Entain’s Chief Marketing Officer, Charlotte Emery, is set for the ride of her life this week, when she lines up in the most prestigious charity horse race in the UK.  

Charlotte is training to become a jockey in order to ride in the Markel Magnolia Cup at Glorious Goodwood on Thursday 31st July.  The race will see 12 inspirational women race over five furlongs at Goodwood racecourse, and Charlotte’s participation is all the more remarkable, after she broke her pelvis in two places last November.

Charlotte, the Chief Marketing Officer for global betting and gaming business Entain, whose brands include Ladbrokes and Coral, is raising money for The King’s Trust International’s Project Lehar.  Project Lehar offers vocational training, entrepreneurship and life skills courses for girls and young women from low-income backgrounds in in India, where Entain has strong links and operates its Global Capability Centre which employs over 3,000 people.

Entain will donate the profits from its Coral-sponsored race – the first race on Thursday, The Coral Kincsem Handicap – to the charity, and underwrite a minimum donation of £50,000. This will effectively be added to the money Charlotte is raising through her JustGiving page. The Entain brands (Coral and Ladbrokes) will also be offering odds on the Markel Magnolia Cup, and any profits on this race will also be donated to the charity.

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Charlotte has been training to become a jockey since March, following her rehabilitation from her pelvic injury, and has been riding out with trainers and jockeys across the UK, including Grand National-winning trainer, Jonjo O’Neill, Joe Tizzard in Dorset, Alice Haynes in Newmarket and Chris Grassick in Lambourn.

Charlotte has also secured some invaluable advice from Coral’s racing ambassador and TV presenter, Chris Hughes, himself a previous charity race rider.

Speaking about her reasons for undertaking the challenge Charlotte said: “The racing community has been so welcoming and full of advice. I’ve been able to learn from many of the best trainers in the UK. My advice for anyone who yearns to do something new and challenging like this, is to push past your fear and embrace a positive mindset. You’re never too old to learn something new.”

Charlotte has overcome several challenges along the way, including making her way back to full fitness after breaking her pelvis last November: “Falling off a horse and fracturing my pelvis was not the preparation I was looking for, and the moment that I came off, I knew when I hit the ground I wasn’t going to be standing up. It was the most incredibly painful thing that I’ve ever done. I did not at any point believe that I wouldn’t ride again, not ever. It’s been a part of my life for so much, I didn’t ever think that I wouldn’t do that again.”

She recently passed her final fitness test at the British Racing School in Newmarket in May, where she had to undertake the same rigorous fitness tests as a professional jockey to meet the requirements for the race and overcame her injury to make the final cut for the race.

“Anything can happen between now and then, but I’m not going to think about that. My job now is to be as race fit as I can be and race ready as I can be, and that’s riding as much as I can and getting all the advice that I can, so when I go out on Glorious Goodwood Thursday I am as ready as I can possibly be. I’m in it to win it.

Speaking about the charity partnership, Joanna Parsons, Director of Delivery and Impact at King’s Trust International comments “It feels like such an excellent partnership in terms of synergy. King’s Trust International works across the globe, supporting young women to be able to achieve their potential, so it feels like the right place to be between both King’s Trust International and the Magnolia Cup this year.”

Coral is sharing Charlotte Emery’s journey to the Magnolia Cup through a multi part social series ‘Along for the Ride’. Episodes one,  two and three are now available to watch on X and Instagram, and Coral Racing Club YouTube.

Entain, whose brands include Coral and Ladbrokes, is one of the most committed, long-standing sponsors in British Racing, the second biggest spectator sport in the UK.

Find out more and donate to Charlotte’s fundraising towards Project Lehar through her Just Giving Page.