Stand Up For Racing: An introduction from Sally Ann Grassick

Creating an organisation like this is something we’ve been talking about for a while. Previously, when racing has come under scrutiny, there hasn’t been a spokesperson, and many people in the industry went on shows ill prepared. The week before the Grand National, things blew up when the head of Animal Rising went on Good Morning Britain. There wasn’t proper balance in the programme’s piece, and many people felt there should have been a representative from the BHA or ITV Racing, given the same channel was broadcasting the Grand National only a week later.

Stand Up For Racing was created that day, as we tried to get ahead of events. Within 24 hours we’d been contacted by Talk TV, and the BHA provided statistics for Kevin Blake to represent racing on that channel. His interview went viral, and the ‘Stand Up For Racing’ hashtag had a reach of seven million that week.