In the final week of June, Coral teamed up with JockeyCam, The Jockey Club and Sandown Racecourse to promote its Coral Summer Festival title partnership through an innovative virtual reality experience offering racegoers a chance to experience what it is like to ride a racehorse over the course.
The VR activation, which takes place over the same course and distance as the meeting’s flagship Coral-Eclipse race, is a collaboration between JockeyCam Ltd, betting firm and meeting sponsor Coral (whose title sponsorship of the Coral-Eclipse is the longest-running sponsorship of any Group race in the world) and Sandown course owner The Jockey Club.
Fans at the Coral Summer Festival will be handed out complimentary VR headsets to wear through which they can experience a 360-degree jockey’s eye-view which gets them closer than ever before to the feeling and the thrilling ride of a big race at one of the UK’s most popular courses.
The footage was built on a ‘race’ staged and filmed by Coral and JockeyCam at Sandown Park on 27 May over the same 10 furlongs as 2 July’s 2022 Coral-Eclipse.
Ever wondered what it's like to ride in the @Coral-Eclipse at @SandownPark?
Watch this incredible @JockeyCam footage from @TomMarquand's ride in 2021 to find out.
Who's #YourHorse for this year's renewal? pic.twitter.com/pu9HO1FTHe
— Coral (@Coral) June 26, 2022
Ever wondered what it's like to ride in the @Coral-Eclipse at @SandownPark?
Watch this incredible @JockeyCam footage from @TomMarquand's ride in 2021 to find out.
Who's #YourHorse for this year's renewal? pic.twitter.com/pu9HO1FTHe
— Coral (@Coral) June 26, 2022
“Coral and JockeyCam are working together to get racing fans even closer to the action of this amazing sport than ever before,” explained Coral PR Director Simon Clare. “The 360-degree camera technology is just incredible and delivers the most realistic and intense experience of riding a racehorse over the exact same course and distance of the Coral-Eclipse which Coral has proudly sponsored since 1976, making it the longest-running sponsorship of any Group race in the world. In line with our long-term commitment to race sponsorship in the UK, which stretches back to the early 1970s, we want to get as many people as possible closer to the action and will be taking the Virtual Race Experience to all our race sponsorships throughout the next couple of years.”
JockeyCam Ltd CEO Sam Fleet added: “Most people have kicked a football or whacked a tennis ball but very few people have ridden a horse, let alone a racehorse. With the Virtual Race Experience it’s our intention to show what it’s like to ride in a race. It means people can feel really engaged with the sport and understand just how challenging a jockey’s job is.”
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