Last week thirty two delegates from as far as Japan, Singapore and France as well as all over the United Kingdom came together for The Racing Industry Course.

snow

 

Despite the arctic weather conditions all of the delegates made it to the School for a week packed full of talks, demonstrations and tours hosted by the top names in the racing industry.

Monday kicked off with talks on the history, administration and international perspectives of racing. Adrian McGlynn from Weatherbys gave a particularly entertaining presentation in his usual inimitable style. Akira Nagashima, Managing Director of the Japan Racing Association, struggled through the snow to join us five hours after he set off from London! At the end of the day the delegates were treated to a private tour around the Jockey Club Rooms, in Newmarket.

Three inches of snow fell on Monday night but everyone battled through the conditions to continue on the second day's theme of Racecourses and the Public Appeal of Racing. Managing Director of Newmarket Racecourses Stephen Wallis led the way with a tour of a very white and wintery Rowley Mile and July Course! After lunch Lydia Hislop gave an insight into the world of racing journalism, which was followed by a talk from David Murphy, of the BHA investigations department.

First on the schedule on Wednesday was a trip to Mark Tompkins' yard. All of the delegates enjoyed the behind-the-scenes visit to the racing yard and an opportunity to see racing from the grassroots up. Back at the BRS, delegates enjoyed talks from Jim Cornelius of NASS, Josh Apiafi and ex-jockey Kevin Darley, and Veterinary Advisor to the BHA, Lynn Hillyer. The evening gave delegates an opportunity to get to know each other and exchange racing stories and experiences.

On Thursday it was the breeze-up sales at Tattersalls, and a guided tour and talk of the infamous venue before the stallion parade and selling kicked off at 10.30am. It was then onto Dalham Hall Stud for a private viewing of the stallions, where everyone was surprised to see Derby winner New Approach looking happy and settled, and without his pony friend! After coffee and cakes Sam Bullard, Director of Stallions at Darley, talked about Darley's prominent role within the industry.

After lunch Rachel Hood of the Racehorse Owners Association talked appropriately on racehorse ownership in the time of recession. Then it was Ian Balding, who gave both an enlightening and poignant recollection of training a racehorse with particular emphasis on Mill Reef, and other career highlights.

That evening delegates and speakers reunited at the Jockey Club Rooms for a celebratory dinner with guest speaker Nic Coward, Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority. It was a fantastic opportunity for the delegates to get to know the speakers more informally and for many it was the highlight of the week.

The final day of the course brought more of the white stuff but fortunately Sam Sheppard from the European Breeders Fund, David Bradshaw from the HBLB and Robert Sweeting of Ladbrokes were all able to join us to complete the final theme of the week, the funding of racing. The delegates departed on Friday afternoon to make their journeys home in the snow after a busy but fun week.

As one of the delegates summarised at the end, 'The range of people, experience, views, backgrounds and senses of humour really made this an excellent opportunity to learn more about the industry as a whole'.

TRIC was a great success and the British Racing School hopes to build on this achievement in the future.