Initiatives

The Racing Media Academy

Funded by its Media Partners and the Racing Foundation, the Racing Media Academy is part of the Non-Yard Based Career Pathway into horse racing; for those people who love the idea of working in racing but can’t necessarily, or don’t want to ride horses. The Racing Media Academy gives its students the opportunity for work experience and training within racing’s top media houses. An intensive week’s training has been designed at The British Racing School, where students get an insight into the world of horse racing and learn about the different areas of the media. Following this they go into a paid placement at one of the leading media organisations.

In its third year, the programme goes from strength to strength. To date twenty three cadets have graduated from the Racing Media Academy, many of those now happily employed in racing’s media. The 2024 programme plans to be as successful at the others have been.

More information can be found here – https://racingmediaacademy.com/

Racing Media Academy

Discover Racing

Discover Racing is a crucial element of the Racing Pathway. Initially designed as a strategy to improve diversity and inclusion in the sport, it quickly developed into a future fan engagement strategy on the realisation that outside Racing to School, there were no programmes in place to engage with the fans of the future, and no KPIs in place to measure the retention throughout their teenage years.

The pilot programme for Discover Racing was launched in the summer of 2022. Seven race meetings were chosen around the country to host a Discover Racing day. These meetings were hosted by ARC, Jockey Club and small and large independent racecourses. Invitees included the families of children who had attended a Racing to School day, racing academies, families from the Supporter Network and students who had applied to the racing schools and colleges but had never been racing before, furthering their education and engagement on horse racing.

The Itinerary of a Discover Racing Day;
  • Attendees met by a designated host on arrival.
  • A behind the scenes tour — taking them on the journey the horse takes from arrival and the checking in process at the course stables, through to the pre-parade ring and saddling up, to the parage ring and out on to the course. Answering questions as it happens.
  • Meet and Greet — with jockeys and trainers and hearing first-hand, how the race they had just watched unfolded.
  • Visit to the start or the last fence — allowing attendees to get up close to the runners and riders.
  • Meeting with one of the racing colleges to hear about the career opportunities in horseracing.
  • A lesson with a jockey coach on an equisizer.
  • Virtual Reality Experience — what does it feel like to ride in a race?
  • RoR — Horses to Courses – meet and touch a real thoroughbred.
 

The aim of Discover Racing is to increase attendees’ knowledge base and understanding of horseracing so that they can return feeling engaged and comfortable with what to expect.

Work is in progress for Discover Racing days to be hosted across all racecourses in the future.

Business Admin Apprenticeship Horseracing

Racing industry employers looking to recruit an apprentice for an office-based role can now access dedicated support through the Business Administration apprenticeship initiative. Bought together for the industry by Racing Pathway and funded by the Racing Foundation, it is delivered in partnership with Haddon Training and sits under the vocational and training arm of the BHA.

The apprenticeship uses a combination of workplace development and off-site training to help the apprentices develop their knowledge, skills, and behaviours – all within a racing context.

An initiative to encourage someone new to the industry, or seeking to train an existing employee, the apprenticeship gives employers the opportunity to support and develop the next generation of talent and help kick-start a career in racing. Non-apprenticeship levy payers can also access the training, funded via the co-op levy share scheme – where levy payers can donate any unspent levy to other companies.

More information can be found here – https://haddontraining.co.uk/racing-apprenticeships/

The Supporter Network

The Supporter Network was launched to help drive applications to the Racing Media Academy as part of the commitment to encourage a more diverse and inclusive cohort. Upon starting the work, it was apparent that there was a much wider opportunity for horseracing.

The Supporter Network enables structured, regular communication with the partner organisations. These relationships have also cultivated other organisations which they are affiliated with, to support the Racing Pathway strategy with initiatives such as the Racing Media Academy, the Racing Business Apprenticeship, the Gerald Leigh Trust Racing Experience Weeks at The British Racing School with Youth Unity, Apprenticeships at Lingfield Park with The Stephen Lawrence Foundation and ARC.

Where possible face to face meetings are organised to establish the relationships and keep the Network up to date with racing matters and growth initiatives. The current Project Manager role is very much based on partnership account management.