Make no mistake, we are all on a mission at Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.
By laying bare the good, the bad, and the ugly among practices, procedures, incidents, and events throughout the world of horseracing, we believe we are providing a unique global service that can only improve and enrich an already marvellously endowed sport and multi-billion-dollar industry.
The only surprising thing about TRC is that nobody has thought of doing it before. Horseracing, as much as any sport, or indeed any industry, suffers day-in and day-out because of a startling lack of cohesion internationally. So often, what is done well in one part of the world is done less well elsewhere. Methods, ideas, and advances are rarely shared or communicated. Successes go unsung, failures unreported.
We intend to change all that. With the help of some outstanding journalists and experts, we aim to provide a unique global service for the benefit of racing. We will focus on all aspects of the sport all around the world, highlighting opportunities and good practice as we go, questioning inconsistencies and outdated methods, helping develop collaboration and understanding.
Nobody should think this site will be dull, though. On the contrary, our writers and analysts are the best – their research will be meticulous, they will be expert and opinionated, and they will be a joy to read. And there will be light touches, trips down memory lane, features to make TRC not only informing but also entertaining.
So we are fortunate that some of the finest racing journalists you are ever likely to read share our desires and will be contributing regularly to our pages.
In Europe, I will be calling on the services of some truly outstanding practitioners of the craft. Many are men and women I have enjoyed working with already in a quarter of a century in racing media, and others are people I have long wanted to be associated with but have been denied that opportunity until now.
In Britain, there is former Racing Journalist of the Year Greg Wood, of The Guardian, the highly acclaimed analyst James Willoughby, writer Julian Muscat, author of the 2013 British Horseracing Book of the Year ‘Her Majesty’s Pleasure: How Horseracing Enthrals The Queen’, and Sean Magee, author of numerous leading racing titles and collaborator in many more with, among others, his good friends Lester Piggott and Sir Peter O’Sullevan.
Our Irish correspondents include author and Irish Sunday Times chief racing writer Donn McLean, and author and broadcaster Lissa Oliver, who has been nominated for the UK’s Racing Journalist of the Year award three times in the past six years.
In France, we will benefit from the considerable insight and expertise of Emmanuel Roussel, from the national racing TV channel Equidia, and Alix Choppin, Secrétaire Générale of Association Génération Galop, a highly influential think tank and lobbying group involving many of the most powerful figures in French racing. We are also looking forward to contributions from John Gilmore, an accomplished English journalist who plies his trade from Chantilly with a comprehensive list of contacts covering France and beyond.
In Italy, our main man on the ground is Franco Raimondi, senior correspondent at the country’s racing daily Trotto & Turf and veteran of 30 Arcs, 15 Breeders' Cups and all the major races around the globe, including the Carlos Pellegrini in Argentina and the J&B Met in South Africa.
We are fortunate to be working closely with the editorial team at the Newmarket-based International Racing Bureau, led by the prolific James Crispe, a talented, experienced, and meticulous journalist whose knowledge of racing around the world is unparalleled.
Of course, as important a part of our coverage as any is bloodstock, and we needed to make doubly sure we had an observer of complete international authority to call upon here. Step forward Nancy Sexton, writer, agent, a regular at major sales rings around the world and universally respected by those in the know as one of the voices most worth listening to.
We are indeed privileged to be working with Nancy, and as she joins forces with these other key members of our team we are confident we are already well on the way to achieving our aims.