Whittle And Egan Appointed As TfRI’s Chair And Vice Chair

Nicholas Whittle has been named the new Chair of Together for Racing International, while Trish Egan will be the new Vice Chair of the organisation. Whittle, who is based in the UK, is a specialist in sports and entertainment consultancy who has represented some of the world's largest brands, sports teams and individual athletes. He has also sat on the board of Jockey Club Racecourses for eight years, together with positions on the boards of several charities.

Whittle said, “I look forward to building on the important foundations that TfRI has established–helping improve people's lives, breaking down their barriers to success and realising their true potential in the world.”

Egan has a wealth of experience in corporate social responsibility in racing. Currently the Chair of the Australian Turf Club Charitable Foundation and a Director of Thoroughbred Breeders NSW, the Australian-based Egan will continue in those roles in addition to her responsibilities for TfRI. She also is a Non-Executive Director of the Australian Turf Club.

Egan added, “It is a pleasure to be asked to be part of TfRI and I look forward to working with Nicholas and the Steering Committee to bring some real progress to this important initiative.”

Outgoing interim Chair, Godolphin's Diana Cooper, said, “TfRI's ethos reflects His Highness Sheikh Mohammed's passion for education and encouraging the thoroughbred industry to support and to use our sport's unique asset, the horse, to reach out to its wider communities.

“Godolphin is proud to have been instrumental in establishing TfRI and we are delighted that Nicholas and Trish are so well placed to embed TfRI further in the core of our industry globally.”

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Racing Coming Together For Welfare, Community And Education

No meeting better exemplifies the global nature of modern racing than Royal Ascot. Now returned to more normal times, we can look forward once again to welcoming runners from America, Australia and Japan, along with Britain's nearer neighbours of Ireland, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.

While horsemen and women can naturally convene and swap ideas at such meetings, the behind-the-scenes work of racing's administrators and organisers has recently been put on a more global footing by the launch of Together For Racing International (TFRI) in 2019. The organisation is backed by an advisory board consisting of representatives from the racing authorities from its six member states among other operations within the industry.

“The purpose of Together For Racing International is to assist racing globally to contribute to society, improving the lives of its people and its communities,” says development director Anna Powell, whose well-rounded CV includes experience working for the British Horseracing Authority, France Galop and British Bloodstock Marketing.

At the Godolphin Education Forum held in Newmarket in 2019, delegates from America, Australia, Britain, France, Ireland, and Japan settled upon a three-year strategy which formed the basis of TFRI for those six member states.

“Rob Hezel and myself worked on delivering the strategy and our ambition is really around three areas: to identify the global opportunities that exist, to support each of the member countries to deliver on the plans that they made at the forum, and to be able to measure that success globally,” adds Powell.

“What was quite powerful from the outcomes of the forum of 2019 was that we could identify the needs of each country, out of which came education, community engagement, workforce and careers. Everyone came together to say that these were their common priorities. TFRI then became a central resource for those member countries to help them to deliver.

“The actual mission and objectives of that forum have now been ticked, despite Covid, and now we are in a place where it's time to move on and for the racing industry to decide how much or in what capacity this work needs to be kept serious and be part of the industry going forward.”

In its infancy, the project has been given financial backing by Godolphin, and has been given a significant boost from being able to call upon the vast experience of Diana Cooper in her role as interim chair. Now the search is on for a new chair.

“We need membership, so we are thinking about how we fund the central resource,” says Powell. “To date, Godolphin has generously funded Rob and I to work on the strategy over the last year, but that is not a bottomless pit. It needs to be everybody taking responsible for our industry. The next step for us is to have someone who can take it to the next level globally.

“We'd like a contribution of sorts, even if it's minimal, from the racing authorities. From there we would be looking at partnerships with corporate sponsors.”

Various steering groups, which convene every six weeks, have already been established within the existing member countries, and TFRI is in the process of being established as a charity in the UK. The plan is to have a global forum every three years, with the next once pencilled in to take place in Australia in 2023, and for more countries to join the organisation gradually.

A number of programmes are already underway in the different countries, including student exchanges, the use of retired racehorses for educational purposes within prisons, and a pony racing academy at the British Racing School aimed at helping children with special educational needs.

“Pony racing has been another really great way of engaging the youth and as a stepping stone into the industry,” says Diana Cooper, who is also involved, through TFRI, in a local school initiative, The Newmarket Academy Godolphin Beacon Project, which aims to “ensure that young people have an understanding of horseracing, and receive guidance on career pathways within the industry and beyond”.

Powell adds, “We've looked at initiatives like National Racehorse Week, which was launched in Britain last year, as ways of engaging with local communities and helping people to understand more about the sport. The idea is that this could then be adapted say in France, and then globally these initiatives could help us to be more accessible as a sport.”

Indeed, at a time when different racing jurisdictions are coming under increasing pressure from negative news stories which threaten the sport's social licence, opening up the doors to stable yards, stud farms, and racecourses to bring a better understanding of the level of equine welfare involved can only be a good thing.

“The social licence aspect is very important,” says Cooper. “But it's also about getting youngsters to look a pony or a horse in the eye for the first time. They are our future, they are our advocates. And fewer and fewer people have that opportunity.”

She continues, “Our sport is unique and it has an asset that no other industry has, and that's the horse. The horses deserve to have a platform. And we are careless not to make more of that.”

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Candidates Selected For TfRI/LSC Student Exchange

Camille Mamier and Jodi Matthews were selected to participate in the Together for Racing International/Lexington Sister Cities Student exchange programme. Mamier will represent the AFASEC from France. She currently works for Deauville-based trainer Stephane Cerulis and will spend her summer placement in Newmarket. Matthews, who represents the British Racing School, will head to Kentucky for the Breeders' Cup later this year and then to Florida to further her experience. Matthews is employed by trainer Ed Bethell.

Anna Powell, Development Director for TfRI, said “We were thrilled with the interest and the number of strong applications we received, especially from France. We are looking forward to facilitating these exchanges, collaborating with Lexington Sister Cities and the racing schools. The exchange programme is a great way to retain our young and talented staff by giving them new opportunities to share best practices, to learn from other racing jurisdictions and bring back what they have learned to their respective racing nations.”

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TfRI Launches Student Exchange Programme With Lexington Sister Cities

Together for Racing International (TfRI) has joined up with the Lexington Sister Cities network to launch a foreign exchange programme between Lexington, Kentucky in the U.S.; Newmarket, UK; Kildare, Ireland; and Deauville, France. The programme will offer recent graduates of the respective racing schools of each Sister City to apply for placement abroad at one of the other Sister Cities. Students interested in taking part in the scheme will have the opportunity to apply via their “home” racing school. The ideal candidate must be aged between 18-25, be a Sister City racing school graduate, and someone keen to

further their experience abroad. Selected candidates will have the opportunity to develop their careers and gain international experience. The successful candidates will be announced on Tuesday, May 10. Their placement will commence over the summer months of July and August, later this year.

“Lexington's Sister Cities Program is unique in that it has a common bond with all its Sister Cities–the love of the

horse,” said Kay Sargent, Executive Director of the Lexington Sister Cities Commission. “We are so excited to collaborate with TfRI, BCTC Equine, and the racing schools in our Sister Cities to offer another great opportunity for students in Lexington and Lexington's Sister Cities.”

Added Anna Powell, Development Director of Together for Racing International, “We are delighted to launch our first pilot programme, which is core to the work that TfRI does helping to retain and develop talent within our racing industry globally. This exchange pilot will look to reach out to more countries like Australia and Japan going forward and we're very excited to get the first year off the ground in 2022.”

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