The Jockey Club
in general. The Jockey Club family should be immensely proud of what Racing Welfare has achieved. There is a high demand for its services, but generally at a much earlier stage than previously, helping to ensure more of those who need help can stay in work or receive help well before the situation develops further. Alongside people welfare is horse welfare, where we have a similar responsibility as a sport to provide fantastic care for our Thoroughbred racehorses. The Jockey Club takes this very seriously indeed and recognises that we are a sport built on its popularity amongst the British public. As such I am pleased that the establishment of our own Jockey Club Welfare Group has helped us to make some very positive improvements around our estate and I would like to see a concerted investment across the sport to drive innovation and address public perceptions in tandem. During and after The stakeholders and regulator, and I am not convinced this helped perceptions of British Racing. But ours is a passionate sport and is motivated by a deep love of the horse. The creation of a British Racing Welfare Festival at Cheltenham we had much robust debate in public involving racing’s
Board with representatives from across the sport and independent thinking is another example of the positive steps the sport is taking. On behalf of the Club, I would like to place on record our thanks to Simon Bazalgette who will be standing down as Group Chief Executive by the end of 2019. He has made an outstanding contribution to The Jockey Club and British Racing over more than a decade. He has played a pivotal role in a number of major achievements for the sport and we very much hope that he will continue to be involved in some way into the future. I would also like to thank my fellow Stewards, Jockey Club Members, our management team and all who have made my time as Senior Steward a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding five years. I pass on the baton to Sandy Dudgeon in July 2019 with great confidence that British Racing’s best days lie ahead.
“Racing events welcome people of all ages. It is key that we reach young people as they are the next generation of fans” customer has more time to go racing, more time to develop their passion for the sport and potentially more disposable income than young people. Do we deliver the right experience for them and is there more we need to invest in our facilities to ensure they meet their needs? The overarching desire must be for horse racing to be a sport for all. To realise our vision for the sport, we also need to look after the people within British Racing. In recent years I have been delighted by the transformation of our charity, Racing Welfare. Now racing’s workforce are aware of the charity’s services and it has done a fantastic job around initiatives including Racing Staff Week, Mental Health Awareness Week and training Equally, we must also recognise that the older
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