About Us

The Horseracing Sponsors Association was set up some ten years ago by Grunwick Chairman and major horseracing sponsor George Ward.

Ward has invested £25m into sponsorship under his Bonusprint, Doubleprint and Tripleprint brands and with the rapid digital revolution now sponsors under the Bonusprint.com banner.

The association is somewhat surprisingly self funded, depending entirely on members’ subscriptions for its existence (see membership).

Examples of the HSA’s representation in the Industry include playing a key role in the re-institution of sponsors names in the national and regional press racecard listings; demonstrating the commercial value of terrestrial coverage for horseracing and thereby achieving the retention of Channel 4 racing broadcasting; lobbying for 48 hour declarations which is enabling British broadcasters to sell our horseracing coverage to international broadcasters – thereby establishing a new commercial income stream for British Racing and delivering expanding global exposure opportunities for sponsors.

Representing our members and horseracing sponsors interests are:

George Ward, Chairman: As mentioned on the home page, over the years George Ward has been one of racing’s most prolific sponsors. George’s real love is jump racing and he has also enjoyed success with some good jump horses over the years – many of which he has bred himself. He now owns his own training establishment, visit www.uplandsstables.com for more details.

Nigel Payne, Chief Executive: Nigel has been in the horseracing industry for 34 years during which time he spent 11 years with Ladbrokes before starting his own horseracing PR consultancy. He has worked with Aintree Racecourse managing the PR for the Grand National for 31 years. Indeed the Grand National is very close to his heart as his racing partnership won the race in 1998 with Earth Summit. He is also famed for writing a book “Everyone Must Leave” about the bomb scare at the Grand National and the evacuation of Aintree in 1997.

Mary-Ann Sandercock, Sponsorship Consultant: Mary-Ann has headed the Racecourse Association’s sponsorship unit for the past seven years. She has worked alongside Nigel Payne and assisted the HSA in various joint sponsorship projects and issues over the years. She also rides out regularly and has a good overview of the whole racing industry having worked as a secretary to trainers, ridden in races and picked up a muck shovel on a regular basis in the past!

Bob Musk: Bob wields the camera and gets the best shots of the branding that appears in Brandwagon.

Sheila Rowe: Sheila keeps everyone organised and deals with all the administration – the backbone of the HSA.

TESTIMONIALS

Mark Popham, Managing Director of Racenews, commented: “The Horseracing Sponsors Association plays a vital role in representing sponsors within the racing industry. The very experienced Chief Executive Nigel Payne makes sure that sponsors are listened to, while the benevolent Chairman George Ward has more experience of racing sponsorship than virtually anyone else.”