Curragh gamble that Irish Derby switch will bring back the crowds

As a long list of villains down the years can testify, Indiana Jones is a dangerous opponent. The Irish Derby will try to rise to the challenge on Saturday evening, however, as Raiders Of The Lost Ark will be just one of the alternatives competing for TV viewers when the field goes to post for Ireland's premier Classic just after 7.30pm. Harry Potter, Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr, Primeval's monsters and the tennis at Wimbledon will also line up against the Irish Derby as it makes its debut in a prime time slot. At The Curragh, though, there is cautious optimism that the move from Sunday afternoon to Saturday evening will deliver an increase in both the racecourse attendance and the television audience for the race. The shift to the evening, with the Derby as the final event on an eight-race card, follows a decline in attendance over the last 10 years, from a peak of 30,000 to just 22,000 in 2011. The Irish Champion Stakes saw a slight increase in its gate when it made a similar move last September, but The Curragh hopes for a more significant boost to attendance to reflect the fact that the Derby is more than just a sporting event. "We looked at a number of things to try to boost attendance and the race," Paul Hensey, The Curragh's general manager, said on Friday, "and one of the things that came back from our customer research was that people see the Derby as a social occasion as well as a sporting one, They had one eye on work on Monday morning when they were attending the Derby, and they felt that as a party and as a social occasion, it would work better on Saturday. In the current environment, everybody is looking to avoid a day off work, and they want to be on their game every minute that they're working. "The initial signs appear positive. The hospitality was sold out over a month ago and we've had so much interest that we've put on an extra marquee which was sold out last week. Regular ticket bookings are well up on last year as well, so fingers crossed that it's working, but it really won't be until Saturday evening that we will have an idea of how successful it was." In terms of the Derby's television audience, which affects the value of both the broadcasting and sponsorship rights, Saturday evening has much less competition from other sports. "RTE [Ireland's principal television station] had been pushing us for some time to look at delaying the start time of the Derby or go into Saturday," Hensey says, "because they were getting a lot of clashes with GAA football matches here in Ireland. "They also said that their experience with rugby was that the audience improved dramatically in the six-to-eight slots between afternoon sport finishing here and evening golf or whatever commencing in America. "Wimbledon has a following in Ireland, but what was really relevant to us was the GAA matches due to be played on Sunday. Kildare, our local county here, and Dublin were both playing Sunday, so avoiding those two would be part of it, and obviously the European Championship football final is on as well." The hot favourite for the Classic is Aidan O'Brien's unbeaten colt Camelot, who will be the first Epsom Derby winner for eight years to attempt to follow up in the Irish equivalent, though O'Brien warned on Friday that rain-softened ground will "not be ideal" and that "the more it dries out, the better it will be for him". Camelot's presence in the Derby field makes it less attractive as a betting event, but gives Irish fans their first chance to see him as a three-year-old following his wins both at Epsom and in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. "With the Irish Derby coming where it does in the calendar, a lot of the horses are sorted out and have found their level by the time they come to us," Hensey says. "So it's usually a smaller field that you would get at Epsom, but to have a superstar like Camelot running here is fantastic. I'd much rather have a superstar like him and seven runners than 17 runners in the field and no superstar." Another international star in the mix on Saturday evening is Ronan Keating, who will perform live after racing, which is also a fresh initiative for The Curragh. "Racing anoraks like myself would come to the races to see the horses and the races, but there are other people who come for the fashion element and other that are booking solely with an interest in seeing Ronan Keating," Kensey says. "There's also a Good Food Ireland village set up for the weekend. "Different people come to the races for different reasons, and there's something for everybody. It's certainly worth a try, and hopefully it will be a success."