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Posted on December 12th 2022
Students Ride A Dream At Epsom Downs Racecourse
Ten students from Harris Academy Peckham have become the first to take part in the Riding A Dream Academy’s Regional Week, held at Epsom Downs Racecourse, home to the world-famous Derby.
The Regional Week is being rolled out thanks to funding from The Racing Foundation and is designed to broaden access to horses and the racing world by taking the Academy out to communities and schools and is aimed at young people aged 14-18.
During the week the Year 10 students from Peckham, none of whom had any experience of racing or working with horses, had the chance to ride for the first time and look after five horses from the British Racing School.
They also visited Pat Phelan’s racing yard, undertook media training with ITV’s Oli Bell and learned about the history of Epsom Downs and The Derby’s status as the world’s most prestigious flat race.
How the press reported it...
Click on the links below to read the reports.
- sportinglife.com
- racingpost.com
- london-post.co.uk
- londonnewsonline.co.uk
- ukdaily.news
- paulickreport.com
- southwarknews.co.uk
"A place for everyone within racing"
Khadijah Mellah, in whose name the Academy was set up after she became the first British Muslim woman to win a UK horse race said, “It has been so great to have Harris Academy Peckham with us for our first ever Riding A Dream Academy Regional Week. Peckham is where I grew up so it seemed only right that a school from there was part of this new initiative for the Academy. It has been great to see the students bond with the horses and find out that, no matter where you come from, there is a place for everyone within racing."
Katie Brayton, Head of PE from Harris Academy Peckham said, “Our students have had a wonderful week at Epsom racecourse as part of the Riding A Dream Academy. It has been great to see them all grow in confidence with the horses and experience something outside of their comfort zone. We have all been made to feel very welcome and I hope this is a programme that we will continue to be able to offer our students in the future.”
The Riding A Dream Academy was set up after Khadijah Mellah made history by becoming the first British Muslim woman to win a UK horse race. Kindly funded by the Racing Foundation it supports young people from diverse communities and disadvantaged backgrounds to get into racing. In its pilot year (2021-22) 74% of its students came from a diverse ethnic background.
