The inaugural class of nine students from the Riding A Dream Academy have graduated from its scholarship programme. Set up after Khadijah Mellah became the first British Muslim woman to win a UK horse race, the Riding A Dream Academy offers the year-long Khadijah Mellah Scholarship which was established to help other young people aged 14-18 from diverse and underrepresented communities get into racing and to increase diversity and inclusion in the sport. The Academy is funded by the Racing Foundation, with additional support from the Jockey Club and Champion Equestrian.
The students learned to ride racehorses under the expert tuition of the instructors at the British Racing School (BRS) in Newmarket where the Academy and its programmes are run. The course began with a residential week at the BRS in August 2021 and the students have returned for one weekend each month since then to continue their tuition.
Mellah said, “I am so incredibly proud and humbled by everything that the students have achieved this year. To see them arrive in August last year having only ever sat on riding school ponies, to now be riding racehorses on the gallops here is just mind blowing. As a group and individually I am so impressed by the talent, hard work and commitment they have put in and I can't wait to see where their careers in racing take them next. None of this would have been possible without the support of the Racing Foundation and the incredible instructors at the British Racing School–I am so grateful to everyone who has made the Academy possible.”
The Academy was set up by Naomi Lawson and ITV Racing's Oli Bell as a legacy to the achievements of Khadijah Mellah who became the first British Muslim woman to win a horse race in the UK when landing the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood in 2019.
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