Jockey Club Appoints Martin St Quinton
The Jockey Club, owners of 15 racecourses including Cheltenham and the largest commercial group in British horseracing, has announced the appointment of Martin St Quinton to chair the committee overseeing the financing plans of its £45 million development plans at Cheltenham Racecourse, which it unveiled earlier this year.
The current vice-chair of Gloucester Rugby Club, Martin St Quinton is also a non-executive racecourse committee director at The Jockey Club’s Epsom Downs Racecourse, which staged the Investec Derby Festival last weekend.
The Cheltenham Racecourse development funding committee also includes Robert Waley-Cohen (chairman of Cheltenham Racecourse), Ian Renton (regional director of Cheltenham and South West, Jockey Club Racecourses), Simon Bazalgette (group chief executive of The Jockey Club), Paul Fisher (group managing director, Jockey Club Racecourses) and Sheila Handley (south west regional Finance director, Jockey Club Racecourses).
The news follows confirmation from The Jockey Club that the first retail bond offer in British sport, which it launched last month to raise around £15 million in capital towards the planned Cheltenham Racecourse development, has exceeded expectations and received almost £25 million worth of applications. The capital raised by The Jockey Club Racecourse Bond amounts to 55% of the total amount to fund the project.
Martin St Quinton said of the appointment: ‘Not so long ago, to raise funding for this type of project you would only turn to your bank. But today’s climate is different and we are now seeing highly innovative and effective new ways of financing being explored and created. I’m delighted to lean on my experience in business and finance to work with The Jockey Club team on the funding of this highly prestigious development and we have got off to an excellent start as a result of the Racecourse Bond offer being highly successful.’
