Young Guns With Amelie Lemercier

Young Guns is a series where we endeavour to find out more about some of the young professionals in the industry. Today we speak with Amelie Lemercier, marketing assistant at the Aga Khan Studs.

TDN: What was your path into the industry?

AL: I have been passionate about racing since a young age. My father was a trainer of trotters and I spent my whole childhood on racecourses around France. I first started to work on weekends during my studies for the Wertheimer Family at the Haras de Saint Leonard, where I discovered the Thoroughbred industry. After graduating (HND in business), I worked at Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand with yearlings and at Coolmore Stud in Ireland with mares and foals. I went back to university in 2013 where I did a bachelors in business, specialising in management and accountancy of equine businesses. During that final year of study, I was an intern at Primus Marketing and Advertising. After graduating, I was hired by the Aga Khan Studs as a Marketing Assistant in 2014.

TDN: Who has been the biggest influence on your career?

AL: First, I would have to say my father for passing his passion for horses and racing onto me, it all started from there. In the Thoroughbred industry, I have met a lot of great people who helped me to reach my different goals; Georges Rimaud and Aline Giraud from the Aga Khan Studs, Tom Lynch, Harry King, Mathieu Legars from Coolmore and Richard Henry from Primus, but if I had to pick only one person, it would be Pierre-Yves Bureau, the manager of the Wertheimer breeding operation and my first boss in horses. He introduced me into the Thoroughbred world, trusted me when I was a teenager with absolutely no knowledge at all of the industry, taught me a lot about it and he has always been a great help when I've needed his advice during my very short career.

TDN: What does your role involve?

AL: The aim of the marketing department at the Aga Khan Studs is to promote the stallions standing in France and Ireland, the horses for sale and the company and its activities in general. As part of this endeavour, my role includes very diverse tasks such as advertising, press relations, client relations, organisation of events such as open days or client hospitality, development of the digital tools (social media and website), marketing publications and going to the sales and racing.

TDN: What challenges do you face in your role?

AL: There are so many new stallions on the market and the competition is getting stronger, so one of our challenges, from a marketing point of view, is to be as innovative and creative as possible to promote our stallions. I have to say that we are lucky enough to have, in France and in Ireland, a rich and diverse roster with very proven stallions such as Siyouni and Sea The Stars, and an exciting offer of young stallions in Harzand, Zarak, Dariyan, etc., which makes the job a bit easier. It is the same challenge for the promotion of our consignments at the breeding stock sales, but we are fortunate that the mares sold previously by the Aga Khan Studs keep being prolific and producing top-class racehorses and they are fantastic promotion for the Aga Khan drafts.

TDN: What advice would you give your 16-year-old self?

AL: Work hard and keep believing in your dream job; don't give up until you have reached your goals, even when it's tough and despite the occasional disappointments. Travel as much as you can, meet as many people as you can, the industry is very rich in smart and interesting people, and you will always have something to learn from them and from your own experiences. Finally, don't be afraid to make your own opinion about subjects that matter to you.

TDN: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the industry and how would you solve it?

AL: Unfortunately the industry is facing a few challenges. In France, I would have to say that the most important is the attendance on racecourses. France Galop is working actively on that matter and is doing a great job but we have to work harder on this. If the number of visitors on racecourses and the interest from the general audience increase, I believe it will have a significant impact on betting, potentially on the ownership and definitely on the durability of our sport. Promoting the sport itself and our sportsmen/women as done by the Epiqe Series/Champion series, from my point of view, is very efficient but the general public are hard to convince. We need to turn racing into major social events like it's done in Ireland, in Great Britain or in Australia, and educate people about the joy of racing. That being said, compared to abroad, racing is not an integral part of our culture in France, but it is a fascinating challenge.

TDN: How do you think the general public perceives racing?

AL: Racing is such a great sport with true athletes, with an important economic weight and employment rate but I am afraid that the general public, at least in France, is not well aware of this. The public think it is somewhat elitist and inaccessible. We have to thank the new initiatives such as racing syndicates and associations of young breeders/students, which contribute to changing this perception and teaching people that it is accessible and affordable. Horse welfare is also an important matter as the general public often think that the industry professionals make the use of horses to the detriment of their well-being. Re-homing and retraining associations such as ROR (UK) or ADDP (France), to name just a few, make great efforts to promote the horses' welfare during and after their racing career, which is crucial for the image of our sport.

TDN: How would you attract more young people into the workforce?

AL: I think that a lot of institutions make great efforts to attract young people into the workforce such as The Thoroughbred Club in the UK or Aux Course Les Jeunes in France, which are definitely a good point of access for young people who have no links with the industry. Their actions (stud farms or training yard visits, meetings with professionals, etc) raise awareness among young people and we should, at every level of the industry, emphasize those actions. From pupils to students, there is not enough information yet on the diverse variety of job opportunities this industry can offer. I am convinced that racing is about passion in the first place but the youngest generation have common interest in sports and social events overall, which should make our sport very appealing, so why wouldn't they be involved in this industry? The awareness of our sport and its career possibilities is vital to growing our workforce.

TDN: Who is your favorite racehorse of all time and why?

AL: I would have to say Goldikova, a 14-time Group 1 winner. She was such a racing machine at the mile. She was the first Group 1-winning Thoroughbred that I've followed carefully. Her successes, in Deauville notably, are still amazing memories to me.

TDN: Tell us something about yourself that not many people would know.

AL: I have co-founded a racing syndicate named High Heels Racing which involves women in racing and supports young trainers around France. I am also the youngest member of the Steering Committee and a frequent volunteer for the French retraining charity, Au-Dela Des Pistes, since its creation in 2015. My role for the charity is principally to assist the team with communication and events.

TDN: What would you like to achieve in the next five years?

AL: I am constantly looking to develop my marketing and communication skills in my current job and I am really enjoying it. In a few years, I assume that becoming a marketing manager for a renowned commercial farm is a logical target given this field is my area of expertise. On the other hand, I am a huge fan of racing and ownership so this domain could also be an option to study. Finally, setting up a business in communication could be a very interesting challenge but this is a far-off idea.