Course summary

If you aspire to have a career in the thoroughbred or sports horse industry, our specialist Bloodstock and Performance Horse Management course will teach you all you need to know about training, breeding, racecourse management and enterprise. Industry experience is at the heart of this degree with a work placement in your second year, and visits to leading racing businesses in Newmarket and Ireland. Our graduates have secured high profile positions in the racing industry, including organisations such as Godolphin, Juddmonte, The Jockey Club, Weatherbys and The National Trainers Federation and you could join them. This specialist course compares science and business practices to those within the sports horse industry and equips you with the skills to step into the professional world. Course structure We are now offering this degree course with a foundation year that will give you the opportunity to gain the experience and skills you will need before progressing on to the traditional parts of the programme. In the first year of your four year programme you will be developing your academic and team-working skills and gaining confidence in written work; handling numerical and statistical data, and ICT. You will be introduced to a range of rural land use topics including, learning about the agricultural year; mapping; laboratory skills, and you will have the opportunity to gain competence in a range of practical skills. The year will help you to make the transition to being an independent learner, and perhaps an entrepreneur. Successful completion of the foundation year will allow you to proceed onto Year 1 of the course. Gain a solid grounding in all aspects of the horse racing industry through lectures, seminars, visiting speakers and field trips. Modules will be assessed through a range of methods including examinations, reports, business plans, case studies and presentations. The Research Project is an integral part of the course and provides essential experience in both design and execution of a piece of research. You can choose to focus on either science or business and you could also see your Research Project featured in one of the many academic journals that regularly publish our students’ work. Work placement You will complete a 15-week work placement in the second year of the course. Students have completed placements at prestigious companies such as Highclere Stud, France Galop, Arena Racing Company, Colin Tizzard Racing and the Event Rider Masters Limited.