TfRI Supports First French Racing Industry Recruitment and Retention Forum

Key French racing industry stakeholders under both codes, trotting and the Thoroughbred industry attended a forum at ParisLongchamp on Mar. 15. The goal of the forum, organised by the French racing school, the AFASEC, in association with the governing bodies, France Galop and LeTROT and supported by Together for Racing International, was to unite the key stakeholders to share a day rich in reflection, exchange, and solutions in response to the stud and stable staff crisis within the French racing industry. Nearly 70 participants took part including, industry professionals; trainers, owners, breeders, employees, associations and journalists. All committed to finding solutions to attract and retain the employees of tomorrow's racing teams.

“TfRI was delighted to support the second industry forum since its launch, following the Australian forum last April,” said Anna Powell, TfRI Development Director. “Uniting key stakeholders to identify common goals, creating ambassadors and to develop a clear plan is an important step in improving recruitment and retention. Workforce and careers was one of the common challenges identified at the global forum hosted under the auspices of Godolphin in November 2019, along with Education and Community Engagement, which led to the creation of Together for Racing International. TfRI is a central resource leveraging expertise and funding to support its member countries around the people agenda. This work is done using the global network to share progress, analyse and communicate the global impact of this work to support the sustainability of our sport.”

Guillaume Herrnberger, director of employment and training in charge of AFASEC declared, “It was an exciting and enriching day. We are all on the same page thanks to the IFCE, before being inspired by the experiences of Pierre, Antoine, Thibault and Alexis, and TfRI before finally acting. In one day the racing and breeding stakeholders found solutions together. It is now up to all of us to implement them, everyone at their level. We are now 70 ambassadors around employment, it is up to us to bring change around us to become 700, 7000…. From today we are all at the heart of change in support of our teams.”