the tracks are still with us”. He became Deputy Racecourse Manager, then Racecourse Manager under George Irvine. He was then Racing Information Controller and took over the text room, where the data is generated. Additional overseas coverage in shops


grew out of the need to find racing content during the 2001 foot & mouth epidemic. “Just before that, around 1998, I became Racing Programme Controller.” He remembers: “We looked at France, Germany, Dubai, anywhere we could get racing from. This was extremely demanding but also an extremely satisfying time because we kept things going. There wasn’t a day that we didn’t have a horse race meeting. “The major bookmakers decided they needed more than domestic content and that’s where South African racing came in on a more regular basis. “I was one of the first to work on


from my mobile phone. What a kick I got out of doing it. “I went to York recently with my wife Diane and bumped into all the guys. A lot of the old faces remain but there are also a lot of new faces. That part of the experience of the betting ring, reading the betting ring, is gone. It’s all done through computers, which I’m partly responsible for because SIS sent me over to Australia about eleven years ago to see what they do there.


Leukaemia in Childhood. He is currently SIS’s Commercial


Director, LBO services, and is based in Milton Keynes, while commuting to York at weekends.


different tracks overseas. I worked the first ever meeting from Ireland, at Phoenix Park in 1988. Horse racing and SIS have allowed me to travel all over the world. “In 2004 I was at Lone Star Park in


Texas for the Breeders’ Cup and that night I had to fly out to cover the Melbourne Cup. We covered the entire card and transmitted shows from text screens. Then everything went down, so I went into the betting ring and did the last two races


“When I was actively involved with the racecourse side I said it has to change, it’s archaic the way we’re doing this. There was a lot of subjectivity. You didn’t get the SP until five minutes after the race. We wanted to send the SP during the running of the race. Punters and bookmakers needed to know what their liabilities were. Ironically, in Australia now they’re still doing it the same way as they did eleven years ago, using PDAs. We’ve moved on and they haven’t.” Brent has three sons, Andrew, Robbie and Richard. Robbie works for SIS at the Milton Keynes facility, and two are in Australia, Richard is a chef in a top restaurant in Sydney, and Andrew works for a leading company that builds and maintains marinas. He has run five London marathons with a best time of 3hrs 47mins. Although he last ran it three years ago, he intends to run again next year, for Cancer and


remains. It continues to be a difficult period for our customers and we will continue to work with them wherever we can. We have a competitor; we know we’ve got a competitor. We’ve got to make sure we’re offering a first-class service and that’s down to not only the guys that actually produce the service but to us to make sure the customers are getting what they want.”n


News in Brief


GTECH wins Dusk Till Dawn business


GTECH G2 has signed up the Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club in a new three-year partnership to supply casino and poker software. GTECH has also confirmed that it will supply the site with its Webdollar cashier payment system, allowing players to use the same wallet for both casino and poker.n


David Ross Fabrications Ltd


Metalwork supplied from our designs or your own Prototype through to production. All finishes.


Bet slip dispensers Magnetic wall boards Upstands


Pen dispensers Poster Frames


Bandit Screen Posts TV Gantry Systems


Lightboxes-wall and freestanding


Racing Post Holders Window Display Legs LCD TV Brackets


Swivelling Tower with Poster Frames Pelmet Lights Floor bins with or without logo Leaner legs


External Ashtrays Paper Racks


Coupon Dispensers Machine Tables


Compact Reader Units Plasma TV Brackets


SPECIALIST SUPPLIERS OF METALWORK TO THE BETTING INDUSTRY FOR OVER 15 YEARS


UNIT 1E


PECKLETON LANE BUSINESS ESTATE PECKLETON LEICESTER LE9 7RN


TEL: 01455 823721 FAX: 01455 828339 EMAIL: davidross7@btconnect.com www.davidrossfabrications.co.uk


Photographs courtesy of Coral Racing and Chisholm Bookmakers “What I’m doing now, the enthusiasm


visit www.bosmag.co.uk


BOS Magazine July/August 2010 29


Now Available


stainless steel handrail systems


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