Racing Together is the collective banner for British Racing’s community engagement. As such, Racing Together is integral to the way British Racing engages with its wider community. It provides for those who make up our industry, sustains our future and ensures our success is shared by the communities in which we operate.

In our second blog, we explore the town of Newmarket, the ‘HQ’ of British Racing. The town lives for the racehorse, and as such has a number of unique assets that are being used for the benefit of the local community.

Newmarket Inspires Children to ‘Live Their Dreams’

The Newmarket Festival Committee has launched a ground-breaking new initiative entitled ‘Live Your Dreams’, in which over 100 local year nine students attended an activity day at the racecourse with the aim of understanding and building their own personal brand.

The Committee, made up from a collection of local notable businesses including Newmarket Racecourse, developed the programme to ensure that there was a source of advice from the most experienced business people for the town’s youngsters at a crucial stage in their development. In the process, students are taught new skill sets and the importance of self-awareness and confidence as they begin to develop thoughts on further education and career paths.

Regional Director of Jockey Club Racecourses Amy Starkey, responsible for Newmarket Racecourse, was full of praise for the programme. “The Live Your Dreams programme is the first stage of a multi layered approach to enable students to build and understand the importance of a personal brand.

“It was a very simple but rewarding session to be involved in and I genuinely believe the students engaged with it and enjoyed it. The programme has since had the support of the Jockey Club and the framework of this could easily be rolled out to all local secondary schools by racecourse teams across Britain.”

Darley Welcome More Local Schools than Ever!

This year more local children than ever before will be able to meet some of the world’s most successful stallions at the incredible global headquarters of Sheikh Mohammed’s breeding operation ‘Darley’ at Dalham Hall in Newmarket as part of BHEST’s Racing to School programme.

Local children have been able to enjoy a visit to the awe-inspiring Dalham Hall Stud via Racing to School for a number of years, but this expansion means that more children will have this unique opportunity to engage with the sport at such a level. Racing to School Education Officers and the Darley team provide expert guidance throughout the visits, teaching children about the high levels of equine welfare in the sport and mapping a horse’s journey from foal to racecourse.

To accompany this learning activity, all children on the programme are presented with a ‘Darley Kids’ folder, which includes a number of take-home tasks to enable to children to continue to learn once the day has ended.

Newmarket’s Racing Centre goes from Strength to Strength

The Racing Centre in Newmarket is rightly regarded as a key asset for the town’s racing population to enjoy.

The Centre, located centrally on Fred Archer Way, combines a gym, social club, physiotherapy and rehabilitation centre, meeting space and offices for the National Association of Stable Staff under one roof, not to mention drop-in sessions for racing charities such as Racing Welfare, the Jockeys Employment and Training Scheme (JETS) and the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF).

Membership to the Centre is free of charge for employees of British Racing and their families, with subsidised fees for non-racing personnel to enjoy the facilities. Over 1,400 are signed up and that number is growing.

One of the crown jewels of the Centre is its state of the art gymnasium and ‘Racefit’ programme, ably led by trainer Annika Broster. This was made possible thanks to sponsorship from Betfair arising from the town’s Open Day, as well as further grants from The Racing Foundation, EBM Charitable Trust, Childwick Trust and The Jacobs Foundation and revenue donations from Darley and Racing Welfare.

Each piece of equipment within the gym is sponsored by a Newmarket trainer, demonstrating their gratitude that such a facility is open to their staff and illustrates the racing industry coming together to support their own.