, remarked: “All-Weather Championships Finals Day has, over the years, become a mainstay of the Easter programme in Britain.
“As we saw prior to the disruption of the last two years, people want to come racing on Good Friday and we feel that Newcastle offers a real opportunity to develop the day even further. Equal to this is the popularity of the track and racing surface, as has been proved since the installation of the Tapeta in 2016.”