Felicity Barnard: ‘I’m hugely positive about racing. I love it and all the characters in it’

“I was utilized to fans,” Felicity Barnard, nan main executive of Ascot, says, recalling earlier roles successful complaint of commercialized operations astatine Arsenal and West Ham. “At Arsenal, I was utilized to trading 60,000 shirts astatine nan opening of each play and that doesn’t hap here, truthful it’s school maine really to beryllium nimble and imaginative pinch our trading year-on-year. That conscionable isn’t basal successful football, because you’ve sewage group who will beryllium pinch you for nan full of their life.”

Barnard, clearly, is simply a very speedy learner. Since her presence astatine Ascot successful April 2021, initially arsenic commercialized head and then, from January 2025, arsenic CEO – 1 of nan sport’s awesome offices of authorities – Britain’s premier racecourse has shaken disconnected immoderate lingering after-effects from nan pandemic and seen attendances and prize-money rising year-on-year. Ascot was only British racecourse to pull much than half a cardinal racegoers successful 2025, its wide prize money of £19.4m successful 2026 will beryllium different caller record, and nan King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes successful precocious July will beryllium nan track’s first £2m race.

The way has been racing complete jumps since Champions Day closed retired Ascot’s 2025 play successful mid-October, but Flat racing, nan course’s bosom and soul, returns connected Friday, erstwhile a seven-race paper will see respective tests for nan Royal gathering successful June.

It is simply a reminder that Ascot’s showpiece arena opens successful conscionable complete six weeks – though nary 1 who lives aliases useful successful nan superior should request overmuch reminding. The track’s acquainted “Ascot You” advertisement campaign, first launched successful 2023, wallpapered nan conduit web and 200 achromatic cabs successful nan early months of nan year, and its glimpses of carefree, midsummer days successful nan sun person already shifted thousands of tickets for adjacent month’s five-day meeting.

“We’ve been moving connected our Flat play for a agelong time,” Barnard says, “whether it’s nan runners that are going to beryllium pinch america aliases each nan activity that we’ve sewage on-site, and it’s very breathtaking for everyone arsenic we spell towards Royal Ascot.

“We captured nan Royal Ascot run for 2026 [at nan meeting] past year, and you’re ever connected it, ever readying for it. It’s a world sporting phenomenon, arsenic good arsenic a taste arena during nan English summer, which is thing that we’re hugely proud of, and besides unique.”

The characteristic of Royal Ascot was a facet successful Barnard’s jump from nan Premier League to nan athletics of kings. There is nary arena successful immoderate athletics pinch nan meeting’s aggregate strands of elite competition, royal patronage, manner parade, plot statement and all-round expansive time out, and conscionable a fistful – nan Masters, perhaps, aliases nan Monaco Grand Prix – that are truthful inextricably linked pinch their location.

“We’re very fortunate to person Royal Ascot arsenic an event, and we’re custodians of it,” Barnard says. “We’re 300 years old, and each nan learning that group agelong earlier maine person brought to carnivore is nan logic why Royal Ascot is specified a success.

“The bequest was really absorbing for me, and nan [racing] manufacture [as a whole] has an unthinkable magnitude of history, stableness and quality. I’m hugely affirmative astir nan sport, I emotion it and each nan characters successful it. Those varied stakeholders don’t beryllium successful shot for illustration you’d deliberation they would, and nan rich | tapestry wrong racing was a large appeal.”

Barnard’s dual domiciled – custodian and executive – presents an absorbing challenge: really to support cherished traditions and nan consciousness of hundreds of years of history while appealing to older and younger generations alike?

Ascot’s caller CEO Felicity Barnard. Photograph: Edward Whitaker

Pricing is astatine slightest portion of nan answer. In a week erstwhile sports fans discovered that a time astatine adjacent year’s Ryder Cup will group them backmost €499 (£434), nan cheapest summons for Royal Ascot – successful nan Windsor enclosure – is £25.

“We’re capable to accommodate and modify nan products on-site, and nan experiences, and marketplace them to different people,” Barnard says. “We connection everything from £25 tickets to tickets for thousands astatine nan apical extremity for our [restaurants with] Michelin-starred chefs, and everything successful between.

“Our Village merchandise successful nan infield is very ‘festival’ vibes, nan dress codification is different and it feels inclusive and welcoming, and we’ve seen nan demographic and property of our consumers coming down rather importantly complete nan past 3 aliases 4 years.”

At a clip of important uncertainty successful racing, Barnard is besides keenly alert of Ascot’s value to nan athletics arsenic a whole. The way supported a caller call by a group including astir of Britain’s biggest racecourses for awesome reforms to springiness nan awesome players a bigger opportunity successful racing’s future.

The courses concerned are saying thing much astatine present, but astatine a clip erstwhile nan manufacture is crying retired for leadership, Ascot’s proven expertise to crippled a people done choppy waters offers astatine slightest a measurement of reassurance.

“It’s not conscionable astir group coming to Ascot aliases coming backmost to Ascot,” Barnard says. “I judge that location is agelong successful nan athletics and we activity pinch a batch of different racecourses. If we tin promote anyone to sojourn York aliases Doncaster aliases anyplace else, that’s what we want to do.

“Within football, nan numbers are big, it’s precocious octane and it’s ever connected nan backmost pages. But funnily enough, if you activity successful nan sport, those numbers are truthful immense that you tin beryllium a smaller cog successful those large clocks that turn. And everybody astatine Ascot, and I’m judge it’s nan aforesaid for racecourses astir nan state and astir nan world, has sewage specified an integral portion to play successful nan measurement that nan athletics moves forward.”