Amplify Horse Racing 2023 WRAPPED!
Written by Annise Montplaisir
This year was a major *Glow Up* for Amplify! It was the very first year we’ve had full-time staff dedicated to our horse programs for youth, we majorly increased our educational outreach about Thoroughbred industry careers, and launched this beautiful website you’re currently looking at. Let’s look back on the success we had in 2023.
By-the-Numbers
Team Amplify presented to 2,584 students at schools, educational events, and special tours through work with our industry partners and requests from organizations, schools, and programs. When it came to Amplify-hosted programs, tours, and events, we welcomed 400 participants, and separate from those numbers, accepted 30 mentees into the Amplify Horse Racing Mentorship Program (almost DOUBLE our number from 2022!). Finally, through educational booth activations and conference presentations, we estimate that we directly interacted with around 20,000 people about the Thoroughbred industry!
Launched New Website
This one gets to be near the top of the list because we are so proud of what we’ve created. We kicked off website development in February and worked our butts off to build an incredible platform to serve YOUR equine educational needs. Since launching in October, we’ve seen more than double our previous number of unique monthly visitors. New to the website? Explore our vast array of Thoroughbred career resources, search for your next position on our job and internship board, catch up on blogs, or listen to our podcast.
Presented or Moderated at Three Conferences
An important outlet for our mission is representing education and careers in the Thoroughbred industry at events and conferences. In 2023 we were requested to present or moderate at three separate conferences or symposiums. In June, we flew to Dallas, Texas to present about mentorship at the National Association of Equine Affiliated Academics (NAEAA) conference. In September, we attended the Horse Racing Women’s Summit at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California to speak on the “Looking Forward” panel about engaging new audiences in racing. Our final big event of the year was to attend the Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson, Arizona, where Executive Director Annise Montplaisir moderated a panel about racing’s success stories.
Annise Montplaisir moderating the panel “Racing’s Success Stories” at the 2023 Global Symposium on Racing.
Partnered with BetterHelp
In May, Amplify announced a partnership with leading online therapy platform BetterHelp to offer members of the equine industry one month of free therapy. The partnership Amplify has arranged with BetterHelp will give users up to 4 live sessions with a therapist that is specifically assigned to their individual preferences, and a discount to the platform thereafter. Any future or current equine industry participants or employees of all ages are welcome to take advantage of this service through the use of code 9b8d2 at https://www.betterhelp.com/amplify/. Amplify will not know who is receiving therapy, and won't have access to users' personal data. We are passionate about improving the accessibility of mental health resources for existing and future industry employees.
International Research
Shadowing a Racing to School day.
As Amplify grows and develops, it’s important to us that we analyze global success and best practices for the promotion of Thoroughbred careers and horse programs for youth to inform our own expansion. In June, we traveled to England and Ireland to meet personally with eight international program leaders, tour a multitude of sites, and plant the seed for collaborations. A few of the organizations that are doing great work in this field include the Irish National Stud (INS), The National Stud (in England), Racing to School (read the blog about our experience!), Careers in Racing, equuip, Together for Racing International (TfRI), among others.
Mentorship Program Travel Award
Our mentorship program has been a tremendous success since launching in 2021, so this year we wanted to add something special to the experience. Mentees who successfully completed all requirements of the program, submitted a reference, completed an additional application, and showed exceptional enthusiasm for being part of the Thoroughbred industry were considered for a travel award grant. This enabled them to visit Kentucky for a series of behind-the-scenes educational experiences in November. This year’s travel award recipients were Paola Castro, Lily Moser, Sydney Patrick, and Cheyanne Smith. Hear more about Paola and Sydeney’s experiences in this podcast episode.
Left to right: Mentees Lily Moser, Sydney Patrick, Paola Castro with Amplify’s Mary-Courtney Combs and Annise Montplaisir.
Represented the Thoroughbred Industry at Key Events
The Amplify and Horse Country tent at BreyerFest.
One of our goals for this year was to explore valuable new markets for Thoroughbred industry engagement. Where will youth learn about horses, and how can the Thoroughbred industry be represented? Two wonderful events that we attended were BreyerFest, an annual festival of Breyer model horses held in Lexington, Kentucky at the Kentucky Horse Park, and the Eastern National 4-H Roundup, a national competition for 4-H Horse Project members held in Louisville, Kentucky. For BreyerFest, Amplify teamed up with Horse Country to offer an activation complete with tactile horse feed and tack learning stations, equicizers, a photo op, and a science activity to make a racetrack in a test tube. Our tent was a HUGE hit, and the entire event welcomed around 35,000 people over the course of the weekend. For Eastern Nationals, we hosted coffee and donuts at Keeneland, inviting 4-H members and supporters to join us for a morning of learning about training racehorses. Over 80 4-Hers showed up and asked great questions, hungry for more information (and donuts!).
Subject of Godolphin Flying Start US Conference
We’d be remiss to not mention the Godolphin Flying Start US conference. Godolphin Flying Start is a 2-year international Thoroughbred industry leadership program. Twelve individuals are selected annually to travel to five different countries and learn about all aspects of the Thoroughbred industry, from breeding and sales to racing and business. In each country, trainees are provided a prompt with a challenge, and must present their results at a conference. This year, trainees were tasked with assessing Amplify’s existing programs, researching expansion opportunities and potential partners, and offering suggestions for how we can scale. The trainees did an excellent job, and we’ll be applying some of their findings to our expansion plans.
The 2022-2024 Godolphin Flying Start trainee’s with Amplify’s Annise and Mary-Courtney.
That is 2023 Amplify WRAPPED! If you volunteered with or supported any aspect of our horse programs for youth, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If you attended any of our events, we were thrilled to meet you. If you’d like to support Amplify’s further growth, please consider making a donation. To stay tuned for upcoming events, sign up for our newsletter. Happy holidays – we’ll see you in 2024!