Coral unveils new ad campaign as UK horseracing returns

Coral is set to unleash its latest TV advertising campaign to coincide with the return of behind-closed-doors horseracing in the UK this week.

The advert, which was filmed near Dublin at the Naas Racecourse in February, has been dubbed ‘At The Race’, and aims to capture the excitement and passion of horseracing.

The film was created by the Bootle Bartle Hegarty (BBH) agency and the horses featured were provided by The Devil’s Horsemen – one of the foremost film-industry horse suppliers in Europe.

The advert captures the perspectives from several facets of raceday including spectators, commentators and the horses under starters’ orders.

Ten jockeys and 20 horses were used in the shoot, which featured more than 250 extras, as well as drone footage and quad bikes to film the horses in action.

Dominic Grounsell, MD for GVC’s UK & Ireland brands, said: “Racing fans have missed their sport, so with this new campaign which we shot at the beginning of the year we’ve set out to bring our passion for racing to life.

“We want to remind viewers what exactly it is about racing that makes it our passion, as well as give new audiences a perspective on racing that really arrests the senses,” he added.

Ad director Jack Driscoll commented: “I’ve always loved the noise, madness and drama of the horses and wanted to make film that revolved around the emotion of it all really.

“We shot most of the film in stormy February conditions to give the whole thing an intensity and used a load of moving camera rigs to capture both the scale and intimacy of a big race. Using real racehorses made the shoot tricky at times, and I relied heavily on the bravery and skill of my stunt team as well as incredible trust and support from BBH and Coral,” he concluded.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) took exception to Coral’s previous BBH cinematic ad short in the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival in March.