Richard Phillips, the racehorse trainer who originally came up with the idea for a National Racehorse Day in 2019 said, “Last year’s event was a huge success with over 130 yards opening up and down the country and 11,000 stable visits booked. We will be working to make this year’s event even bigger and better with more locations opening including studs and aftercare centres. Everyone within racing knows how well our horses are looked after and National Racehorse Week is a brilliant chance for the public to experience this first hand as well.”  

Rob Hezel, Chief Executive of the Racing Foundation which is providing core funding for the initiative said, “National Racehorse Week is a great opportunity to connect with local communities to showcase racing as a force for good across the country and to demonstrate the outstanding level of care that racehorses receive. The Racing Foundation is proud to support such an important initiative. We hope our funding will allow the event to be a success and a catalyst for the sport to take a much more strategic approach to community engagement in the future.”

Alan Delmonte, Chief Executive of the Horserace Betting Levy Board which is providing additional funding said, “The Levy Board funds a substantial number of initiatives to benefit the thoroughbred.  National Racehorse Week showcases the care that racehorses receive throughout their lives and the Board is pleased to support the week as part of our wider commitment.”

Gabi Whitfield, Acting Head of Welfare Communications added, “Last year 95% of attendees said that they had a much more positive impression of racing having visited a yard and this year we are focused on reaching an even wider cross section of the public.”

The initiative will be launched in full in June, at which time the online system for people to select and book their visits will go live. 

To find out more go to the website nationalracehorseweek.uk which is sponsored by the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust.