Known to many for the exploits of her 2021 Nassau Stakes heroine Lady Bowthorpe, British owner/breeder Emma Banks is next to answer our questions.
In her day job, Emma Banks deals with some of the music industry’s biggest names. She has also mixed with racing royalty thanks, in part, to Lady Bowthorpe, a blue-collar heroine who rose through the ranks to become a Group 1-winning darling.
From a family with a long-standing interest in the sport, Banks works for a talent agency that has represented Muse, Katy Perry, Florence + The Machine, Kylie Minogue and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others.
Successful and distinguished in that field, she’s smitten with racing and has been an owner for more than ten years. More recently, she has tried her hand at breeding.
Which racing figure, past or present, do you most admire?
So many incredible people deserve a mention, but I want to highlight a remarkable woman: Lata Brandisová (Countess Marie Immaculata Brandisová).
She’s the only woman to have ridden a winner of the Velká Pardubická, a race she rode in more than once, but won in 1937.
Her story is incredible. She triumphed over all adversity and is a person who should be far better known than she is. She’s truly inspiring and if you don’t know about her, you’re missing out.
Which is your favourite venue, and race, anywhere in the world?
It’s hard to answer anything apart from Goodwood as a racecourse.
It was a Goodwood trip that put me on the path to owning my first horse and it was at Goodwood that I had my best victory when Lady Bowthorpe won the Nassau Stakes in 2021.
I’ve been lucky to go to a lot of amazing racecourses and have seen some incredible races, but I think Goodwood is the winner.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
I’m going to exclude all of my horses from this, so it’s Enable.
I was close to becoming a full-time stalker with her and totally lost it the first time I met Prince Khalid Abdullah’s racing manager Lord Grimthorpe. I hid it, but I was falling apart as he was basically the closest thing to talking to Enable.
I thought she was such a special horse. She had such presence when she was at a racecourse and knew she was the only horse anyone was looking at.
The fact that she has the same sire as Lady Bowthorpe [Nathaniel] helps, I suppose, but it was just a visceral reaction to her and her brilliance that makes her my favourite.
What’s your fondest memory in racing?
Going racing with my family over the years. My grandparents had horses – the Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle at Huntingdon is named after my grandfather – as did my uncle, so I was often at Huntingdon if someone had a runner and, for many years, that was Boxing Day sorted.
Now I’ve my own horses and own a couple with my father. It’s very special to have family around at those special moments when you win or a horse does better than you expect.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
Everyone who talks about racing, and particularly those who are public-facing, need to be more upbeat.Attendances are up in Britain and that’s a positive, while we’ve done so much good work with horse welfare.
Of course, we all need more prize money and casualties on the racecourse are heartbreaking. There are plenty more gripes, but I know that, for as long as I can afford it, I’ll keep owning racehorses because it’s simply an incredible sport with wonderful participants, both human and equine, so let’s big it up.
If we want more people involved, as punters, spectators, owners and people working in the business or whatever, we need to make sure that we present it in a positive light. If all we do is moan and groan, it doesn’t make us an attractive group to hang out with.
Emma Banks was speaking to James Burn
Bill Mott was the previous subject of a What They’re Thinking
And have a re-read of our What They’re Thinking with Indian jockey Suraj Narredu, published in September
Elsewhere, the Dublin Racing Festival closed last week. We ask: where was Great Britain?
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