Could students be the answer to horseracing’s image problem?
Working groups for the Racing for Change board — the project tasked with making racing accessible to a wider audience — think so.
They have suggested that students should be targeted to help broaden the sport’s fanbase. Ideas afoot include university race nights, hosted with student unions, and subsidised transport and entry to racecourses.
Joanne Gunn from the Racehorse Owners Association is on one of the working groups.
“Encouraging an interest in racing among students would sow the seeds of a longer-term passion for the sport,” she said.
Young people are firmly on the radar of Racing for Change. A new racing club for young adults aged 18-25 is also to be trialled. It will be free to join and give members discounted entry at many racecourses.
The new club also intends to lease several racehorses for members.
This article was first published in Horse & Hound (28 January, 10)
