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Engaging young people is crucial to safeguarding the future of British racing. Strengthening the industry’s workforce, identifying emerging talent, attracting the next generation of employers, expanding its fanbase and preserving its social license to operate are fundamental to ensuring a sustainable future for the sport.
The 2025 Racing Foundation Conference, taking place on Thursday, October 2nd at York Racecourse, seeks to prompt collaboration and build understanding around the industry’s youth engagement opportunities and challenges and bring delegates from across the horseracing industry together for a day of insight, innovation and connection.
Stuart Rowson, a leading expert in helping sports and media organisations grow their reach and impact with younger audiences, will deliver a keynote talk revealing his insights on how to resonate with the next generation. Stuart has worked with some of the country's biggest sporting events and organisations in this capacity, including England Rugby, Chelsea FC, World Sailing, Birmingham 2022, British Cycling, Planet Sport, World Cycling Championships, UK Sport and UEFA, and has more than a decade of experience at the BBC.
The event will also feature:
Early-bird tickets are now available for £75
Includes breakfast, lunch, and refreshments.
The Racing Foundation is committed to ensuring cost is not a barrier to attendance and as such, funded tickets are available for charities. To ensure that young people are meaningfully included in the conversation about the future of British racing, we are also offering heavily discounted tickets for those aged under 26 for just £5.
Find out more about concession tickets here
All those working in or on the periphery of the horseracing industry, including those with aspirations of working in racing in the future, are welcome to attend the conference which is cited as an ideal opportunity to build relationships and network with other delegates from the racing community.
Whatever your role in racing, this is your opportunity to connect, contribute, and help future-proof the sport.
All are welcome to join us for a day of learning, challenge and debate.
Stu Rowson is a leading expert in helping sports and media organisations grow their reach and impact with Children and younger audiences.
With more than a decade of experience at the BBC in senior roles across BBC Sport, BBC News and Children’s, he led record-breaking growth across digital and social media platforms - from Newsround, to CBeebies Bedtime Stories and Children’s iPlayer.
As the founder of Lucky Socks media, Stu advises some of the world’s leading sports and media organisations on their approach to engaging the next generation, from ages 0-6 through to young adults and families.
In the past twelve months he has worked with UEFA, BBC News, the RFU, the R&A, FIFA and a range of sporting bodies - delivering everything from strategic consultancy to content and platform guidance and content production. He’s also a published children’s author.
Tansy Challis has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Racing Foundation since 2023 having previously worked as Head of Grants and Programmes. Challis has over 18 years of experience working in the charity sector, including four years at the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust in Cambridge and six years as Head of Fundraising at Racing Welfare. In her conference introduction, Challis will contextualise the importance of industry collaboration to secure and maintain horseracing’s social licence to operate.
Rishi has become a popular and recognisable sports broadcaster in the UK after representing a number of major television companies including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 during a career that first began in May 2002. He has appeared at some of the most high-profile events around the world covering golf, cricket, snooker, tennis and has represented the BBC at the last five Olympic Games. However horseracing has always been where his heart is and he remains an integral member of the talent teams at both ITV Racing and Racing TV. Rishi is also a Trustee of the Racing Foundation.