OPINION: Outside the Everest, what is racing doing to attract Generation Next?

The AFL’s bold and beautiful plan to spend $1 billion over the next decade to encourage more people to play footy must be a wake-up call for Australia’s racing industry.

Young racegoers pack Randwick for The Everest. Picture: Getty Images

The AFL’s bold and beautiful plan to spend $1 billion over the next decade to encourage more people to play footy must be a wake-up call for Australia’s racing industry.

What is racing’s grand blueprint to win over the hearts and minds of Generation Next to become jockeys and trainers and ensure the code is in safe hands in 2040 and beyond?

Does it even have a plan?

Huge kudos must go to Racing NSW supremo Peter V’landys and his cohorts for having the courage to give The Everest a crack.

It had its share of knockers before Redzel won the first edition in 2017 but it has been a raging success and, most importantly, has engaged the younger generation.

Racing in many areas had been viewed as pale and stale, but The Everest shook it up and got youngsters rocking and rolling once like cricket’s colourful Big Bash once did.

This is Everest Carnival 2023! 🥳

Think About It, Obamburumai, Fangirl, Front Page, and so many more gave us a spring carnival to remember. Over nine weeks, with $87 million in prizemoney, Sydney showcased world class racing at Royal Randwick & Rosehill Gardens. @tabcomaupic.twitter.com/52FdGHqxa6

— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) November 21, 2023

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Gai Waterhouse is a national treasure and a wonder at spending time with young people to promote racing.

The kids who went pony racing during the Gold Coast Magic Millions carnival will remember meeting Gai for the rest of their lives.

And there are other nice things being done, such as the Canterbury night racing formula which features loads of free family entertainment.

But what else is being done, what’s the big picture plan?

Given Racing Australia is a toothless tiger, you can take $1.01 that there is no national consensus or big thinking on a united front and national level about the way forward.

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One thing that you can take to the bank is there would be no racing without women.

It simply would not exist.

Racing, thankfully, is no longer a domain dominated by men.

Jockeys like Jamie Kah and Rachel King are headline acts at the top level but there is an impressive contingent of female jockeys all around Australia.

For instance, at Eagle Farm last Saturday, female jockeys rode five of the first seven winners. And 10 of the 11 of Racing Victoria’s latest intake of aspiring apprentice riders are female.

Everywhere you look there are female track work riders, stable staff, trainers, stewards and media personalities.

Top jockey Jamie Kah gets herself reacquainted with retired racehorse Harlem at The Festival of Racing Launch at Port Melbourne Yacht Club earlier this month. Picture: Pat Scala / Racing Photos

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Racing must seize this moment in time and get the message out to young kids in schools and sporting pathway programs that females are a force to be reckoned with in racing, which can provide a highly enjoyable and lucrative career path.

On a broader point, racing must do a deep dive on how to attract more young participants and fans to safeguard its future.

And this shouldn’t be ill-conceived thought bubbles like Victoria’s flawed plan last year to mic-up jockeys during a race or have whip-free or team-based racing concepts.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers.

But much smarter minds than me need to find a unified front and the repairing of some fractured relationships seems essential.

The AFL’s $1 billion cash splash aims to double its participants and the NRL’s Las Vegas safari will surely also excite young kids to play in the future.

Racing must get on the front foot – otherwise it will be trapped in a time warp and left in the shade by cashed-up and forward-thinking competitors.