'A track of Leopardstown's profile is amazing' - new role for Jane Hedley

Jane Hedley, a longstanding member of the Jockey Club clerk of the course team, will end her near ten-year stint with the racecourse group at the end of the year to join Leopardstown as racing and operations manager.

Hedley, who recently finished her role as clerk of the course at Warwick and Nottingham to take on the interim general manager position at the latter, will be responsible for overseeing the groundstaff team, horsemen liaison, day-to-day management of the facilities and oversight of the operations department at one of Ireland’s leading racecourses.

Hedley joined the Jockey Club in April 2012, becoming clerk of the course at Nottingham and Market Rasen before switching from the Lincolnshire track to Warwick in January 2016.

She said: “My new job is quite a lot of my comfort zone and something a little different so it’s a nice mix and I’m really excited by it. I’ve waited a long time for the right thing to come along but to get to a track with the profile of Leopardstown is amazing.

“Leopardstown has top-class Flat and top-class jump racing and I’m going to meet lots of people and make lots of connections. It’s in a lovely part of the world in easy reach of the Curragh, the Wicklow mountains, the sea and Dublin, so it ticks every box.”

Leopardstown: leading dual-purpose venueCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Hedley, whose racing CV is “bursting at the seams”, spent six years at Mark Johnston’s stable as yard manager prior to becoming a clerk of the course and is delighted with the progress made at the tracks she has worked at.

“I’ll be sad to leave my position but I’m massively proud of what we’ve done,” said Hedley.

“Nottingham is in a great place, its autumn programme in particular is really strong as is our field sizes and the racing is unbelievably competitive right through the season.

“I’ve seen Warwick through the change from being a dual-code track to being a really top-notch small jumps track. It was a big project but it’s been a huge success and the racing is going from strength to strength.”

Tom Ryall, a British Racing School graduate who spent six years working for Harry Fry before time as a trainee clerk at Haydock, has taken over as interim clerk of the course at Warwick and Nottingham.

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