The Riding A Dream Academy which supports young people aged 14-18 from diverse ethnic communities and underprivileged backgrounds is launching a special course aimed specifically at those with little or no riding or horse experience.

The Academy was established last year to help make horse racing more accessible to young people from diverse communities and was set up after Khadijah Mellah became the first British Muslim woman to win a UK horse race.

Having run a riders’ residential course in its pilot year, together with its flagship Khadijah Mellah Scholarship, the Academy, which is funded by the Racing Foundation, will now offer an introductory course for those with little or no riding experience.

“After the success of our pilot year we wanted to make sure that we were providing opportunities that would allow as wide a group of young people as possible to spend time learning how to look after racehorses and finding out more about horse racing," said Mellah.

"This is an amazing opportunity for young people who love animals and are wanting to try their hand at something new, whilst also finding out more about the opportunities for them within the sport.”

Naomi Lawson, Director and Co-Founder of the Academy, added: "When we first launched the Academy we had lots of applications from young people who had been inspired by Khadijah and wanted to get involved but didn’t have the experience to join one of our riding-based courses.

"Thanks to the support of the Racing Foundation we are now able to offer these young people a specially tailored course which will introduce them to the world of horse racing, including how to care for our racehorses and all the different facets that make up the sport."

Successful applicants will spend a fully funded residential week at the British Racing School in Newmarket from Monday October 24–Friday October 28 learning about Britain’s second biggest spectator sport and taking part in behind the scenes trips to racing yards, studs and racecourses.

Applications close on Wednesday September 21 and you can find out more at www.ridingadreamacademy.com/introductoryweek.

The Riding A Dream Academy was set up to help provide opportunities within racing for young people from diverse communities and underprivileged backgrounds. To date, 74 per cent of the Academy’s students have come from diverse communities.