Cover image courtesy of Brisbane Racing Club
Racing Queensland will officially open the doors on The Racing Institute, its new high performance development and educational facility at the Gold Coast Turf Club on May 22. The hub will aim to put Queensland at the forefront of workforce development in an industry that must acknowledge its workforce challenges if it wants to continue to thrive.
Heading in the right direction
The Institute was first announced on April 30, and is an initiative born from The Next Lap, the Queensland government’s response to the independent review into Racing Queensland.
“We were really excited for the review, it felt like the industry had a voice in ensuring we are going in the right direction, and this is a huge part of that,” said RQ’s Education and Workforce Development Manager Briony Moore.
“We had the opportunity to refurbish a building at the Gold Coast Turf Club and so we have spent a large amount of money to get it fit for purpose, with a full high performance gym, mechanical horses, consult spaces, and two fully dedicated classrooms where we will run accredited courses and our apprentice jockey school.
“We know that people do well in good, supportive environments. You only have to walk into a school these days to realise how classrooms have changed, everything is much more interactive now.”
Briony Moore | Image courtesy of Racing SA
The building also has rehabilitation and mentoring spaces where athletes can receive one-on-one consultations and coaching from specialists, as well as offering recovery aides such as massage and compression therapy.
“Something that is really exciting is being able to offer dedicated rehabilitation services for our riders,” Moore said. “That is an area I feel where Queensland has fallen behind the other states. You can see it with the top riders, like James McDonald and Blake Shinn, they are doing every little bit to improve their performance. This is the space that we really knew we had to get into if we wanted to take our riders to the next level.
“The space also supports trackwork riders, they are athletes as well who play a significant role in our industry.”
In the Institute’s second phase, the hub will fit out an on-site accommodation wing for apprentice jockeys to attend in-house training. From 2027, the Institute will provide a base for the Certificate II course that Racing Queensland offers for the Equine Program at the Industry School, a school network that combines education towards Year 12 certificates with vocational education.
Moore underscored that the Institute has been designed to provide for as broad a part of the industry as possible, and it will host professional workshops for all three codes governed by Racing Queensland. She also emphasised that it has only been possible with the state government’s wholehearted support.
“Programs like these are only as good as the administration supporting them, so it’s really refreshing to have ministers and administrators really recognise the value in supporting their industry like this,” Moore said.
Addressing the shortage
Racing Queensland’s push to build an educational hub is a step forward in the direction of combatting one of the industry’s greatest struggles: workforce training and retention. A recurring problem facing stables countrywide - as evidenced by job advertisements - is a shortage of experienced staff with the right skills.
What it points to is a lack of time and resources to train up willing, but inexperienced staff, and a lack of avenues to get people into the industry. While there are Registered Training Organisations (RTO) in every state offering certificates in equine husbandry and trackwork skills, most require the participant to be employed already and learn on the job.
Racing Queensland reported just 15 people enrolled in their stablehand course in the 2024/25 financial year. Racing NSW reported 36 completions of their equivalent course in the same year and 300 completions of their mandatory Stable Skills Short Course. In Victoria, 94 participants completed the five-day Stable Start intensive and more than 80 senior high school students completed stable employee units as part of an Equine Studies certificate.
Equine Academy Exploration Week at Deagon racecourse 2025 | Image courtesy of The Industry School, Gold Coast
Racing Victoria goes one step further with a trackwork rider program delivered in partnership with the Racing Education Centre, delivering off-the-job training, including schooling sessions at Southside Racing and personal fitness training.
Racing NSW have acknowledged the shortage in their strategic plans, but progress is slow. Despite the authority purchasing the Hunter TAFE in Scone in 2021, the trackwork riding course proposed to be run at the site has yet to materialise. The course previously offered at Richmond TAFE was axed in 2022 despite heavy lobbying from the community, with the government citing a decline in sign ups.
The tough part is, there is no replacement. And if stables are already struggling to attract and retain riders, then the vicious circle continues of no one having the time and resources to train any more.
Shrinking avenues of development
Another difficulty for industry participants is continuing career development once they have established basic skills.
In 2024, Marcus Oldham College announced an end to their Advanced Diploma of Equine Business Management program, citing falling numbers of applicants. The course, which has played a role in the careers of people like Henry Dwyer, Stonehouse Thoroughbreds’ Ryan Arnel, Sledmere Stud’s Treen Murphy, and Luke Wilkinson, saw the 2025 intake drop to around 15 people, a number it deemed unsustainable for the course to survive.
Advanced Diploma of Equine Business Management program | Image courtesy of Marcus Oldham College
Graduates interviewed at the time spoke about how the course offered them more than just education; it was a place to build connections that would become the foundation for careers.
Connections is one of the things that Godolphin Flying Start graduates also receive in spades and treasure. Past graduates of the two-year international course include Newgate Farm’s Henry Field, trainers Adrian Bott and Todd Pollard, Arrowfield Stud’s Alison Brassil, and Magic Millions Digital’s Bryce Bevan.
The course’s annual intake is deliberately small to ensure a high quality experience, and it differs dramatically from other industry initiatives as it requires a degree and strong industry foundations already.
A nod also has to be given to the annual mentorships provided by the Federation Of Bloodstock Agents Australia, who provide candidates with proper insight into how the bloodstock world functions. Their intake is also small, with candidates thoroughly vetted to ensure that those who genuinely want to be a part of the industry get the best chance.
Currently, what most must hope for is that their dedication and talent are recognised by their superiors, and that those superiors will have the time and resources to upskill them.
What we can learn from overseas
Education is an area that the United Kingdom in particular seems to understand; the British Racing School offers everything from a foundation course to get participants into the industry, to jockey education, and degrees in racing administration and management.
What works so well is that the school is a purpose-built venue capable of simulating a working environment for students without placing the onus on trainers and their staff to factor education into their workday. Graduates from the school go on to work in all sectors of the industry, having already become familiar with how their workplace should function and with no gaps in their training foundations.
Outreach is just as vital. On April 23, over 900 secondary school students visited the Coolmore Careers Fair at Fethard Town Park, where students saw demonstrations from all sectors of the equine industry and engaged with tertiary education representatives on equine courses. The event was launched in 2025 and the 2026 renewal was hailed as a major success by a community who understands the importance of engaging the next generation.
It is the success of these ventures that an educational hub like the Racing Institute builds on in Queensland. By providing the right environment to learn, there is a real feeling that they could begin to turn the tide on a diminishing workforce.
