Diversity in racing

[greenasgrass]

Cav mentioned this on another thread:
Diversty in racing – ITV bang on enough about it, but the new “mini-me’s” are 5 white kids, 4 with middle class accents, 1 girl

I noticed this too!! I didn’t say anything as I know I do have a tendency to unhelpfully snipe at new things and it is good that ITV are trying new initiatives but…come on. Did they just ask their friends’ kids and the producer’s kids to do it? Or did they throw it open to the viewers? Even then, I suspect the population would have been self-selecting from the confident Speech + Drama lesson, school debating society type families who live near whatever pleasant Downs or Shires course they filmed it at (Cheltenham? If I remembered wrong and it was Doncaster, sorry about that).

The children did very well but the single token girl was only asked about her coat and fashion tips. FFS ITV, broaden the bandwith. Alice doesn’t even talk about that stuff anyway, she talks about trainers and riding out and paddock commentary. They could have walked a hairy pony past and got the mini Alice to comment on it or something. Anything but the “pink” stuff.

They said the mini me thing will be back for more- good. I hope they do it at Doncaster and Aintree and get local kids with local accents and maybe even range further afield and go to tracks they don’t normally do the main broadcast from to do open mic type sessions with local children- Leicester, Ffos Las, Newcastle. Not necessarily dressed up to be mini mes but to try the jobs like the mini mes did.

To source a diverse mix of children- get the local stable staffs’ kids to do it. Plenty of women, Polish people, BAME people pushing wheelbarrows in racing stables in the UK. Not many in front of the camera, or weighing out to ride.

[greenasgrass]

On another note, I missed the documentary about Khadijah Mellah training for the Magnolia Cup the first time round but watched it after the Opening Show last weekend. Boy she was a brave cookie. I know she had been going to that riding school for years but there is a limit to what you can do in a sand school without big fields/some hills, banks and boggy bits/a bit of cross country or hunting. She still looked a bit beginnery on a gently cantering horse at the start and she only had one or two days a week at a racing yard for a few months plus a short crammer course. It must have taken some guts to gallop a thoroughbred on the wide horizons of Newmarket Heath…and know that you were being assessed. “Right now you have finished ski school, point the tips down that black slope and go for it. Clock starts now”.

There was some nice footage of her brother helping her. He looks like he might be handy and I hope he gets his licence and does well.
Charlie Fellowes supplied the horse- he seems like a good sport who really wants to help the big picture and did plenty for the Newmarket Open Day too.

[Cav]

Fully behind the Khadija Mellah project, although it seemed for a while there she wasn’t allowed any TV exposure whatsoever, without having Oli Bell glued onto her. A huge smack of reflected glory from the thing.

And the first chance ITV get to provide a follow through, to make an on-going tangible contribution to diversity in racing in their broadcasts, what do they do…revert to type. Surely this was a perfect opportunity to give a kid(s) of color, or from a less advantaged background, a leg up in the racing media, perhaps to provide some role models for other kids in similar situations. But no, they put five Billie Barry kids up instead.

You’ll have to do better than that ITV Racing, otherwise it’s mostly just lip service.

[greenasgrass]

she wasn’t allowed any TV exposure whatsoever, without having Oli Bell glued onto her. A huge smack of reflected glory from the thing.

He was the producer. Beefing up his CV for future when no longer young and freshly scrubbed enough to be in front of camera. Not the primary reason for doing it- I think he genuinely believed in the ethos of it not ego trip/vanity project- but he sure wasn’t going to let any ounce of credit go astray.

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