The Jockey Club’s longest-running racecourse manager is leaving after 17 years of service in order to take up a new role at the Pony Club.
Strong
Pip Kirkby will be leaving Market Rasen racecourse to join the Pony Club as its new chief executive.
The 43-year-old succeeds Judy Edwards, who is stepping down in March after ten years in the role.
An ardent racing fan, Pip joined Jockey Club Racecourses in 1998 to head the commercial team at Market Rasen. Nine years ago she became general manager of both Nottingham Racecourse and Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, where she recently oversaw an £800,000 expansionproject.
‘Very sad’
“I am very sad to be saying goodbye to the Jockey Club and Market Rasen racecourse after almost 17 years,” Pip said. “It has been a hugely rewarding and enjoyable time, during which I have worked with and been supported by some wonderful people, not least Market Rasen racecourse’s chairman Colin ‘Bud’ Booth who has always been enormously supportive and has been a mentor to me in my job.”
Colin said Pip had been a “total star” forJockey Club Racecourses.
“I am personally very sad that Pip will be leaving us this spring, but I am also pleased that she will not be lost to the equestrian world and I know that The Pony Club has made a very fine appointment indeed,” he commented.
Strong candidates
According to Mary Tuckett, chairman of the Pony Club, they had a great response to the vacancy with some “exceptionally strong candidates”.
Pip is looking forward to starting her new role.
“I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to develop my career within equestrianism further by taking on the position of chief executive of the Pony Club, an inspirational organisation which is the starting point in horse riding for so many tens of thousands of young people, not only in this country but also overseas,” she said.
The Pony Club was founded in 1929 and now has around 345 branches and 600 centres in the UK alone.