Occupations

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joe.
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That's a refreshingly honest approach, Will. Best of luck with whatever you do next.

Can I continue, rather boringly, to say to the under 35s that if you have normal computer skills, and have done some sort of admin, then working for racecourses on their permanent admin side is pretty good? You might be handling sales, marketing, contracts, finances/payroll, helping the manager, the Clerk of the Course, and meeting all kinds of racing people on racedays, but overall, you'd work in youngish, bright, teams with pay that's generally competitive locally. It's something to think about if betting shops are too claustrophobic, and you don't want to shovel horseshit all your life.
 
Cheers, Euro - to be fair, I haven't had many problems with trains being later than more than about 10-15 mins, it's planes I seem to have problems with concerning delays.... :what:

Colin - ah, Gungy Kelleway!!! Remember her well from my days Arab racing, even shared a bottle or three of champagne with her & Ernst in her front room one year after she retained her championship. When you were at Kingys did you know James Bosley? He's a very good friend, albeit one I haven't seen for a few years. He's a lovely lad & a very good rider, shame he got too big for riding on the flat.

LE - It's not a bad job, being a trainer's secretary, but it can certainly be very stressful! Imagine acting as nursemaid to the trainer whilst juggling jockeys agents (who ring incessantly!)/jockeys/owners/Weatherbys/other trainers/vets et al while also keeping all the accounts up to date, paying the wages, making the entries/decs, typing horse reports etc....it can be manic!! It is very enjoyable & if you thrive on working under pressure (which I do) it is a great job to have. It can be long hours too!

Will - Funny you should say that part of the reason for leaving is on moral grounds - my next door neighbour when I was in the UK was a line manager at Natwest in their call centre & he left because he couldn't stand any of their unethical practices - training staff to actively encourage people to keep their cash in their current accounts & not in a savings account, for example, as it cost the bank less money on interest & the likes.

Jon - I had a good friend who tried for a couple of years to get into working in racecourse management in some capacity or another. She applied for several jobs at entry level but she didn't get anywhere as all the jobs she applied for were allocated previous to being advertised. She was very well qualified for the job, having had over 10 years experience working as a trainers secretary & was one of the best known secretaries in the business, she had fantastic references (in fact, trainers kept trying to poach her!) & she came from a well known racing family with her father being a trainer & her brother a well known NH jockey, was very well known & well liked in racing - I've never heard a bad word about her! At the time, it was widely regarded as being impossible to get into working on the admin side of racecourses as it was such a closed industry & the jobs were already handed out in-house before they were advertised. Is this still the case now, do you know?
 
Shadow: I can only speak for the six years I've been acquainted with Northern Racing and Arena Leisure's courses. Certainly all of the slots at Brighton and Fontwell were genuinely open whenever vacancies arose. From what I see at Lingfield, there's no 'insider trading', though obviously if a trainer rings up to say his secretary is applying, the course might consider that gives her an edge over someone without a racing background, all other things being equal.

In that respect, people with a knowledge of the business MAY be favoured over others of equal merit, though that didn't and doesn't happen at the course manager level! Phil Bell, managing only Fontwell Park now, having handed Brighton over to a purely commercial manager, is a case in point, as are the managers outgoing and incoming at Lingfield - all of these people came from the 'leisure industry', and while Phil's been a racing enthusiast all his life, I doubt he'd know a gaskin from a gasket!
 
When I was in college and immediately after I left I worked for various bookmakers in England/Ireland.
For the last 10 years I have been working in accounts at various levels.Currently a bookkeeper/accountant -bk money/accountants responsibility.Job is very good most of the time but the two guys I work for are timebombs.
 
Cheers Jon - I suspect that with the advent of the likes of Arena & Northern Racing there is less & less of the "it's not what you know, it's who you know" as they are not run so much by old racing "names". Certainly it used to be a case that racecourse jobs & stuff were handed out according to who you knew - it's interesting to see that now Clerks of the Course tend to get jobs on holding relevant degrees in land management & similar rather than getting the job because they used to be a jockey!
 
Shadz: by far and away the biggest amount of work being done full-time at all the courses I work at (and I think probably a lot that I don't!) is filling the non-racedays with fairs, exhibitions, weddings, seminars, concerts, displays, etc. and it's no coincidence that Northern Racing courses' phones are now answered "XYZ Racecourse and Conference Centre..."! When not pushing the facilities, staff are busy taking pre-meeting badge bookings, hospitality box bookings, and restaurant package bookings, arranging for flyer and poster distributions, radio advert slots, etc. So, anyone coming from the hotel or other 'leisure' industry would fit right in, with a commercial background, probably more immediately than mainly horsey types would.

Even when they are horsey, such as Nick Littmoden's first wife Jo, who rides out for John Dunlop at Arundel before going in to work at Fontwell, they're still called 'commercial executives'. The emphasis now is very much on customers or 'users', and while the newer, younger racegoer might not feel the difference, certainly a lot of the older ones bemoan the places getting 'all tarted up'. They fondly remember beer-soaked betting halls, and having to walk half-a-mile in lashing rain to a spotty loo, so modern standards of presentation aren't welcome in all quarters!
 
LE, I don't remember a Paddy or a Shane. When I was there Sean Cusack was head lad along with his partner Anita and Jim Tully was THL.

Yes, SL, James was there the same time as me, when he first came he was still riding in flat races but then progressed to riding in some hurdles and NHF races, as you say, a very nice lad. One memory of him was when one of the horses he was riding at excercise broke a leg, he was devastated as it was the first time that it had happened to him.

As I think I told you before, I had a lot of time for Ernst but Sarah.........Have you seen that Ernst (Oertel, for other readers) is now training winners under rules?

Colin
 
SL- yeh it is certainly stressfull, poor Karens tearing her hair out most days! Because ive got a bit of office exp I've done a bit when things have been at their most hectic. Reminds me, do you know Lisa Venables she was secretary at edgys at some point?

Colin - you must have left before they started. Anita is now THL although she was pregnant, must have had it by now.
 
LE - No, I didn't know Lisa, she will have been after I left. Edgy does have the somewhat dubious accolade of going through secretaries at a rate of knots......
 
SL - I was just wondering in case you did. As she now runs a livery from Mrak Ushers old yard in Kingston Lisle (also sponsoring Bosleys) its going to be Sylvesters (the appy) new home when he moves down in summer. Seems canny, but a bit of a hippy!!!
 
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