Mohammad Alkhairat is a big believer in the idea of going back to hand that opened itself to you when you had nothing.At just 20 years old, Alkhairat is already working to return the favor to the people who helped him get his foot in the door in horse racing. After being turned down time and time again when he first attempted to get involved in the sport, Alkhairat is grateful that he was given a chance.Now a member of the Diriyah Bloodstock team, Alkhairat has had a hand in sending three horses to Robbie Medina, his first boss in horse racing. He also never fails to swing by the Airdie Stud consignment at the sales with his buying partners to visit Ben Henley, who was his Amplify Horse Racing mentor three years ago.“Ben was a really generous person,” said Alkhairat. “He didn't do the mentorship because Amplify was paying him. It was out of his own time, so I want to pay it back.”Alkhairat has always been interested in horses, but he had no familial connection to get him started. When he was a freshman in college, he started researching how to get a job in horse racing. After he couldn't find much information, he used Google Maps to locate the farms closest to him in Lexington.“I just started going to farms and knocking on doors,” he recounted. “I tried around five or six farms. None of them accepted. They were looking for experience and someone that could be full-time. At that time I was like, 'I don't know, I think this industry might not be for me.'”Finally, Alkhairat stopped in at Blackwood Stables, where assistant trainer Katey Caddel wasn't swayed by the fact that he had never been around a horse. She told him to come back the following weekend and he could learn to be a hot walker.“I asked her, 'What's a hot walker?'”Alkhairat recalled with a laugh. “But I was all excited.”It didn't take long for Alkhairat to become totally entrenched in the industry.“The competition that I saw in the sport and the hard work, it's not just a horse getting trained and he races and he wins. There's a lot behind it. There's teamwork and there are a lot of decisions to make sure that you are doing the right thing for the horse.”After a few months, Blackwood Stables changed hands and Alkhairat was left without his weekend gig. Caddel referred him to Amplify Horse Racing. After attending a few events, Alkhairat applied for Amplify's mentorship program.He was paired with Ben Henley, General Manager of Airdrie Stud.“He was always keen and engaging,” Henley said, recalling their time together. “In our 30-minute phone calls, we would never get through his full list of questions because you'd end up diving into so much detail and getting sidetracked, which was fantastic.”Over the next two years, Alkhairat worked at several small breeding farms and gained experience in the mare division at Taylor Made Farm.Also during that time, Alkhairat started following FMQ Stables' Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming). At the 2023 Keeneland September Sale, he met some of the connections that had purchased Saudi Crown, who would go on to win the GI Pennsylvania Derby later that month.The following year, Aziz Alyousef, who Alkhairat had met back at Keeneland, reached out and told him he was starting his own bloodstock agency. He asked if Alkhairat wanted to join the team at Diriyah Bloodstock.The group purchased nine yearlings at the 2024 Keeneland September Sale. Then Alkhairat worked the Fasig-Tipton October Sale solo for the group and purchased a $55,000 Thousand Words colt. Now named Saudi Warrior, he is a winner in Saudi Arabia. Diriyah Bloodstock was also busy at last year's September Sale, purchasing five colts.Alkhairat credits Amplify for helping him make the connections that launched his start in the sport. He currently works for Diriyah during the sales season while also being a full-time electrician. He said he hopes to keep horse racing as his passion project.“I entered this industry not for the business, but because of the animals,” he explained. “I'm not entering it because of the money at all. That's why I chose to let it be my hobby, to be honest, but at the same time to take it as seriously as I can.”Henley said mentees like Alkhairat are why he is now coming off his fourth rotation in the Amplify mentorship program.“I've had great mentors through my life and my career, so you feel obliged to give back,” Henley explained. “I enjoy doing it. The mentees are young, enthusiastic and they want to learn. It's very easy to do and not at all time consuming. It's a great experience and I highly recommend becoming a mentor because it's so refreshing to see young people with a genuine interest in the business.” Tomorrow's Front Runners is a TDN series spotlighting young people who got involved with horse racing through Amplify Horse Racing and are now pursuing careers in the industry. Amplify is a 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to amplifying education, mentorship and career opportunities for young people in the Thoroughbred industry.The post Tomorrow’s Frontrunners: Mohammad Alkhairat Hoping to Pay It Forward appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.