About

What is Racing Pathway?

Racing Pathway is a strategic move by British horse racing, supported by the Racing Foundation, to complete three defined collaborative pathways into our sport. Promoted across a more diverse audience, it will ensure that racing is attractive to a future fan base and a career path for Generation Z.
 
The racing industry can be immensely proud that it has established over many years a clear, strong and open career pathway if you want to be a jockey or stable staff. This isn’t the case if you want to work in the industry without riding a horse – and there are thousands of jobs that tick this box. The project is working to develop a clear pathway for non-yard based careers.
 

Racing Pathway has established a coordinated approach, across the whole industry, including bringing together some of the fantastic work already being undertaken by individual organisations.

Every football club in the UK has a junior supporters club to develop and engage the future fan, viewer, player, investor and revenue generator. It is currently no one’s job in racing to think about or acquire the customer of tomorrow with any purpose. This can be fully understandable given the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic. Commercial entities and bodies across the sport are solely focused on immediate revenue generation. The Racing Pathway looks further ahead to ensure that the sport has a sustainable plan to continually engage its future customer.

Requirement

Horse Racing has long been hailed as The Sport of Kings, in fact it still uses this advertising slogan on in a regular basis. It has traditionally been the face of white, male and middle and upper class.  Racing is a sport for everyone to enjoy, no matter your age, gender, colour, religion or background.
 
For the sport to become attractive to Generation Z, racing needs to not only portray, but actually become, far more inclusive and diverse in its thinking, leadership and growth strategies. Following a year of engaging the sport’s key stakeholders and senior executive teams, and research within Generation Z focus groups, the feedback is that if a past time or activity is to be attractive to Gen Z’s peer group, then it needs to hold diversity and inclusion, sustainability and connectivity as key engagement pillars.
 

The initiatives that the Racing Pathway is delivering, will all be promoted to an audience, reflective of today’s society and will ensure that all initiatives are marketed and promoted in line with this. The initiatives being launched in this project will have KPIs associated with diversity and inclusion. It is essential that all inroads to our sport are completely inclusive – not where you must have a certain skill base or background before you are allowed to apply. We feel that this is a necessity and will help to support the industry commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Why?

Horse racing is principally funded by fans, be them owners, bettors or attendees. As an industry, it is imperative that racing has a defined strategy to continue to attract and retain these vital revenue sources. Multiple sports and leisure activities are looking to engage the next fan or customer throughout their impressionable teenage years. Historically, racing waits for a generation to be of fare paying and betting age before they start to try and promote themselves. This is principally and understandably due to the relationship of the sports’ commercial organisations with bookmaker partners. There are some well-established and commendable promotions for the younger audience such as ‘under 18’s go free’, but no engagement strategy once they arrive.

Racing’s principal funding comes from media rights, racehorse owners, the levy board (a statutory levy paid by bookmakers) and ticketing income all of which require an engaged customer base. If there is no strategy to encourage the next generation of fans, then these income streams will drastically decline over the next decade. This is intrinsically linked to prize money levels across the sport; something which is a key consideration for racehorse owners investing their money.

Racing Pathway is the start of this journey.

Meet the team

Our team of strategic consultants at Apiafi Associates offer over 75 years of work experience in the horse racing industry and have been leading campaigners of Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity.

Lee Moulson

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Josh Apiafi

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Abby Apiafi

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