Guest Speakers

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.

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.

Nevin Truesdale has been leading the Jockey Club, one of the largest sport businesses in the UK which stages a number of iconic horseracing events including the Cheltenham Festival and Randox Grand National, as Group Chief Executive for over four years. He is stepping down as chief executive at the end of 2024.

During his tenure, Truesdale has led the organisation through a period of digital-based growth and transformation, diversified revenues and attracted new audiences to the country’s second largest spectator sport, welcoming nearly 2m people annually to the Jockey Club’s 15 racecourse venues.

Ahead of the 2024 running of the Randox Grand National, the Jockey Club announced substantial updates to the historic race, including reducing the maximum number of runners and moving the first fence 60 yards closer to the start to slow the early stages of the race.

The changes, which were seen as an influential example of protecting the sport's social licence by some stakeholders, were met with mixed reaction by others.

In his keynote talk, Truesdale will outline the factors contributing to the decision, implementation, managing stakeholder buy-in and how he foresees the rule changes contributing to the Grand National's licence to operate long-term.

Bob Langert is a global authority in the field of social licence and sustainability, having delivered TedTalks and written books on the subject. Best known for his influential tenure at McDonald's spanning over three decades, Langert's work has set benchmarks in environmental and social governance.

From the late 1980s, McDonald's found itself embroiled in a series of contentious issues in the areas of animal welfare and environmental sustainability, often clashing with powerful NGOs such as Greenpeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Langert was appointed as McDonald’s first Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in 2006 and was tasked with addressing the social licence issues that had taken the brand from being recognised as the beloved ‘Golden Arches’ to a symbol of many societal problems. He transformed McDonald's social licence efforts from defensive manoeuvres to proactive problem-solving in collaboration with unexpected partners.

Langert’s work underscores the importance of collaboration, authentic openness, and persistent innovation in addressing the complex challenges of social acceptability. As the horseracing industry grapples with its own social licence challenges, Langert’s experiences offer valuable insights on the potential for transformative change through committed leadership and strategic partnerships.

Michael Bishop is the Chief Executive of RDA, a UK wide charity enriching lives through horses. RDA supports people with physical and learning disabilities, and long-term physical and mental health conditions, including dementia, by providing therapy, fitness, skills development, and opportunities for achievement.

He is a Trustee of both the British Racing School and London Youth, a charity which improves the lives of young people in the capital. A passionate advocate for horse sport, Michael’s career has spanned private, voluntary, and public sectors.

In his keynote talk, Michael will explore how social relevance is crucial for all equine sports, including horseracing, to secure their social licence to operate.

Dominic Matcham is the Founder and Managing Director of INVADES, a sports media and events company on a mission to create the next generation of horseracing fans and DOUGH, a social media centric staffing agency providing front of house hospitality staff to racecourses and other venues. Operational across the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, INVADES sells over 100,000 tickets a year helping racecourses reduce unsold capacity and connect with Gen-Z consumers. In his keynote talk, Dom explains how the industry can better harness social media to influence social licence within this demographic and attract the next generation of racegoers.

Roly joined World Horse Welfare as Chief Executive in January 2008. He already knew the charity well, having led its fundraising and communication teams from 1999 to 2003.

Roly qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Cambridge University in 1992. Having spent a short time with the Blue Cross, he joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, which included a posting as the Veterinary Officer at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in London. After the army, he initially joined the ILPH (now World Horse Welfare) until 2003, when he left to take up the post of Development Director at the Perse School in Cambridge. He returned to World Horse Welfare as Chief Executive in 2008.

Since then Roly has played an active role on the steering group of the British Horse Council and helped establish the Equine Disease Coalition, of which he is Chair. He is currently the Treasurer for the British Equine Veterinary Association, Chair of the International Coalition for Animal Welfare (ICFAW) and on the Management Board of the European Horse Network. He regularly represents the charity at national and international events.

In this keynote talk, Roly will review the latest research findings regarding the public perception of the involvement of horses in sport and will explore the evolution of societal expectation and its relationship to social licence.

Aamilah began her equestrian journey at the age of five, riding ponies at St. James City Farm in Gloucester. This early experience ignited her passion for riding. By age eleven, she advanced to pony racing, which laid the foundation for her future ambitions. At fifteen, she earned a place in the Riding A Dream Academy through the prestigious Khadijah Mellah Scholarship. For the past eighteen months, she has been working at Kim Bailey's yard riding out. Aamilah raced in the 2024 Markel Magnolia Cup at Goodwood Racecourse, where she earned a notable second place. This achievement reflects the legacy of Khadijah Mellah, who made history by winning the race five years ago.

Uwitonze has always had an interest in horses, initially volunteering at the Urban Equestrian Academy for a remarkable eight years. She then went on to graduate from the Riding a Dream Academy Khadijah Mellah Scholarship programme in 2023. Since then, she has completed the foundation course at the British Racing School and was head person during this time. She is currently an apprentice groom for Karl Burke, and her ultimate goal is to become a professional jockey, which she is eager to pursue.

Mimi joined QIPCO British Champions Series as Club 26 Coordinator last year, after graduating from University College Dublin with an Economics and Politics degree. Club 26 is a free to join horseracing Club for those aged 18-26 and aims to make racing more affordable for young people by offering £10 tickets to all 26 QIPCO British Champions Day racedays. Whist at university, Mimi previously worked for Goffs, Leopardstown Racecourse and Fairyhouse Racecourse in Ireland, before making the move to London. Since then, Mimi has helped the Club to grow to over 10,000 members, hosted various behind-the-scenes tours within the industry and acquired two exciting two year olds for the Club in partnership with Qatar Ltd.

Samantha Martin is a nineteen-year-old horse racing writer and content creator, who balances her involvement in the racing industry with a History degree at the University of Oxford. Inspired by watching racing with her grandad as a child, she started writing for an Under-18s’horse racing website called Rein It In Racing, aged twelve. This opened many doors, including to podcasting and radio. In March 2021, Samantha joined the team at Careers In Racing as a Content Creator and takes an active role in their Youth Collaboration Group, all with the aim of highlighting the multitude of opportunities available to young people in this sport. 2024 has been a big year for Samantha as she reported on the Cheltenham Festival for national newspaper The Times. She strongly believes that horse racing can enrich the lives of young people.

Louise Norman has been an integral part of the Executive Team at the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) since January 2020. With over two decades of experience at Weatherbys, she developed a deep expertise in the VAT Service area and later spearheaded the Racing Bank team as Senior Manager focused on commercial opportunities combined with a unique approach to excellent customer service.

In her four years at the ROA, Louise has demonstrated her commercial acumen by introducing a VAT solution service and broadening the membership model for the ROA. She has also continued to develop the customer experience levels which significantly benefit racehorse owners. Additionally, she has played an important role in supporting the British Horseracing Authority's (BHA) Industry Strategy; Owners Workstream, committed to enhancing the recognition and reward of racehorse owners as key investors in British Racing.

Louise's extensive career in the horseracing industry has provided her with a comprehensive understanding of the importance of owner engagement. Her unique perspective, blending regulatory knowledge with practical racing experience, contributes significantly to the ROA and the broader industry.

Paul Johnson has been Chief Executive at the National Trainers Federation since the beginning of 2022. Previously Paul occupied the role of Head of Racing at the BHA for eight years and in the past has also worked for the Racecourse Association and Ladbrokes.

David Catlow joined Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) as Managing Director in October 2022.

Previously Clinical Director at the animal welfare charity, Blue Cross, and a Managing Partner of Oakhill Veterinary Centre, David has over 30 years’ experience in the veterinary and welfare field, allied to considerable commercial experience.

David was a former President of the British Veterinary Association, during which time he coordinated the industry responses to government, media and profession to FMD, Bluetongue Virus and H5N1 notifiable disease outbreaks. And, he was Chair of RCVS Standards Committee, RCVS Council member.

He is a non-executive director of the Government’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate.

In 2019 Barry Johnson was appointed as the Independent Chairman of the Horse Welfare Board, set up by the racehorse industry to create a strategy for the welfare of thoroughbreds throughout their lives. 

Barry has extensive experience in the veterinary world and is the former president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He was awarded the Queens Gold Medal in 2017 as a Lifetime Achievement Award to Veterinary Science

Paul’s career in racing began in 2001 when he joined the British Horseracing Board, initially in the marketing team promoting racehorse ownership before becoming Industry Marketing Manager, responsible for promoting British-bred bloodstock as well as ownership. He became the PR Manager for the Jockey Club before going on to the Head of Communications of the British Horseracing Authority.

He became Chief Executive of the Professional Jockeys Association in 2012, and under his leadership the PJA became an influential organisation, respected within racing and the media, achieving significant positive change for jockeys in terms of member services, finances and across the regulatory landscape and providing passionate advocacy for jockeys. He also implemented a comprehensive mental wellbeing support structure that in the last three years alone has seen 170 jockeys supported through counselling, sports psychology or rehabilitation.

He left the PJA in 2021 due to issues with his own mental wellbeing and set up the consultancy Moya Sport, one of whose clients became the PJA, and he returned to the role of Chief Executive in January 2024.

David joined the Racecourse Association as Chief Executive in March 2019 after working with Wasps Holdings as Group Chief Executive. David represents the RCA on the BHA Board and Commercial Committee as well as many other industry Boards. Prior to his time with Wasps, David undertook senior positions with PepsiCo, Compass Group, Diageo and Lonrho, providing a broad overview of global leisure and retail markets. David has worked with a number of other sports including stints as Chairman of England Netball and Pentathlon GB and Board roles at the World Athletics Championships and Oakwell Sports.

George McGrath has been Chief Executive of the National Association of Racing Staff (NARS) since 2012 representing racing staff in various industry forums and providing support, advice and guidance on employment matters. He is also a Board member of the Horseracing Industry People Board. George started his career in racing as an Apprentice Jockey before holding senior positions in several racing yards.

Claire joined the TBA as Chief Executive in 2017 after previously working for the Racecourse Association and for Plumpton Racecourse.  Her role as Chief Executive of the TBA covers a wide range of responsibilities including the running of the management of the TBA charity, its finances and staff; representing the TBA in political negotiations and providing support and briefings to the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Trustees and Veterinary advisor. Claire is the TBA representative on the British Horse Council, International Thoroughbred Breeders’ Federation (ITBF), and EFTBA.

Julie was appointed Chief Executive of the BHA in January 2021, having previously been a BHA Board member between 2014 and 2019. She is a member of the Commercial Committee, the Industry Programme Group, and the Rules Committee. Julie is also a Board member for the Horseracing Betting Levy Board. Prior to joining the BHA, Julie was Chief Executive of British Cycling, where she dealt with some significant regulatory challenges. She is one of the most experienced leaders in sport, with a strong background in consumer, operational and regulatory roles.