Hetta Harris

Hetta has worked in the racing industry for over 24 years starting with her first job at Henrietta Knights in 1999 as a groom/work rider. As well as working in the UK for a variety of trainers, Hetta spent 2 years at Lindsay Park in Australia and then 5 years in America for Michael Dickinson and Dale Romans as Assistant Trainer. In 2008 she won the Alex Scott Assistant Trainers Scholarship, when working for Rae Guest in Newmarket, which funded the start of her time in America. When Hetta became pregnant with twin girls whilst still in the USA, her and ex-husband Olly Stevens made the decision to move back to the UK. On their return and birth of the girls, they were offered the chance to train for Sheikh Fahad and Qatar Racing from Robins Farm in Surrey. They set up a thriving business as a new family and trained successfully for 5 years which included a winner at Royal Ascot and a Grade 1 win in the USA at Keeneland. When Olly relinquished his license, Hetta set up a breaking-in and pre-training business and moved to a new base in Wiltshire to start again. The business was physically hard work but rewarding and meant Hetta could work ‘from home’ to look after the girls day-to-day, albeit with a lot of help. As well as pre-training Hetta also traded in bloodstock, selling some breeze-ups and prepping yearlings for the sales ring.

In 2021 Hetta became a trustee at the British Racing School and it opened up her eyes to what she could contribute back to people coming into the industry. This led her to close the business in 2023 and work for Racing Welfare for a year as an Outreach and Engagement Officer to the stud sector. Hetta then applied for the role of Director of Education at the BRS. Long distance parenting (staying away from home in Wiltshire and being in Newmarket part of the week) could be called a balancing act, but so far all the plates are still spinning!