A DAY AT THE RACES

On Tuesday 29th April I attended a Numeracy Day at Lingfield Park Race Course along with circa 20 students from local secondary schools. When I arrived I was warmly welcomed by Ollie McPhail, a retired jockey, who was to be delivering the day’s activities to the students accompanied by his amiable colleague Rob, also a retired jockey.

As the students arrived, there was an enthusiastic buzz of excitement amongst them as it soon became apparent that many of the students had never attended a race course before. Before the activities commenced, the students were given their own jockey silks to wear for the duration of the day (including myself!), which I believe positively contributed to the excitement of the students. The children were split into two groups and headed off; each led by one of the retired jockeys, to different parts of the race course. I followed Ollie, who led me and the students towards the weighing room. Here he taught us about the process that the jockeys undertake as they arrive at the course for their race. The students were taught about the differences between the metric and imperial systems, and also successfully had a go at guessing their own weights before hopping onto the scales. After checking that there were no jockeys around, Ollie proceeded to show us into the jockeys changing rooms where he taught us about the sauna and the science behind the jockeys use of this room to lose the necessary weight before commencing their race. The students were eager to get in the sauna and try it out for themselves!

Throughout the duration of the day, the students and indeed I learnt lots of new facts about a range of aspects of the race course, from the geometry in the construction of fences to the symmetry used in jockey silks. As the day drew to a close, there was one last activity the children had waited all day for… which was watching the horses’ race of course! The children anxiously stood at the side lines shouting and cheering for their favourite horse as they belted across the finish line. The favourite to win, a horse called ‘Little Big Man’ came away with first place. As the horse’s owner stepped up to receive his winner’s trophy, to their surprise, the children were invited up onto the presentation stand, where one student handed the owner his trophy!

The days programme offered us a unique insight to what happens behind the scenes of the racecourse which made the learning experience ever more exciting and engaging for the children. Very few other settings would have the ability to apply the students’ learning of the national curriculum to a real life situation. The programme appeared to inspire much interest into the sport of horse racing and opened up the children’s minds to possible career opportunities within the industry. One student came away aspiring to become a jockey! I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at the racecourse and would strongly recommend the programme to any school!