Raising Funds Through Racing's Search For A Star

There are plenty of businesses and individuals adversely affected by the coronavirus lockdown meaning that, in Britain, there has been a greater call for the industry's primary support network, Racing Welfare.

But the charity itself has also been affected by a downturn in its fundraising efforts through events like the London Marathon having to be cancelled, leading to a shortfall in its own funding mechanism. Last month Racing Welfare launched its COVID-19 Emergency Appeal with the aim of raising £500,000 to cover that loss. Since then, it has also launched a talent contest via social media called the Furlong Factor.

The competition, with a first prize of £1,500 and all-expenses-paid trip for two to the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, was open to all workers in racing and was devised in partnership with Great British Racing (GBR).

“Like so many businesses, when this crisis hit we needed to forecast and work out what the impact would be on Racing Welfare. In doing that it painted a pretty bleak picture,” says the charity's chief operating officer Gemma Waterhouse.

“We raise all our funds ourselves and we host a whole load of fundraising events throughout the year, which raise up to £1 million for us, which is fantastic, but with this virus now hitting the world and meaning that we can't bring people together for all these events we are set to lose that money. Certainly about £500,000 will be gone between now and August.”

She continues, “So I needed to find other ways that we would be able to engage people and encourage them to give some money to Racing Welfare. I was looking on social media and I saw Deirdre and Angus Johnston singing beautifully at their home and it got me thinking about the idea of having a singing competition in racing, and that's where the Furlong Factor came from.”

And it turns out that it's not just the Johnston mother-and-son act who have beautiful singing voices among the racing community. Eighty people put forward audition recordings, with 24 of those gaining a place in one of the six heats, including jockeys Lizzie Kelly and Fergus Sweeney and trainer James Ferguson.

This Saturday the eight finalists, including two wildcards chosen by the Union J band member and former jockey JJ Hamblett, will perform a second song in Saturday's live final, which will be broadcast at 5pm on Sky Sports Racing.

Waterhouse says, “Rod Street is a trustee of Racing Welfare and he heads up GBR, so we had a chat about how [the contest] might work. We got Sky Sports Racing to come on board as a media partner and we got sponsorship from the Tote, which will enable us to give some prize money and gave an incentive for people to be brave and put some auditions in.

“We now have eight people going through to the final, which is perfect for a tote pool which will be run during the final, so people can get involved by watching, voting, betting, and hopefully also donating.”

Founded in 2000, Racing Welfare was set up to help current and retired members of the racing workforce. Its services range from the provision of housing to careers guidance and counselling those with problems such as mental health issues or drug and alcohol dependency. The charity's head office is in the centre of Newmarket but it has a network of welfare officers in all regions of the country.

“Racing Welfare is at the centre of welfare provision for the industry,” says Waterhouse. “We look after stable staff, stud staff, people who work in administration, racecourses or the media. Normally we help around 2,500 people in a year but this year we are only a third of the way through and we've already helped 3,000 people, so our services are really important right now.”

She continues, “A key part of this wonderful sport that we all enjoy is the people, and if we want racing to resume and be healthy and to be as amazing as it was before we had this crisis then we need the people to be there ready to make it happen.

“I think often people don't understand quite what Racing Welfare does. To give an example of the type of people we've helped, one of our beneficiaries, Darren, really struggled with alcoholism. He worked on the sales circuit and he really enjoyed lots of aspects of his job, but one of those was the social aspect, and for him that was drinking. Over a number of years the drinking got worse and Darren lost touch with his family, his children, and alienated the people around him. He got in touch with Racing Welfare when he really was at rock bottom and we helped him by putting him through rehab and supported him right through to a full recovery. Darren quite happily says if it wasn't for Racing Welfare and what we did for him he's not sure if he would be here any more.”

The early evening entertainment this Saturday will be provided by the eight finalists whose racing roles include trainer, jockey, marketing manager, racing manager and rider/grooms. They are Freddy Tett, Lara Telfer, Lilli Hines, James Ferguson, Rebecca Thomas, Lucy Barry, Annie Martin and Kristen Wheeler. As well as voting or having a bet on the potential winner, the Racing Welfare team is hoping that those stuck at home through lockdown will consider donating the cost of their regular Saturday night out to the emergency appeal. As of Friday the appeal had raised just over £170,000 of its £500,000 target.

GBR's Rod Street says, “I was a bit worried about getting the right volume of decent contestants for the heats but those worries were completely swept away by just the initial entries. Racing Welfare had a real challenge of getting the original entries down to 24 and there were some pretty decent singers who missed the cut. It was like a good old-fashioned compressed handicap.”

He adds, “I hadn't given a lot of thought to what musical talent there might be in an industry but, of course, when you know that our industry is responsible for thousands and thousands of jobs, then of course within that there must be some talent and, hey presto, we've got it in spades.”

The Furlong Factor Final airs on Sky Sports Racing and on Racing Welfare's social media platforms from 5pm on Saturday. You can make a donation to the COVID-19 Emergency Appeal via this link.