Great British Racing chief executive Rod Street is already plotting to make National Racehorse Week “bigger and better” after a hugely successful first year.
The initiative, which is the brainchild of trainer Richard Phillips, saw 132 yards open their doors to the public with over 11,000 signing up for events across the country in September.
In a review of their performance, released this week, Great British Racing reported that all open days were sold out, with 95 per cent of attendees coming away with a positive impression of the sport.
Speaking to Sky Sports Racing, Street said: “The racing industry utterly got behind it and it’s quite difficult to namecheck all of the people that helped us because so many got involved.
“At the heart of this were 132 yards that opened their doors, including the open days at Malton, Newmarket and Epsom.
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“Yards, large and small, showed people how much racehorses are cared for and the level of passion and love that underpins our industry.
“We’re thrilled to bits. The fact that all of the places for the open days were reserved before the start of the week shows the impact we had.
“What we’ve got to do next year is create more spaces and get more yards open. There’s clearly an appetite to get up close to the horse and this is an opportunity for racing to do its story-telling.
“It really was an important first year. We’ve proved we can make it work and the challenge for 2022 is to be bigger and better.”
The inaugural celebration, which saw over 600 young people in attendance. including five trips through the Racing to School initiative, was headed by former Love Island contestant and racing lover Chris Hughes.
“One of the really positive things was that the take-up from people who considered themselves not really regular racing fans was 28 per cent,” Street said.
“Those people that came and didn’t know a lot about us came away with a really positive impression.
“That’s the opportunity that there is to show people all that there is in this remarkable sport of ours.”