A British Racing School (BRS) instructor is to receive the inaugural Tristram Ricketts Fellowship.
Former jockey Glen Sparkes, 30, used to be an apprentice for trainers Luca Cumani and Clive Brittain and rode a total of 40 winners before a serious spine injury forced his raceriding retirement.
He has been an instructor at the British Racing School in Newmarket for the past 5 years.
The Tristram Ricketts Fellowship is awarded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) to someone within the industry who wishes to undertake work or research to increase their understanding of horseracing and to enhance their effectiveness at work and their contribution to the sport.
Glen will be using the fellowship funding to further improve the quality of trainees passing through the BRS.
He will travel to racing academies in America and Australia as well as spending time with equestrian trainer Yogi Breisner, The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, the Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Ipswich Town football clubs and a coaching programme at Ashridge College in Hertfordshire to gather a wealth of knowledge to pass to his students in the future.
Glen said: “I would like to thank Lisa from the Jockeys’ Employment & Training Scheme (JETS) – who has supported me throughout my career change. She alerted me to this wonderful opportunity and encouraged me to apply for the Fellowship.
“It will be a marvellous way to learn a lot in a relatively short space of time and I will be forever indebted to The Levy Board for making it possible.”
Rory Macdonald from BRS said: “We look forward to learning from Glen’s research and incorporating his ideas into future training programmes at the BRS. The Fellowship is a great initiative which should make a really valuable contribution to the future of our sport.”
The fellowship is named after the former Levy Board and British Horseracing Board chief executive Sir Tristram Ricketts who died in November 2007.
