Meet the Racing Digital team || Sarah Gutteridge - Product Manager
Sarah and Frank Cool
Racing administration is my life's work; it has been for the best part of 18 years, so when I tell people I'm now Product Manager at Racing Digital, working on what is arguably the most significant technology project British racing has ever undertaken, it feels like something of a full-circle moment. Not that the journey to get here was straightforward. But then, nothing worthwhile ever really is.
A career in racing
My connection to racing started long before any of that, and probably like most of us, it started with horses rather than admin systems. While I was at university, I worked at Wolverhampton and Worcester Racecourse and spent time at William Hill, which gave me a real sense of how the sport operates on the ground and what it means to the people inside it. The horses came first; everything else followed from there. And if you are looking for war stories from behind the bookie's desk, I have a few to share!
From those early experiences, I went on to spend nearly two decades working in racing administration, at Weatherbys and the BHA, in roles ranging from Project Co-ordinator and Business Analyst through to Product Owner. It's the kind of career that gives you an in-depth knowledge of pretty much everything to do with racing administration, from the most complex regulatory processes down to the everyday tasks that participants rely on without ever really thinking about them. I've been fortunate enough to build that knowledge over a long time, and it's what I bring to the work I do now.
Being part of the team that has helped move Racing Digital from an idea to something tangible and real has been perhaps the most significant chapter of my career so far. As most readers will know, Racing Digital is a limited company set up by the BHA and Weatherbys to replace the current BHA Racing Administration site and modernise the core administrative processes for British Racing. I've been fortunate to be involved since the early stages of that journey and have been part of the team that has navigated some of the challenges along the way.
My role
As Product Manager, my role sits at the intersection of the technical and the practical. Day to day, that means being involved in shaping the requirements for what we're building, supporting the development and testing processes, and making sure that what we deliver genuinely meets the needs of the industry, its stakeholders and participants. It also means being one of the keepers of the vision, ensuring that as the product evolves through the build, we don't lose sight of what we're actually trying to achieve, and that our solutions meet the needs and preferences of British Racing.
That’s an important focus, as what we're trying to achieve is significant. The Racing Digital Hub, when it launches in early 2027, will transform how people complete the administrative tasks that underpin participation in the sport, managing ownership and registrations, licensing information, searching for and entering races, all in a far simpler, clearer and faster way than is currently possible, and on one platform. The goal is a single, modern Hub that reduces duplication, cuts out unnecessary manual inputs and makes it easier for users to find what they need, when they need it. Ultimately, it’s about supporting the modernisation of racing and bringing its technology in line with other comparable sporting markets.
I won't pretend the road to get here has been without its bumps. As with any major digital transformation project, particularly one that needs to integrate with systems and databases that have been in place for decades, there have been challenges, and timelines have shifted. However, the changes that took place over the course of 2025, with new leadership, governance, and the establishment of our inhouse engineering team, mean that the team and project are now in a fundamentally stronger position than they were. That final change is perhaps one of the most important decisions we took, as the creation of our own team who are closer to the product and understand the requirements of the industry, has given us far greater control over what we're building and how we're building it, as well as lowering costs. The progress we've made since making those changes has been genuinely impressive and given real cause for optimism.
We're now working towards having the Hub fully developed and tested by the end of 2026, with a view to launching to the industry in early 2027. In the meantime, throughout this year, stakeholders will start to see enhanced data capabilities introduced in phases, giving people a real sense of what's coming and giving us the opportunity to take on feedback before launch. We've already seen, through the fixture planning tool that's been in use for the past three years what a meaningful difference well-built technology can make to a previously complex process. The full Hub is intended to have that same kind of practical, everyday impact, combined with a more holistic upgrade of racing administration in all areas.
From a product perspective, that's what keeps me focused: making sure that when the system goes live, it delivers immediate, real value to the people who rely on it, who share the same passion for racing and horses that I do.
Outside of work
Outside of work, if you want to understand what really makes me tick, the answer is fairly straightforward: horses. Specifically, my ex-racehorse Frank Cool, who, as my first horse, has been something of a lifelong dream made real. He's now competing in riding club activities, usually against children and their ponies, which keeps things suitably humbling, but I'm enormously proud to say that in 2025, we were awarded the ROR Horse of the Year and Most Improved Showjumper trophies at our riding club awards. Not bad for a first year of taking part.
It turns out that patience, persistence and a genuine belief in what you're working towards pay off, whether you're building a digital platform for British racing or teaching a former racehorse to jump a coloured pole. I'd like to think both are now going rather well.
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