Two Benalla locals are set to giddy up in the second leg of the National Pony Racing Series.
Ella Hogan and Blake Stanley are set to race at The Valley on Friday night.
The pair will be racing alongside some of Victoria’s best junior riders while being mentored by two legends of Australian racing.
The riders will compete in one of two pony races held at the Cox Plate eve meeting, which features the Moonee Valley Gold Cup.
The junior riders will be in for a special treat, with Melbourne Cup-winning jockeys Glen Boss and Michelle Payne on hand to offer encouragement and advice to the riders in their roles as ambassadors for the Victorian leg of the series.
While getting experience racing at one of Australia’s best tracks will be exciting for participants, Thoroughbred Industry Careers’ Lindy Maurice said the Pony Racing Series was about showing off all the careers that racing offered.
“We found that through our research, very few Australian riders or kids who love horses know anything about the vast amount of careers (in the thoroughbred industry),” Maurice said.
“The scope of the industry careers when it comes to media and television and sales companies and bloodstock and all of that, it is a huge industry that employs 250,000 people.
“There’s a small percentage of the roles that are hands-on with horses, and then there’s this whole other world of roles as well.
“I just thought it was a tragedy that you can go through your life loving horses, and your careers adviser might tell you that your options are to go to uni and do something there.
“I remember having that meeting with my career adviser thinking, all I do is ride horses all day, every day, and you’re telling me I should go and be a nurse.
“Thoroughbred Industry Careers, as the parent brand, was born out of a frustration that there’s this whole world that isn’t marketed very well as a career.”
In conjunction with Pony Club Australia, Thoroughbred Industry Careers launched the National Pony Racing series to create awareness of career opportunities in the thoroughbred industry.
The first qualifier was in Brisbane in August at Eagle Farm, with races for two pony height divisions (with riders aged nine to 15).
Maurice said the series was all about education.
“The racing element happens for about a minute or two minutes,” she said.
“We’re teaching them everything from fitness to taking ponies’ temperatures and vital signs and what to look for.
“Throughout the journey, they receive material and chat about all the different jobs that they might be able to do if that’s a path they want to go down.
“There’s a whole juggernaut of people in marketing and sales and all different roles that put this show on, even one from the hospitality side and everything.
“When you’re talking about horses, or when you’re working with horses, you want people there that are really passionate about them because when you’re passionate about horses, they’re your hope.
“We’re lucky that racing is a sport, and it’s also a massive industry because there is that scope. If you can dream it, you can do it.”
The Valley will host the second leg before the series moves to Perth in December on Northerly Stakes Day, then on to the Gold Coast over the Magic Millions Carnival, Sydney on Australia Day and Adelaide for its Cup Day.
First- and second-placegetters from the qualifying heats will compete in The Finals at Randwick during the 2024 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival.