Out-of-kilter racing needs to be a sport for everyone says diversity group

Racing has been urged to make itself more inclusive to appeal to future generations and compete with other sports and leisure activities in a diversity report published on Sunday.

The Diversity in Racing Steering Group published its annual update and warned: "Currently some areas of the sport could be seen as out of kilter with modern British society – from the composition of the sport’s leadership and the opportunities afforded to participants, through to the make-up of people attending and enjoying racing.

"The commercial benefits of widening racing's reach and growing
engagement to broaden our customer base, as well as our
workforce, are unequivocal."

The steering group, formed in August 2017, pointed to mainstream media coverage of the exploits of Bryony Frost, Rachael Blackmore, Emma Lavelle, Hayley Turner and Khadijah Mellah, the young Muslim woman from inner city London who won the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood, and highlighted the potential opportunities which could arise from making racing more inclusive.

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It has drawn up four areas of focus as it seeks to make progress on the diversity and inclusion action plan, published last year: raising awareness of the issue's importance; collating and evaluating cross-industry data; looking at ways to create a culture of inclusivity and increasing riding opportunities for female jockeys.

Rose Grissell, head of diversity and inclusion for British racing, said: "Our focus now is on improving our evidence base, getting out to the industry and raising awareness of the benefits of having an inclusive sport. We aim to empower everyone in the industry to play their role in creating a sport which offers a big-hearted welcome for everyone."

Speaking on Luck On Sunday on Racing TV, Grissell pointed to the work racing still had to do, and said: "From outside certain communities it may not feel like an inclusive environment if potentially there may be barriers around cost, or even dressing up to go to a racecourse.

"There has been a piece of research done recently looking at perceptions of racing. It will be released soon, and one of the key things that was identified was the fact that it's seen as exclusive, elitist to a degree.

"That's the kind of thing we need to learn from and address. We need to think how can we adapt and see that we are welcoming to all."

The increased coverage of, and investment in, women’s sport is seen as an opportunity for racing, in which the sexes compete on level terms and has a 40-60 female/male gender split among racegoers.

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Pointing to the need for action, the report states: "In 2018 female jockeys took just 8.2 per cent of rides, and no woman rode in a Group 1 race. Encouragingly, we are making progress, but the data trend-line predicts equality in share of rides won’t be reached until approximately 50 years’ time on the Flat, and in roughly a century in jump racing."

Grissell said: "Women have only been riding in races for 50 years or so and we've seen an upward trend of more professional female jockeys for the last ten years, and them getting more rides.

"That trend is a really positive one that we need to make more of. But at the same time there is still a huge disparity between male and female jockeys so we need to look at that and understand more of it and see what we can do."

Activity in 2020 has been assisted by securing funding from the Racing Foundation, and the report concludes: "Racing has a unique opportunity to bust some myths and stereotypes about sport, and at the same time make the headlines through its positive stories.

"Our ambition is for racing to be a sport for everyone where inclusion is the norm."

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