Racing in the spotlight during National Thoroughbred Week

With more than 5,000 attending the 80 events organised during the National Thoroughbred Week, organiser Vicky Leonard has hailed the initiative a huge success and hopes to maintain the momentum in 2026 and beyond.  
Modelled on National Racehorse Week, a similar concept that has been running in Britain for the past five years, National Thoroughbred Week saw a wide range of stables, stud farms and re-trainers throw open their doors free of charge across Australia and New Zealand. 

The initiative was designed to provide people with a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the racing and breeding industries and to open their eyes to the love and care afforded to racehorses at all stages of their lives.

Despite her hectic workload in planning the logistics, Leonard – who also runs the Kick Up for Racing platforms – managed to get to at least one event per day. The New Zealand native said she was blown away by the audience engagement, and also by the efforts some of the country’s leading trainers went to in order to educate the large crowds gathered and showcase the sport in its best possible light.

“Gai [Waterhouse] and Adrian [Bott] invited a small group to learn about barrier education, and the people there were absolutely blown away by it,” she said. 

“To have such intimate access to an Australian racing icon like Gai was an amazing experience for them, and that was replicated at dozens of other events across Australia and New Zealand. At another event hosted by Hawkesbury trainer Jack Pilkington, we had a lady there who was anti-racing but once he had talked her through every concern she had and explained his processes and shown how well the horses in his stable are cared for, she had totally changed her mind about the sport. 

“So that’s one small example of what the week was all about, and I have to say a massive thanks to all the trainers, stud farms and re-trainers who took time out of their busy schedules to host the sessions. They probably took a bit of a punt because nobody quite knew what to expect in the first year, but I think they’re all glad they did and you could tell they got just as much satisfaction out of it as the people attending, if not more. The willingness of participants to collaborate and the passion they clearly have for the industry was a real joy and made it all worthwhile.”        

The program is set to be expanded next year, with Leonard and her fellow organising committee keen to achieve the success enjoyed by their counterparts at National Racehorse Week, which now routinely attracts up to 50,000 attendees and is growing year on year.

“This was only the pilot really so we’ve learned a lot from it, but given it was year one we were very pleased with how it all went,” she said. 

“We have really ambitious goals of growing the event in the future and it helps that from the feedback we have received, we now have a much better idea of what type of events work and what people want from the week. Even though it’s a national program, it’s really built at grass roots level and its success depends on how each community grasps the events staged in their local area.

“Once word gets round and we get more hosts signing up, there’s no reason why we can’t get several thousand people along to the events next year, which is pretty exciting.” 

Close to 20 events were staged across Victoria this year, including guided tours of Ciaron Maher’s Ballarat stables and some of the state’s leading breeding operations such as Yulong, Rosemont, Swettenham Stud and Darley’s Northwood Park. 

A large crowd also attended the open day organised by Racing Victoria Acknowledged Retrainer Jade Willis, who gave a presentation on the many facets of rehoming and retraining retired racehorses for second careers. 

“It was a great event which gave people an opportunity to see what these horses go through to prepare for their life after racing,” she said.    

“Some of them might not have considered taking on a thoroughbred before, but hopefully the sessions showed them that ex-racehorses can be suitable for a variety of disciplines once they’ve been successfully retrained.”

If anyone would like to get involved in next year’s event or volunteer to serve on the planning sub-committee for their local region, please email hello@thoroughbredweek.com.au