THE key to boosting attendance at the John Smith’s Grand National meeting could lie among the Middle East’s racing fraternity, it was claimed last night. Aintree Racecourse and its partners are set to join forces to market the festival as a lucrative three-day short break to Merseyside. And Steve Broomhead, chief executive at the North West Development Agency, identified countries like Dubai as ripe for growth. Along with the city region’s tourist board, The Mersey Partnership, the course management and the NWDA could pour in extra resources aimed at growing the Thursday crowd and attracting more overnight visitors. TMP says more than £40,000 is spent on marketing the event. A recent study shows it pumps more than £20m into Merseyside’s coffers. Mr Broomhead told the Daily Post: “We need to look at whether we could do more in terms of its marketing – clearly because of the economic benefits. “We will be happy to work with Julian Thick, Aintree’s managing director, and TMP to do more for next year. You could do more marketing to the Middle East, countries where equestrian sport is big. “If Dubai came in with their investment in Liverpool – there would be a natural market there.” Merseyside sport is already on the radar of one Dubai racehorse trainer. Sheikh Mohammed, whose Dubai International Capital wants to buy a slice of Liverpool FC, is the founder of world-renowned stables Godolphin and is a lifelong lover of horses. This year saw a high-profile campaign aimed at Ireland’s horseracing market and a TV campaign in the North West. But all partners agree there is scope to significantly grow attendance at the opening day. Racecourse officials are now due to pick over the 2008 event to identify areas that need to be worked on for next year. Mr Thick, who was overseeing his first Grand National in charge at Aintree, confirmed marketing day one would be one of his priorities. HE SAID: “There’s an opportunity to grow the crowd on a Thursday. There was a small growth issue – we were up a few hundred. We will be steadily increasing it each year. We’ve got the facilities for that. “The quality of the horses and racing was excellent. It’s more sort of how we promote and market that day. “We’re already thinking of things we might change. There’s always lessons to learn.” He added that the course intends to start selling tickets for the 2009 meeting in August. | 
