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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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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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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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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“TfRI was delighted to support the second industry forum since its launch, following the Australian forum last April,” said Anna Powell, TfRI Development Director. “Uniting key stakeholders to identify common goals, creating ambassadors and to develop a clear plan is an important step in improving recruitment and retention. Workforce and careers was one of the common challenges identified at the global forum hosted under the auspices of Godolphin in November 2019, along with Education and Community Engagement, which led to the creation of Together for Racing International. TfRI is a central resource leveraging expertise and funding to support its member countries around the people agenda. This work is done using the global network to share progress, analyse and communicate the global impact of this work to support the sustainability of our sport.”

Guillaume Herrnberger, director of employment and training in charge of AFASEC declared, “It was an exciting and enriching day. We are all on the same page thanks to the IFCE, before being inspired by the experiences of Pierre, Antoine, Thibault and Alexis, and TfRI before finally acting. In one day the racing and breeding stakeholders found solutions together. It is now up to all of us to implement them, everyone at their level. We are now 70 ambassadors around employment, it is up to us to bring change around us to become 700, 7000…. From today we are all at the heart of change in support of our teams.”

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“It was great to see the students so enthusiastic during the visit,” said Kerry Ryan, who represents the ITBA on the TfR Ireland sub-committee. “For many it was their first time to see a thoroughbred in the flesh. On behalf of TfR Ireland, I would like to thank Goffs and ITBA for hosting and participating in today's visit.”

“Education is one of the core pillars of TfRI, which was set up to support racing globally to contribute to society by improving lives of its people and its communities,” said TfRI Development Director Anna Powell. “We are delighted that young people from three local schools will get to see a sale in action at Goffs. It's a brilliant way to showcase the variety of career opportunities.”

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An initiative of Together for Racing Ireland (TfR Ireland) under the umbrella of Together for Racing International (TfRI), the programme brought together students and teaching staff from Curragh Post Primary, Kildare Town Community School and St. Paul's Secondary School. Students were welcomed by INS CEO Cathal Beale at the Michael Osborne Centre, with Godolphin Managing Director Joe Osborne providing some insight into the Irish bloodstock industry. Jane Mangan was the guest speaker, while there was also a prize raffle and jackets donated by The Irish Field. The students and teaching staff were then given a tour of the INS, which involved the recently launched Irish Racehorse Experience and an opportunity to try RACE's mobile racehorse simulator, as well as a tour of the INS stallion yard and foaling unit among other activities.

Commenting on the launch, Joe Osborne said, “It was great to see the launch event at INS so well attended–by students from the three schools, teaching staff and industry personnel. This is a welcome initiative and huge congratulations to everyone who has been involved in pulling it together so successfully. There has been great progress recently in promoting our industry as a career option and I am confident that many of the Leaving Cert Applied students who avail of the work experience placement will find fulfilling employment in the thoroughbred industry in the future.”

If accepted into the programme, each 6th Year Leaving Certificate Applied student will gain 20 days work experience with participating industry organisations over the 2021/2022 academic year. The objective is to give students an insight into the Irish bloodstock industry, including the wide breath of career opportunities available. Over the next few weeks, students interested in the LCA Work Skills pilot programme will be identified and matched with their placement hosts. A long term goal is to rollout the programme regionally after the first year with the help and assistance of TfRI. For more information, please click here.

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Targeting people in the Normandy region of Rouen, Cheval Esperance was set up 15 years ago by Sabine and Laurent Bidault, who himself has a neurodegenerative disease. There are more than 200 riders each week that benefit from Cheval Esperance. Cheval Esperance is currently seeking donations to assist in renewing its equipment. Donations can be made at by clicking Cheval Esperance.

Anna Powell Development Director at TfRI commented, “This is a brilliant opportunity for French racing to get behind a worthy community engagement association such as Cheval Esperance. France Galop have generously offered up a race and in so doing they have given the association a platform to share their work with racing professionals. A huge thank you to the PMU, the Haras des Monceaux, Godolphin, Equidia and France Galop for making this day happen and we hope to leverage further industry support over the upcoming weeks for this great cause.”

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TfRI, which was created following a Newmarket forum funded by Godophin in 2019 and facilitated by Chris Grant, aims to promote education, community engagement, and career opportunities that connect people with the Thoroughbred industry worldwide. At the forum, which welcomed industry participants from USA, Australia, Japan, Ireland, France, Dubai and the UK, the idea was the share, collate and deliver a global plan around three key pillars of activity-education, community engagement and workforce and careers.

Grant, the Deputy Chair of the London 2020 Olympic and Paralympic International Development Programme and past CEO of the UK-wide charity Sported, led the first two days of the forum, with ITV racing presenter Ed Chamberlin at the helm for the final day.  Before the forum ended, a pledge was signed, a steering committee set up and the organisation's website was launched within a year.

Chris Grant, who will be stepping down from his role as TfRI Steering Group Chairman, commented, “As a relative newcomer to the industry, I was impressed by the passion and goodwill displayed by the participants at the forum, and very positively struck by the range and quality of great work already being done around the world. I believe that TfRI has a clear vision and strategy and a positive and growing reputation. I am sad to be stepping back but equally delighted at the appointment of Rob and Anna who have the skills and connections to take it to the next level.”

Hezel, who will continue as the Racing Foundation CEO, said, “Without the vision, support and funding from Godolphin to date none of this would have been made possible. It is now important to build on the legacy and to establish a structure, funding and governance model, to allow TfRI to contribute to supporting horseracing nations in meeting their social challenges. TfRI will help to facilitate the sustainability of the sport globally. We have already been able to support Australia with their first forum of this kind being hosted next Thursday, 22 and Friday, 23 April, which is really encouraging to see.”

“I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with Rob on this initiative,” the French-based Powell added. “One of our biggest priorities in developing the strategy is to engage and unite racing around the world in dealing with the sports' common social challenges and convince stakeholders of the need to act now to protect the future of our sport.”

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Moyross has evolved over the decades into an area of the city known mostly for anti-social behaviour, crime, unemployment and a general lack of prospects for its inhabitants. However, excellent work has been going on for some time now by the Moyross Youth Academy in guiding teenagers towards a life that does not involve crime and that work is set to be highlighted further by TfRI. The common denominator in all this is the horse and the urban horse in particular, for so long a much-needed distraction for youths hailing from disadvantaged backgrounds. This innate interest in horses is the driving force that will hopefully lead to the Moyross Youth Academy acting as a pre-school of sorts for suitable candidates in the area who hope to gain a place in institutions like the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) and to ultimately forge a successful career in the racing industry.

Andrew O’Byrne is one of those working with children in the Moyross Youth Academy and he is looking forward to continuing on the great progress already made in the community. “It’s great for us that the racing industry recognises some of the work that is going on in the background which isn’t directly associated with the industry,” O’Byrne said. Expanding on the background of the academy, O’Byrne, whose roots are in the education industry, added, “I work for the Garda Youth Diversion Project in Moyross which is funded through the Department of Justice. Moyross has a history of social problems and our job is to engage with the young people in the area to try and keep them on the right track through education and career pathways. Horses are and always have been present in the area and we felt that utilising this interest in horses was the best way to engage with a large number of teenagers. However, we didn’t want it to be just about going horse riding for an hour, so the programme is also about fitness, nutrition, responsibility and a possible career pathway. We also put just as much emphasis on horse welfare because we all know that a few bad headlines can undo a lot of great work that goes on unreported so we are very mindful of that.”

One way to measure the success of a programme is to monitor the progress of its alumni and the Moyross Academy is looking forward to one of its former proteges Wesley Joyce making his debut as a jockey in 2021. Joyce was accepted into RACE via the Moyross programme and is now signed on as apprentice to Johnny Murtagh.

“We are delighted with the progress Wesley has made and he is the ninth young lad from here to have been accepted into RACE,” O’Byrne said. “However, we have had a number of other candidates who didn’t fare as well and it’s from looking into the reasons why they may not have succeeded that we can improve the way we can prepare these young people for the challenges they will face. Whether it’s preparing them to be away from home, developing independent living skills, or improving their overall awareness of the racing industry. As a result, part of the programme now includes access and insights into the industry through trips to RACE, to race meetings, to point to points, to the National Stud and meeting various people who can give insight into their particular field of expertise, whether its jockeys, farriers or stud staff. We have a great picture of Wesley back in 2015 when he was 12 and Johnny Murtagh is talking to him. Now five years later Wesley is working for Johnny and that is very rewarding for us.”

Such is the regard the Moyross project is held that the Irish Department of Agriculture is now providing funding for the academy to be rolled out to include other parts of Limerick city.

“We are now working with 10 schools in the city incorporating six-week programmes that culminate with industry visits while there is also a focus on animal welfare and what it actually takes to look after a horse from a nutritional point of view as well as basic husbandry. If students show an interest in taking things further after this six week programme we can then engage with them regarding their future options.”

In a time when finding good staff to work in studs and training yards can be quite difficult, the work being carried out in Limerick dovetails very well with the role played by RACE within the industry and it would appear the two organisations will be working closely over the coming years.

“Our connection with the Moyross Academy goes back about 10 years and it began with just a few visiting groups who were keen to get an insight into racing and then it progressed to where there were some students who showed an interest in forging a career in racing and it was felt a more structured environment like RACE would provide them with the best opportunity of developing that career, whether it was as a jockey or a work rider or a groom,” said Director of RACE Keith Rowe. “There were a number of students for whom it didn’t work out for different reasons so we have tweaked the approach over the years to give those interested a more extensive grounding through the Moyross pathway before they get accepted here into RACE. We realised a few years ago that the earlier you can engage with these kids from disadvantaged areas the better chance they have of going the distance. Andrew and the team in Moyross are excellent and they get to know the kids very well. Apart from introducing them to the industry on the away days they make sure the kids work on their own personal development and show a commitment to turning up for continuous training and coaching. So it is through this commitment also that the kids earn their place on each subsequent round of education. This gives those kids who are serious about grasping an opportunity to go down a more fruitful and meaningful life path a chance to do just that.”

Of Joyce, Rowe said, “Young Wesley [Joyce] had been coming up to us on and off for about five years before he started the trainee jockey course. In fact, when he first officially trialled for the course he didn’t get accepted. While no doubt disappointed at the time it gave him the opportunity to work on a few things and then when he was accepted the following year he was more mature and better prepared. He is a great example of someone who has walked the pathway from the beginning and has shown all the attributes of someone who will have a successful career in racing.”

Joyce said, “RACE is where I felt the plan to become a jockey got very real for me. They set me up on placement with Johnny Murtagh and that’s where I work now. It’s the best yard in the country at the moment. We’re turning out winner after winner so it’s a very exciting place to be. The work is hard but very rewarding, there’s a real team spirit there. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, I’m learning my trade from one of the best.”

While the link-up between Moyross and RACE has been ongoing for a number of years it has taken time to bed down and is probably only now beginning to gain the traction that should lead to a greater number of students gaining access to RACE. One reason for this is the inspiration bestowed to prospective students by some Moyross natives who have graduated from RACE and have gone on to work in racing yards. “We had a very good lad who came through RACE who although he didn’t apply for a jockey’s license he became a great role model for the kids at home in Moyross,” Rowe said. “The kids who would come up for the day trips used to be in awe of him and he was treated like their local hero who had broken out and done something worthwhile with his life.”

There is no doubt racing can provide a way of life for someone who through no fault of their own was not offered the chances early in life that the majority of us often take for granted. And as well as being a great initiative for disadvantaged teenagers, the Moyross/RACE association also has the potential to help provide a much-needed workforce for the racing and bloodstock industry.

“Racing suffers from perception issues sometimes so it’s definitely a win-win situation,” Rowe said. “Historically, racing wouldn’t be renowned for social inclusion but that is changing and at the same time racing is struggling to attract people to come and work in the industry. So we need to throw the net wider but we need to offer people more and provide not just a job, but also a path to career progression. Between ourselves in RACE and the guys in Moyross hopefully we are providing hope for a disadvantaged community while at the same time developing future fans and people who will work and contribute to our great sport.”

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