“Have a Friday night concert. A Saturday night concert. Get Dua Lipa and Stormzy.”
Oli Bell has floated a bold idea for the future of British racing — a major music festival staged at a racecourse, designed to introduce a new generation to the sport through what they already love.
Speaking on episode four of The Paddock, alongside Rishi Persad, Tom Stanley and special guest, the legendary Ted Walsh, Bell outlined a ‘slightly leftfield’ proposal that would see headline music acts perform at iconic venues like Epsom, with racing running alongside the concerts.
Bell explained: “I think to capture young people with racing, I don’t think you can ram it down their throats. I think you almost need to allow them to find racing through osmosis.”
The concept, as Bell laid it out, borrows from the model of events like Radio 1’s Big Weekend or Glastonbury.
Fans would buy tickets primarily for the music, with the option to pay a small additional fee to attend the racing during the day.
“If you were to have a weekend music festival where the concert starts at say 7pm, you have the stage in the middle of Epsom, and you get young people in,” he said. “Say you buy a ticket for the music concert and if you pay an extra ten quid you can come to the races as well.”
Bell acknowledged that many would initially attend for the music rather than the sport but argued that this was precisely the point.
“To a certain extent you are getting people there for a music concert and not for the racing,” he said. “But if you get 70,000 18–35-year-olds coming for a Stormzy concert and say 25% of them have a good time, enjoy what they see with the racing, then you’re doing something right.”
Under Bell’s vision, the event would be branded as a festival experience rather than a traditional race meeting. Wristbands in racing colours, big screens showing live action racing, high-quality food stalls, educational areas and a strong focus on welfare would all form part of the package.
“You dress it up. Call it The Derby Festival,” Bell suggested.
The hope, Bell explained, is that even a small conversion rate would have a meaningful long-term impact.
“If 20% of those festival-goers or even 10% come back, and then word spreads… then we are hopefully spreading the message that racing is a good, enjoyable day out to people that don’t ordinarily come,” he said. “We’re targeting an age group that is so important for us as a sport to capture.”
Bell didn’t shy away from the scale of ambition, name-checking global stars as potential headliners.
“Have a Friday night concert, a Saturday night concert. Headline acts. Pay a lot of money to get them. The big names,” he said. “Get Dua Lipa and Stormzy. Now it might cost a lot of money, but it might be an opportunity to capture an audience that we are struggling to capture at the moment.”
Ted Walsh then joked: “If you could get Abba to perform again then I’d go!”
The idea came during a wide-ranging episode of The Paddock, which also tackled the future of the Derby, controversial riding incidents, the experience of racegoers, and how British racing can modernise to remain relevant.
The Paddock is a show hosted by Oli Bell, with weekly episodes with the best tips, news, talking points and special guests from the world of horse racing. Catch The Paddock on YouTube, or listen on podcast – wherever you get your podcasts.
