Merlin the Magician
At the Start
Racecourse management team unveiled
by Sion Barry, Western Mail
NORTHERN RACING has unveiled the management team to operate Ffos Las Racecourse which will open in West Wales next year.
The project in Carmarthenshire is the first turf racecourse to be launched in the UK for 80 years and has led to a series of management changes and opportunities at Northern Racing.
Ffos Las Racecourse, which will be the 10th course that the group will operate, will host horse racing from next June.
Northern Racing has confirmed that Jon Williams will be general manager and Tim Long the clerk of the course. Mr Williams leaves Bath Racecourse where he has been general manager for four years, while Mr Long – who is clerk of the course at Chepstow and Bath and has an overseeing role at Hereford –will concentrate on Chepstow and Ffos Las.
The moves follow the decision by the owners of Ffos Las to appoint Northern Racing to manage the new racecourse from the start of September.
For Mr Williams, who grew up in Pembrokeshire, it marks a return to working in Wales since joining Northern Racing from the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Furthermore, in a promotion to its head office team, Northern Racing has appointed Matt Hudson to the newly-created position of events and venue hire director.
He has been general manager of Brighton Racecourse since 2004, and was previously in charge of attracting external events to the Sussex racecourse.
Northern Racing’s non-horse racing activities have grown considerably over the past few years, and are an increasing source of income.
Tony Kelly, Northern Racing’s group managing director, said: “I am delighted to announce these appointments. It is indicative of the talented pool of management and staff throughout the group that we can promote from within.
“For a number of years we have pursued a strategy of proactively developing our people, it is therefore particularly pleasing that all these opportunities have been filled by internal candidates.”
The Ffos Las Racecourse is expected to bring up to £600m into the local economy.
The track, which will have a capacity for 15,000 spectators, is sited on a former opencast coal mine at Trimsaran near Llanelli.
The racecourse consists of a one-mile four-furlong oval track with provision for National Hunt and flat racing, and will be the first entirely new track with facilities for hurdle racing since Taunton was opened in 1927. It has also been nominated as a possible training venue for the 2012 Olympics. The 600-acre development will also see a hotel, pub and restaurant built, along with a grandstand, stables accommodation and administrative buildings.
It is a joint venture between Pembrey Racecourse, formed 10 years ago to develop horse racing facilities in South Wales, and the Walters Group – a plant hire, civil engineering and mining business.
by Sion Barry, Western Mail
NORTHERN RACING has unveiled the management team to operate Ffos Las Racecourse which will open in West Wales next year.
The project in Carmarthenshire is the first turf racecourse to be launched in the UK for 80 years and has led to a series of management changes and opportunities at Northern Racing.
Ffos Las Racecourse, which will be the 10th course that the group will operate, will host horse racing from next June.
Northern Racing has confirmed that Jon Williams will be general manager and Tim Long the clerk of the course. Mr Williams leaves Bath Racecourse where he has been general manager for four years, while Mr Long – who is clerk of the course at Chepstow and Bath and has an overseeing role at Hereford –will concentrate on Chepstow and Ffos Las.
The moves follow the decision by the owners of Ffos Las to appoint Northern Racing to manage the new racecourse from the start of September.
For Mr Williams, who grew up in Pembrokeshire, it marks a return to working in Wales since joining Northern Racing from the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Furthermore, in a promotion to its head office team, Northern Racing has appointed Matt Hudson to the newly-created position of events and venue hire director.
He has been general manager of Brighton Racecourse since 2004, and was previously in charge of attracting external events to the Sussex racecourse.
Northern Racing’s non-horse racing activities have grown considerably over the past few years, and are an increasing source of income.
Tony Kelly, Northern Racing’s group managing director, said: “I am delighted to announce these appointments. It is indicative of the talented pool of management and staff throughout the group that we can promote from within.
“For a number of years we have pursued a strategy of proactively developing our people, it is therefore particularly pleasing that all these opportunities have been filled by internal candidates.”
The Ffos Las Racecourse is expected to bring up to £600m into the local economy.
The track, which will have a capacity for 15,000 spectators, is sited on a former opencast coal mine at Trimsaran near Llanelli.
The racecourse consists of a one-mile four-furlong oval track with provision for National Hunt and flat racing, and will be the first entirely new track with facilities for hurdle racing since Taunton was opened in 1927. It has also been nominated as a possible training venue for the 2012 Olympics. The 600-acre development will also see a hotel, pub and restaurant built, along with a grandstand, stables accommodation and administrative buildings.
It is a joint venture between Pembrey Racecourse, formed 10 years ago to develop horse racing facilities in South Wales, and the Walters Group – a plant hire, civil engineering and mining business.
