'You get pats on the back but nobody takes it forward' - Josh Apiafi says racing's warm words over diversity and inclusion are not enough

Josh Apiafi has warned that action must now follow words if racing is to ever benefit from and grow through greater diversity and inclusion, and said that it risks dwindling by engaging with a shrinking audience out of step with wider society. 

Key to this action, Apiafi said, was for the BHA to take control with a centralised, funded diversity and inclusion strategy, based on data already collected by the authority, that would lay bare the areas where the sport was failing and focus on steps it would take to address them.

Sky Sports Racing presenter Apiafi was speaking following the launch of a film titled The Enduring Race, which focuses on the changes that have taken place, and those that have not, in tackling diversity and inclusion in the five years since The Uncomfortable Race, a Sky Sports Racing feature, was broadcast.

 In that first film, Apiafi spoke with ITV Racing presenter Rishi Persad, who said racing was “behind the times” on diversity and inclusion and expressed frustration at a lack of black and ethnic minority figures in high-ranking roles. He also pointed to an unwillingness in the sport to make gestures, such as ‘taking the knee’ in support of Black Lives Matter.  

Apiafi and Persad, who are joined by Epsom racecourse chair Brian Finch in The Enduring Race, said they received racist abuse following the film, but also words of support and encouragement.

However, concern has grown that the positive words have not been met with meaningful action.

Josh Apiafi: "There were words of support but no action"Credit: Dan Abraham

Apiafi said: “You can lead a horse to water but they have to drink, they have to make that choice. So, it’s at a point now where the sport has to decide whether it really wants to take on this baton and bring this forward to action, or whether it wants to carry on saying nice words and [making] well-meaning statements without any action.

“It’s been eight years since the Diversity in Racing Steering Group [DiRSG] was launched, five years since Rishi and I spoke, and there's still no strategy for D&I in racing.

“Rishi and I were shocked by the reaction the film received. That was both online and from some of our peers in racing and the media, but there were brilliant people who got it like [ex-BHA chair] Annamarie Phelps, and there were words of support but no action. Looking back at what’s happened, there’s no comparison [in racing] to what’s been going on in society.”

Apiafi believes that part of the reason for a lack of progress is an unwillingness in racing to publicly acknowledge it is failing on diversity and inclusion, for fear of criticism.

As an example, Apiafi cited an ethnicity survey launched in March 2024 that has yet to report its findings, with no explanation given by the BHA as to why the results are not public knowledge.

“We know you need the data to start with, but this was where we were two years ago,” he said. “They launched a survey and we ran two focus groups ourselves and people spoke openly about their experiences, and sent this information on. We did this in March [last year] and none of the people involved have heard a thing.

“Where is the data? Where is the survey? Why don’t we know what it says? The BHA fear they're going to be criticised if it comes back badly, but no-one is going to criticise anyone for wanting to be better, or wanting to improve. We need to face up, be open and say to everyone where we are now, and then we move forward.”

Last month’s launch of racing’s environmental strategy was held up as a template for what the sport needs for diversity and inclusion, Apiafi said, with the lack of central leadership meaning individuals have had to take the initiative, such as Khadijah Mellah co-founding the Riding A Dream Academy, “out of frustration [because] there is no action”.

“I thought with the Racing Pathway [a programme designed to define and resource strategic pathways into the racing] I'd be able to show the sport how to achieve greater diversity and inclusion, and the sport could take it on, could have it,” said Apiafi. “Instead, you get pats on the back but nobody takes it forward.

“Racing needs to centrally fund this, and it needs to invest time and people properly in it. This isn't my job, but I've funded parts of this and have put time and effort into it because I want to give as many people as possible the chance to be involved and exposed to this sport to grow its gene pool and make it better – it has to grow. We speak to such a small segment of society in racing.”

BHA chair Lord Charles Allen Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Despite concerns over a lack of action, Apiafi said he was encouraged by what new BHA chair Lord Charles Allen could bring to racing.

He said: “There’s a huge change in management in the sport right now; this is an opportunity. The new chair at the BHA has highlighted that D&I is of significant importance for the sport. He has lived experience of this too, being openly gay, and he has experience from other industries.

“If we want to improve this situation then someone centrally has to pick up this baton. It could be run with, as it has been in other sports. So the sport can stop and give up [on D&I] as all the KPIs [key performance indicators] are dropping and going the wrong way, or it can finally take this seriously.”

Speaking to Apiafi in The Enduring Race, BHA acting chief executive Brant Dunshea said the sport had made progress with the establishment of the industry commitment to diversity and inclusion in 2021, and the appointment of a head of diversity and inclusion. 

Dunshea added: "We have to reflect on the time in 2017, as a sport it was a new place for racing to establish the DiRSG. We're now better informed and we have delivered very important changes. Measuring how we've done has been difficult as people have been unwilling to tell us about their lived experience, and that does make it hard for us to gather data.

"Our board is clear that they are accountable for D&I. We are a better sport for broader diversity and we absolutely value the importance of that."

A BHA spokesman said that a D&I policy and the findings of the ethnicity survey would be published "in the coming months".

Watch The Enduring Race here: attheraces.com/leadingtheway

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