We’re into June and it’s Royal Ascot next week! The sun is out and people who love racing are feeling pretty excited. In the meantime, there’s not only a Women in Racing event happening tomorrow but here at Racing Home we’ve also just released a brand new handbook that we’ve been working on for a while. It’s for both employers and employees in the breeding and racing world, including those of you who are self-employed, and providces information and advice on those who are thinking about a family, starting a family or are already parents. There’ll be a link in the shownotes to the guide which is called “Motherhood and Horseracing: Before, During and After Pregnancy Considerations for Parents and Employers” and we’d encourage you not only to read it but to send it on to anyone you think might benefit from it.

Which brings me neatly on to today’s episode where I’m chatting with Vicky Low who joins us from the sport of sailing. Our first non-horse-related guest! You might wonder what sailing and horseracing have got in common, and it turns out…quite a lot, and as CEO of The Magenta Project, which you’ll here about, Vick is at the forefront of developing an equitable and inclusive marine industry.  

The team here at Racing Home are big on collaboration and have been exploring the state of play for parents, mothers in particular, in other sports, and how we can work together to create change across multiple sports together. This has led us to realise that there are a lot of similarities as well as the obvious difference that one involves boats and one involves horseracing. 

Vic has become a real ally on some of the areas we’re working on here at Racing Home and we’re looking forward to announcing some further work later in the year.

In the meantime, enjoy this conversation.

Useful links

Find out more about The Magenta Project here

If you're not familiar, have a look at the Women in Racing Mentoring Programme (the Mentors 4 Mums Programme is is also now live!)

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

It’s May, we’ve had the Guineas and we are in the thick of spring, the time of new birth. The buds are flowering, the lambs are out and if you go anywhere near a Thoroughbred stud, you’ll likely see plenty of foals dashing about in the paddocks. 

And a stud was exactly where we went for this month’s episode of the Racing Home podcast - Mill Farm to be exact, home to Eileen and Keith Harte and their twins, plus their business Keith Harte Bloodstock. 

As well as co-owning the business, driving mares to their coverings, supervising the team on the farm and providing mentorship through Women in Racing’s excellent programme (yes, it gets ANOTHER plug in this episode), Eileen is also a coach and is just finishing a two-year qualification as a psychotherapist.

She’s passionate about recruiting, developing and training people in the stud and bloodstock world, and talked to me here about the joy it brings her and Keith when people they’ve developed go onto great things, as well as raising twins on a very busy stud farm, away from their families in Ireland. Enjoy!

Useful links

If you're not familiar, have a look at the Women in Racing Mentoring Programme (the Mum Mentoring Programme is coming soon!)

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

If you’ve listened to first two episodes this season then you may well have heard Susannah Gill mention the topic of how society values - or actually, doesn’t value - people who care for others, which we touched on in last time’s conversation in the context of people who care for children and the importance of caregiving to facilitate parents returning to work.

But childcare is one thing. What about people who have caring responsibilities for older members of their family or if you have a family member who is chronically ill, disabled or needs daily help in any other way, shape or form that requires thinking and planning on a weekly basis?

Back in Episode 15 we talked to Nick Luck about parenting a child with a chronic illness as his daughter, Xanthe, has cystic fibrosis, and Nick was open about the fact that his wife Laura, managed the majority of Xanthe’s care and medical arrangements. Today we’re hearing another perspective.

Cheryl Caves is Operations Manager at the European Breeders Fund and has worked in and around the stud and bloodstock industry for 25 years. She comes from a non-racing background in Bristol and had no connection to racing before starting her studies at The National Stud. 

Cheryl has 2 kids, a husband who was in the military when said children were small and two parents with disabilities: her mother is deaf and her father is blind. As you’ll hear, there have been points in Cheryl’s life when her parents have required her help whilst her partner has been posted abroad and she had 2 very small children. Unsurprisingly, this has required significant organisational skills. No wonder she works in operations. Oh, and she also sits on the Women in Racing committee and is in charge of the Women in Racing Mentoring Programme. If you need something doing - as they say - ask a busy woman. 

So this episode is about the ‘sandwich generation’. Some of you will recognise the pressures that many people - often women -  face when caring both for children and parents, often with additional medical needs. Enjoy this one.    

Useful links

If you're not familiar, have a look at the Women in Racing Mentoring Programme (the Mum Mentoring Programme is coming soon!)

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

Welcome to Part 2 of our conversation with Eleanor Boden, Lucy Gurney, Susannah Gill and Tallulah Wilson!

If you haven’t listened to the first part of this conversation and you've got time to do so, maybe go back one episode and do just that, but either way, here’s a little recap on a few things about these 4 women, who’ve all had a big part to play in the work of Women in Racing and Racing Home:  

Lucy’s daughter Francesca arrived 6 weeks prematurely and was in neonatal ICU, Eleanor had a planned caesarean then her son Angus spent a few days in NICU too, Tallulah herself developed sepsis post-natally and was re-admitted to hospital, and Susannah had a 48 hour labour followed by a caesarean section, so it’s fair to say that becoming a parent isn’t always a walk in the park…

We discussed a lot in this episode, including the subject of changing your job whilst pregnant and why everyone has an opinion on how you should parent, but this part of the conversation started with a chat about maintaining your identity when you become a mother. How do you not become a person that feels like your entire life consists of feeding, changing, bathing, soothing and filling the washing machine?

Useful links

If you're not familiar, have a look at the Women in Racing Mentoring Programme (the Mum Mentoring Programme is coming soon!)

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

The Racing Home podcast is back! Next week marks the start of the Cheltenham Festival 2025 so in advance of that, we're here with the first episode of a new season of the podcast.

Our guests this week will be familiar to many of you: Lucy Gurney is the current chair of Women in Racing and, alongside Tallulah, is one of the rocks on which Racing Home is built. Tallulah Wilson, Susannah Gill and Eleanor Boden have all joined Naomi on the podcast previously before they had children (Susannah was in fact pregnant at the time of her first appearance!), and if you haven't listened to those then it's well worth checking out Episodes 1, 7 and 11.

All of our guests this week have had babies relatively recently and have now got little people in their lives between the ages of 5 months and 2 years. 

Eleanor Boden is Education, Development and Careers Programme Lead for the Horseracing Industry People Board and has a 6 month old son called Angus. She returned to work 10 weeks after having him and changed jobs whilst she was heavily pregnant. 

Lucy Gurney is Community Engagement Manager at Racing Together, and, as mentioned, is also the chair of Women in Racing. Her daughter Francesca is just over a year old but was born 6 weeks prematurely. Lucy came back to work recently, just before Fran’s 1st birthday. 

Tallulah Wilson is Head of International Partnerships at UK Tote Group and was chair of Women in Racing before Lucy, so she’s also been heavily involved in Racing Home. Her daughter, Otillie, is 9 months old and Tallulah is returning to work right about now.

Susannah Gill also works at the UK Tote Group, where she is Communications and Corporate Affairs Director. As she put it, she has "kept Johnny alive for just over 2 years" but he’s been - again, as Suz put it - in the safe hands of nursery since he was 4 months old, when she returned to work.

These four joined Naomi to discuss what motherhood is REALLY like: having a premature baby, changing jobs whilst heavily pregnant, judgement around the length of your mat leave, and the things that people don't tell you in advance of giving birth.

This was a long conversation so we've split it in two, and Part 2 will be out in a couple of weeks!

Useful links

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

Today is the start of Royal Ascot 2024!

One of our guests today is making his Royal Ascot presenting debut this week, and we’re delighted to bring you this podcast in a week women in racing from across the world are being showcased and celebrated once again. 

We’ve talked a lot about parents in this series, particularly mothers, and we’ve heard from a fathers too. But if we want to create a working landscape where people are all pulling in the same direction, we need to look at things from the perspective of a younger generation, in particular young men. They are the sons, brothers, nephews and friends of women in the racing industry now, and they’re the fathers of the future. What they hear, what they think and what they do in their lives matters. 

I’m joined to dig into this topic by Callum Helliwell, a reporter for Sky Sports Racing who it’s fair to say is part of the “younger generation” and as you’ll hear is incredibly insightful, wise and eloquent on this subject, and Lyndon Roberts, the Head of Inclusion at the British Horseracing Authority, who’s worked in various sports for over 10 years and is a father himself.   

Useful links

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

We've been very fortunate with Racing Home to have support from numerous folk across the industry, and we're welcoming two of them - with very different roles in racing, it must be said - to the podcast today. We were going to call this episode 'saints and sinners' but I think 'from grassroots to the boardroom' fits a little better. A huge thank to both my guests today for everything they're doing in support of racing's workforce and family life, it's much appreciate.

Simon Bailey is the National Chaplain to Horseracing. He lives with his family in Newmarket and is on the ground there daily, supporting those who work in racing, and people who have previously. Simon is a listening ear, a place to turn in times of need and someone with great knowledge of who can help, even if he can't. He's also one of the new team of Grassroots Ambassadors we've got here at Racing Home.

Ed Nicholson is pretty senior at Kindred, the parent company of Unibet - he's the Head of Racing Communications and Sponsorship in case you're interested. You'll hear that Ed's interest in equality in the sport goes back a long way, when he wrote a research piece back in the early 90s whilst at university.

Useful links

Read about Simon's work on the Racing Welfare website here

Read about Kindred's support of mental health and wellbeing in racing

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

If my guest in our last episode needed very little introduction - that was Julie Harrington, the CEO of the BHA, in case you haven’t listened - then today’s is no exception to that rule either. 

Nick Luck is one of the nation’s most recognisable racing broadcasters. Having been a mainstay of Channel 4 Racing previously, he’s also a stalwart of Racing TV, NBC’s Breeder’s Cup coverage in the US and a nine-time winner of the Horserace Writers and Photographers Broadcaster of the Year Award.

Nick has a wonderfully talented wife - classical singer, Laura - and they have 3 daughters aged 13, 9 and 5. Their youngest, Xanthe, has cystic fibrosis. 

Nick is a very busy father who travels a lot, and with a child with a chronic illness there are some additional challenges in their family too, all of which provided a fascinating conversation.

Useful links

If you'd like more info on cystic fibrosis, then you can find plenty here from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust

Follow Nick on Twitter here and Instagram here

Check out Luck on Sunday on Racing TV

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

My guest today is someone that you may well have heard of, and I’m really grateful to her for giving up her very precious and very busy time to join me for a podcast recording. Julie Harrington is the CEO of the British Horseracing Authority, as well as a mother to her daughter Sarah. Julie became a mum very young - she was still at school in fact - but built her career regardless, making her way through the brewing industry, horseracing and football at the FA before becoming the CEO of British Cycling, from where she joined the BHA in 2021. 

I’ve had the good fortune to chat to Julie about the trajectory of her career previously and there’s a link here if you want to watch that one, but here we discussed a whole range of topics to do with work and family.

Useful links

Watch the Women in Racing Careering Ahead discussion with Julie about her working life

Read about Julie as CEO of the BHA on their website

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!

It’s been a while since we released our chat with Alice Plunkett and Leanne Pipe, but it’s now 2023 and we are back for Season 2 of Racing Home!

The first phase of the project went really well, and we’re delighted to have received support and funding for the next stage from the Racing Foundation and Kindred Group, which will allow the team to embark on further research and roll out the groundbreaking physiotherapy programme produced in conjunction with the Injured Jockeys Fund and Racing Welfare. Can’t wait.

We’ve talked to a whole host of professionals across horseracing to bring you a range of persectives - there’s Lizzie Kelly on the jockey front, Claire Kübler from a trainers perspective, Leo Powell from the Irish Field, and a whole heap more. Don’t forget to listen then share the series with friends or anyone you know that might find it useful and interesting. We’d appreciate it.

My first guest for Season 2 is a breeder, backer, producer of horses, instructor, coach and mother to a sibling group of three adopted children with her partner.  

Useful links

Check out the Racing Home website here (there's LOADS of useful info there)

Read the Women in Racing and Oxford Brookes research on working mothers in horseracing here

And finally, the Women in Racing website is here too!