British horseracing launches social impact strategy

Horseracing is embedded in communities across the country and the sport’s new social impact strategy sets out an industry-wide approach to enhancing our positive impact on people and society.

Launched last week at the Racing Foundation conference, the strategy outlines how the industry can work together in an even more coordinated way, building on the valuable activity currently taking place and enhancing racing’s reputation and relevance.

The development of the strategy has been funded and supported by the Racing Foundation, Godolphin and the Racing Post, and shaped by existing knowledge and expertise from individuals, charities and community groups operating across the sport.

Racing Together and Racing to School have supported the strategy’s development and are piloting projects to help progress social impact and youth engagement activity.

Racing Together Chief Executive, John Blake said: “The sport’s commitment to this wide range of work is longstanding and the new strategic plan benefits from some well-rooted programmes and initiatives that comprise the many intersections with its communities.

“Improving measurement and evaluation techniques, exploring new areas for collaboration and combining stakeholder and funder investment long-term are key outputs in achieving more social impact at scale.”

It forms part of the British racing’s wider approach to ensuring responsible care for its people, communities and the environment – part of the ongoing industry strategy work that has also seen the publication of the sport’s environmental strategy in recent weeks.

The social impact strategy has been designed around four main areas where racing already has strong foundations and can have the greatest impact on individuals and communities:

• Power of opportunity – making it easier for young people to benefit from being part of our industry. We need to make sure we are relevant to young people, that we engage them at an early age and support their development of skills, confidence and employability – or simply help them enjoy the sport as fans
• Power of the racehorse – evidence shows the positive impact our horses can have on people, and through the provision of equine assisted services we are harnessing the power the Thoroughbred can have beyond their career on the racecourse
• Power of racing – our sport has a lot to offer to society and we want to take a more proactive approach to measuring our impact, so that we can demonstrate the importance of our work and tell a more compelling story about the positive value we deliver
• Power of community – we are part of our local communities and have a strong history of supporting them, whether that’s through fundraising and volunteering or other established programmes of activity. Enhancing this work and ensuring that racing remains a community asset is crucial to our sport’s reputation and long-term success.

Within these areas the sport has identified three immediate priorities to drive focus through to 2028:

• Establishing a young people pathway for British racing – so that we are following a clear, consistent and industry-agreed approach to supporting young people as they engage with the sport
• Building our impact story – quantifying the positive difference we make so that we can better understand and showcase the true value of British racing to society
• Engage and empower our stakeholders and partners – clearly defining the role that individuals, organisations and community groups can play in achieving our goals – and empowering stakeholders within and beyond racing to drive this work forward.

Tom Baker, Head of Social Impact at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), said: “British racing is an industry that is committed to having a positive impact and there is already a significant amount of vital work taking place across the country that is making a real difference in our communities.

“This includes giving more young people the opportunity to engage with our sport and horses, fundraising and volunteering for vital causes, and recognising the valuable role retired thoroughbreds play in supporting physical and mental wellbeing.

“The strategy builds on these strong foundations to help ensure we can have an even greater impact, through increased collaboration, forging even stronger partnerships and by improving our understanding of where we can make the biggest difference.”

British horseracing’s social impact strategy can be viewed here.