Corporate Race Nights
A hosted evening of racing that has your team, or your clients, cheering, competing and taking the mickey out of each other within about ten minutes. Played with fun money, so there is no real stake, just the thrill of the race. Want the night to have a purpose? I can raise money for your chosen charity too.
Fun money racing, start to finish
No experience needed, no horse racing knowledge required, and nobody sits it out. Here is how a Day at the Races plays out, whether it is an afternoon session, a conference social or an after-dinner event.
Split into tables
Guests sit in teams of around ten. Each team gets a race pack with programmes, betting sheets and £600 of fun money to play with.
Back your horse
Bet on each race by backing a horse from one to eight. Minimum bet is £10, and you can stake as much as you like. When the money is gone, it is gone.
Cheer them home
I compère the whole thing and get the room shouting for their horse. Six races, with the leaderboard tightening and the volume rising every time.
Crown the champions
The team with the most fun money at the end wins. We finish with a prize giving, so bring along something for the winning table.
How it slots into your evening
The format most people book weaves the racing through dinner rather than parking it at the end. It keeps the room lively right through service, instead of losing half your guests to the bar between courses. Here is a typical running order, and it flexes around whatever your venue needs.
Guests seated
Race cards, betting sheets and fun money are already on the tables, so people are studying the form and arguing about it before the starter arrives.
Welcome and how it works
I introduce the evening and explain the format in about five minutes. Nobody needs to know the first thing about racing to join in.
Dinner, with racing between courses
Race one runs after the starter while the tables are being cleared, and we repeat that after each course. Your kitchen gets a clear run and your guests stay in their seats.
The final three races
Back to back, with the leaderboard on the big screen and the room properly invested. This is where it gets loud.
Prize giving
The table with the most fun money takes the honours, and we hand out the prize. It is a proper finish, and it sends everyone to the bar still arguing about race four.
One night, plenty of reasons to book
Whether it is a staff social, a conference dinner, a client evening or a fundraiser with a difference, a race night gets everyone involved and talking within minutes. No icebreakers, no forced team building, no standing around with a warm glass of wine.
Staff socials & away days
A brilliant leveller that brings departments together and breaks the ice fast. Everyone joins in from the very first race, whatever their day job or job title.
Team bondingClient & customer hospitality
A relaxed, memorable way to entertain clients, sponsors or key customers, with plenty to talk about and none of the stiffness of a formal dinner.
HospitalityConferences & awards nights
An evening session that gets a room of delegates talking to people they have not met, or a lively format to wrap a Christmas party or an awards dinner around.
Conference socialsRaise for a good cause
Add a fundraising angle and I can run the tote with real money for a charity your business supports, with all the compliance handled for you.
Charity add-on
What is included
- Professional compère for the whole event
- Six pre-recorded races on the big screen
- Race packs for every team, with £600 fun money
- Professional projection and PA, my own kit
- Fun money tote run by me and my team
- Team leaderboard and end-of-night prize giving
- Your branding on the welcome screen
- Optional real-money charity tote, fully compliant
- Fully insured and PAT tested equipment
- Optional extras arranged: photographers, magicians, photo booths
Thirty years in, and the kit is my own
Plenty of people will host you a race night. Fewer of them own the production kit that turns up with them, and fewer still have spent three decades making live events work when something goes wrong five minutes before doors.
Not a laptop and a portable speaker
- I also run Soundcheck Audio Visual Services, an award-winning AV and event production company
- The screen, the projector and the PA that arrive at your event are professional production kit that I own, maintain and operate myself
- Before this I spent years as a stage manager on Cunard ships and on the road as a sound engineer and tour manager
- If something needs solving at half past eight on a Friday night, I have almost certainly solved it before
One person, start to finish
- You deal with me from the first call to the last box in the van
- No agency in the middle and no subcontracted host you have never spoken to
- Kit that suits the room, whether that is a boardroom, a hotel function suite or a marquee
- Extras arranged through people I actually work with and would book myself
70 guests, £22,000 raised
This one was run as a real money charity night rather than fun money, with the tote raising for Macmillan Cancer Support all evening. Seventy guests, a photo booth, a table magician, a silent auction and a raffle alongside the racing, and every one of those pulled its weight. By the end of the night the total had reached £22,000, from a room of seventy. It is the biggest single night we have run, and it shows what is possible when a business really gets behind a cause.
See it in full swing
Corporate race night questions
How does the fun money work?
Can we raise money for charity too?
What does it cost?
Can you brand it to us?
How many people can take part?
What do we need to provide?
How long does it last, and how far do you travel?
How far in advance should we book?
Pitching it to your team?
Download the Day at the Races info pack to share with colleagues or your events committee ahead of the decision.
Thank you for providing a great race night evening for our club. It was really enjoyable and professional.Antony Hook · Metrogas Amateur Sports Club, London Read more from organisers
Ready to give your team a night to remember?
Tell me your date, roughly how many will be there, and whether you would like a charity angle. I will put together a tailored quote.