A youngster who was impressed by Khadijah Mellah to pursue her racing dream will tackle the Markel Magnolia Cup (31 July) in a full-circle second.
Sienna Anderson has at all times had a ardour for horses and racing, however by no means thought a profession in racing may very well be an possibility for her.
“My great-granddad, my nan’s dad, cherished racing, and when he handed away, it grew to become an annual factor that we’d get a coach up from London and spend the day on the races,” Sienna, 18, advised H&H.
“I’ve at all times cherished horses and thru watching the races, that ignited my love for racing. I simply by no means actually knew learn how to get into it or had the prospect to take action.”
Sienna mentioned the primary time she met and rode a horse was as a birthday deal with as a toddler. Her aunt had a horse on mortgage and took Sienna down for the day. From that second, she was hooked.
“I chewed my mum’s ear off from then onwards,” she mentioned. “At Christmas and my birthday, a pony day was the one factor I needed – it was like gold.”
She spent as a lot time as she may serving to and driving at Mottingham Farm Equestrian Centre, which she mentioned holds a particular place in her coronary heart.
The centre, and its supervisor Chloe Williams, had been additionally massively supportive in serving to Sienna take the subsequent step within the equestrian world by means of the Driving A Dream Academy. The initiative is impressed by 2019 Magnolia Cup winner Khadijah to assist gifted younger riders from underrepresented communities into racing.
“I used to be watching the information whereas I used to be preparing for college sooner or later, and the montage of the Driving A Dream Academy got here on. I believe what caught my eye was Khadijah, as I had watched her documentary with my mum – and that made me realise that it was attainable,” she mentioned.
“So I utilized for Driving A Dream and didn’t actually suppose an excessive amount of about it, as I didn’t suppose that I might get the prospect. I couldn’t consider it once I came upon that I had bought in. That was the beginning.”
Sienna Anderson in her RIXO silk forward of the Markel Magnolia Cup at Goodwood racecourse. Credit score: Simon Jacobs/Goodwood.
Sienna was a part of the primary cohort of scholars on the programme that runs on the British Racing Faculty in Newmarket and the scholars went for the weekend as soon as a month.
“Each weekend there would fly by,” mentioned Sienna. “I struggled at school, as a result of I knew what I needed to do, and I knew that it wasn’t there – what I used to be studying in school wasn’t what I needed to be taught. The weekends on the racing college I might suppose, ‘Wow, that is the place I wish to be – how do I make this my life?’
“The weekends had been over in a blink after which I’d be sitting, ready, watching the times go by till the subsequent one.
“I used to be being uncovered to this world I didn’t know existed exterior the place I lived and I used to be attending to dwell my dream. I really feel prefer it sounds over-exaggerated, however I genuinely thought it was unimaginable [to get into racing], like there was completely no approach – you needed to be a sure particular person, or have a sure sum of money, or be associated to somebody, and I didn’t come beneath any of these issues.
“So once I did Driving A Dream, I felt I used to be part of the trade and knew that that is the place I wish to be.”
After graduating from the academy, Sienna sat her GCSEs, then returned to the British Racing Faculty for a 12-week basis course.
“I cherished each minute of it. And I believe as a result of I struggled quite a bit in my life in London, I then noticed a distinct aspect of myself as soon as I had moved to Newmarket,” she mentioned.
Sienna, who works for Charlie Fellowes, has since accomplished a degree two apprenticeship and can change into the second Driving A Dream graduate to experience within the Magnolia Cup when she traces up at Goodwood.
“Khadijah has achieved an unbelievable job already, and has been my dwelling function mannequin. I do know that there are individuals within the actual place I used to be in once I was 12, 13 years outdated who really feel like that is unimaginable. Driving A Dream resides proof that it isn’t unimaginable, and there are such a lot of of us [graduates] coming by means of now and it’s good to see everybody making their very own success tales,” she mentioned.
On a private degree, she is happy about having her household there to observe.
“I talk about my mum very extremely as she is such a task mannequin to me and he or she has sacrificed rather a lot for me to do that. So for me, to have her there to observe and for me to virtually give again, in a way, it means rather a lot,” she mentioned.
“And for my granddad as properly, he and I are very shut and have related likes and related passions – he loves the horses as properly – so for him to have the ability to be there… That is among the issues on my bucket record, is for my granddad to see me experience in a race. In order that can be very emotional; I’m very excited for him to be there, it’s actually particular.”
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Lucy is an skilled information journalist, reporter and presenter. Since becoming a member of the Horse & Hound staff in 2015, Lucy has reported from main international sporting occasions together with the Tokyo Paralympic Video games and a number of European Championships, in addition to Badminton, Burghley and London, to call a couple of. She has coated present affairs and sports activities information throughout the total spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, in addition to human and equine welfare, trade information and court docket instances.
