Introducing ‘Thoroughbred Tales’
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By Sally Ann Grassick
The world of racing and breeding has been my home for my entire life. I am lucky enough to have grown up in this wonderful industry that has not only provided me with a career and the opportunity to travel the world but has also introduced me to some of my closest friends and even my boyfriend. After all of this, I feel as though I owe something of a debt back to the industry. We are ultimately just custodians of this great sport, and it is our duty to pass it on to the next generation in as healthy a state as possible.
With that in mind, I have been trying to come up with various projects that would enable me to use my presence on social media to promote racing to a wider audience. Sometimes, racing gets a hard time of it in the press around big meetings and mostly from people who are ignorant to just how well racehorses are cared for. Last year I appealed to racing professionals to respond to negative posts on social media about racing with invitations to their studs, yards and racecourses in order to educate the public rather than with anger and accusations of stupidity. Most people will not take you up on it, but one lecturer of a sports journalism course at a university in the UK contacted me about organising a day out to a yard and the races for her students. I thought if each of us can get through to at least one person on social media, then it is worth the effort; and a positive message will spread organically from there.
I wanted to flood social media with positive messages about the racing and breeding industry and to use the hardworking people behind the scenes to do it. There are so many amazing stories in racing, and I think the sport can only benefit by sharing them with the public. For too long now, top trainers and jockeys are the only faces that the public associate with racing, but I wanted to pull back the curtain and show fans aspects of the industry that they may never have had access to before. I also wanted to provide a bridge between newcomers to the sport and the people who are the backbone of the industry—a link so that they have the opportunity to ask the questions they have always wanted to know the answers to but never had anyone to ask.
Along with some other passionate professionals from various parts of the industry, we launched “Thoroughbred Tales” in November of last year. The social media project, which centres mainly around Twitter, drew inspiration from fellow curated accounts such as “@IrelandsFarmers” which is hosted by a different Irish farmer every week and has almost 27,000 followers. We aim to have different guest hosts from all areas of racing and breeding showcasing the high level of care given to thoroughbreds at every stage of their lives as well as the hard work and dedication that goes on daily behind the scenes in the industry around the world. Within four months we have already over 4,000 Twitter followers, but we feel that number will grow significantly if racing professionals get behind this social media project.
We have had some great guest hosts to date including Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Employee of the Year 2019 Great Britain Catch Bissett, who showed followers what it is like behind the scenes at Nick Alexander’s yard, Fairyhouse Racecourse Manager Peter Roe, Eddie Linehan, who runs a breaking and pre training yard in Co. Cork, and assistant trainer Leandro Mora, who was looking after USA-based trainer Doug O’Neill’s team of horses at the Dubai World Cup Carnival. Our own Thoroughbred Tales team members Lizzy Sainty and Aisling Crowe also showed our followers around the respective stallion trails in France and Ireland. Each guest host posts photos and videos throughout their week explaining their daily routine and encouraging followers to get involved and ask them questions.
The Thoroughbred Tales team are very passionate about this project, but there is only so much we can do without the support of people within the industry. We have many exciting guest hosts already lined up for the weeks to come, but we need more people to get on board by hosting, following the account and retweeting posts. Let’s make the people at the heart of racing and breeding the real celebrities of our sport.
To get involved, look for us on Twitter: @ThoroughbredTale or on Facebook: facebook.com/ThoroughbredTales.
