4 January 2015, UK ~ The Arabian Racing Organisation (ARO), the sole authority for Arabian Horseracing in the UK operating with the support of the British Horseracing Authority, today announced the appointment of Debbie Burt of Equine Creative Media as their dedicated Public Relations and Media Executive.
“ARO is delighted to welcome Debbie to the team, where her role will be to maximise exposure and awareness of UK Arabian racing” said ARO Director Genny Haynes. “This appointment is an important way forward for ARO and demonstrates our committed investment to promoting UK Arabian racing worldwide.
Debbie has been working closely with ARO as a freelance journalist and photographer for the last four years. During that time Debbie has won the Dubai International Arabian Races Feature Article Award twice (in 2012 and 2015) and was also runner‐up (2014). In addition she has been the UK photography nominee for the HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Darley Awards for the last two years. In 2015 she was invited to speak on the Media Panel as part of the HH Sheikh Mansoor World Arabian Horse racing Conference in Poland.
Debbie has developed an extensive knowledge of the horseracing industry over many years, having worked with leading Thoroughbred sales consignors Mill Ridge Farm and Raffin Stud, written form summaries for the website of At The Races and most recently was PA and Racing Secretary to Sir Mark Prescott, Bt. She is also a regular contributor to International Thoroughbred Magazine. In addition, she has spent eight years on the Executive Committee of the Society of Equestrian Artists (SEA), a registered charity with a worldwide membership. As Secretary and now Chairwoman of the SEA, Debbie was instrumental in developing their educational programme and building links with a variety of organizations including the British Horse racing and Education Standards Trust, the National Horse racing Museum, the British Sporting Art Trust and the Injured Jockeys Fund.
Debbie has shown her dedication to UK Arabian racing by sponsoring a race with ARO for four consecutive seasons. In 2015 she established her own digital magazine THE ARABIAN RACEHORSE which gives coverage of all our stand-alone fixtures and single races on Thoroughbred cards, as well as Group races worldwide. She will already be familiar to our owners and trainers and key partners in the sport and we look forward to working with her on a variety of exciting new projects in 2016.”
Speaking of her appointment Burt commented: “Naturally I am very excited to be adding this role to my portfolio and embracing the challenges that this position has to offer. Thanks to ARO and also the support of Shadwell Arabians and HH Sheikh Mansoor, I have been fortunate to develop my photographic and journalistic career through Arabian racing. Last year my work was published in eight different magazines across four continents, in addition to my own publication. I have further committed to the sport by investing in a share in an Arabian racehorse, who has done us proud with a win and ended his season with a fourth place in the Shadwell Arabian Derby (Group 1 PA) at Newmarket. I welcome the opportunity to broaden the appeal of the sport and to working more closely with the members of the global Arabian horse racing community, who over the last four years I have become to regard as a second family.”
Photo:Burt presenting the trophy for the race she sponsored to Marion Lachat on behalf of Shadwell Arabians at Taunton racecourse in 2015.
~ ends press release