Jack is a nineteen-year-old student, born in Derry/Londonderry but now living in North London. He is currently studying Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, exploring film, digital and analogue photography, media, time-based/durational performance, and interdisciplinary practices, taking into consideration the notion of identity, subculture, and lived experience. Jack is also a Young Producer at the National Portrait Gallery, delving into cultural events planning and media production through the collaborative delivery of the private view of ‘David Hockney, Drawing from Life’ alongside GUAP Magazine – discovering, showcasing and nurturing emerging and underrepresented creatives and communities.
Outside of the studio, Jack tries to attend as many race meetings as possible; he has currently attended fourteen racetracks, with the hopes of visiting all fifty-nine in the future. His best meetings include the York Ebor, 2000 Guineas, St Leger, Tingle Creek, and most recently Trials Day at Cheltenham.
Jack’s infatuation with the sport has led him to become involved with Catch Us If You Can Racing, a family-run syndicate based at Phantom House stables, Newmarket, run by South African trainer Dylan Cunha; Jack has a share in two two-year-old fillies who are now in full training. Jack is also an avid Arsenal fan and is beginning to learn dressage in his spare time.
Jack applied for the RMA as he wholly believed his creative knowledge, his love for all things media-based, and his passion for horse racing made him a superb fit. Jack had struggled to find a role that married these two seemingly varied career paths but is very much looking forward to gaining his first steps in this industry and learning the behind-the-scenes of the race day experience at British flat racing’s most prestigious event.
My week with the Racing Media Academy held at the British Racing School was an experience I know I will never forget as long as I will live! Within a matter of hours of arriving at Newmarket, I felt completely at home, and my initial worries about meeting an entirely new cohort of cadets, and whether or not my previous racing knowledge was up to scratch was wholly eradicated. The week of both in-class lectures from the best in the industry, such as Dan Abraham, Nick Luck, Alex Hammond, Lydia Hislop, Lee Mottershead, Mike Cattermole (and so many more!), and off-site visits,such as a guided tour of The National Studand the Sky HQ, gave me a whole new perspective about the sport I only thought could be a hobby of mine. This hybrid approach to teaching meant there was never a dull moment and ensured me that when the week was finishedthat I was fully equipped with enough knowledge to be able to undertake my placement and anything I undertake outside of it with no worries about my ability.
I cannot describe how welcome I was made to feel during my placement at Ascot! It was only my second day on the job that I was whisked off to Chantilly to assist with press releases and live social media capturing for thebusiness, as well as interviewing trainers and theirrepresentatives about the horses they are sending for Royal Ascot (which appeared on the Nick Luck Daily podcast), highlighting to me the importance ofinternational relations within the sport. It is safe to say my week at Royal Ascot was the best week I have had in my entire life! From liaising with JSC Comms to ensure press accreditation was delivered on time, assisting with our external social media companies with objectives such as live content creation, card-running etc, producing press cuttings that went out to the entire business, copying writing for race results, and lifestyle photography throughout the five days, I was made to feel like an asset to the business, and not just a temporary intern. Other highlights include a visit to Kempton Park to watch American trainer Wesley Ward’s horses have a final gallop before the Royal meeting, and the Shergar Cup weekend, where I took Japanese jockey Nanako Fujita around London for a press visit with the JRA and Sky Sports Racing. The two projects I was givenfor my entire time at Ascot were to produce two reports –a travel incentive benchmarking report, collating information from the major international racing organisations to compare the means of enticing international horses to Ascot, and a benchmarking report on race-day advertising across the UK. Both reports pushed out completely out of my comfort zone, but during my time writing them, I encountered so many new, different avenues of the sport that are fundamental to its success, and much of which would be forgotten to the average racegoer like myself!
I can only thank Ascot –Will, Jonny, and the entire Marketing and Racing teams–with entrusting me with such responsibilityand making me feel so involved within the business, and to Lee, Josh, Abby, and Cath, for allowing me such opportunities and teaching me so much about the sport I hold so dear to my heart!
