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Waterworth on Goodwood: An opportunity too good to miss
Adam Waterworth was happy at Doncaster racecourse.
He'd been managing director for three years and had overseen some massive changes. He had no desire to leave.
But then things changed – not at Doncaster but at Goodwood.
Rod Fabricius had announced he was to retire at the end of the 2010 season and one of racing's plum jobs was up for grabs.
Like many others, Waterworth threw his hat into the ring. Some months later, after an extensive search for the right person for the job which even included an overseas hunt, he was offered the job.
It wasn't an offer he needed to think about for very long before giving his answer.
Now the 39-year-old has left behind Doncaster, home of the St Leger, and has started a period of working alongside Fabricius before assuming full control on January 1, 2011.
"When a job like this comes along, it's an opportunity you can't pass up," he says as he finds time for an interview in his first week at his new place of work.
"I was really happy at Doncaster. I'd moved across the Pennines from my 'home' track, Haydock Park, in 2006 and there was lots going on. It was a great racecourse to be at.
"But everyone in the industry knows Goodwood and its reputation and I wanted at least to have a go. I'd been racing here many times and I knew Rod well.
"So I threw my hat into the ring. At every stage I got through, I thought 'Great – this is a good experience, but I won't hold my breath'.
"Then when I was offered the job, it was fantastic. I didn't stop smiling for a week.
"And now I'm here, it's so much more real. To arrive just in time to be able to see Glorious Goodwood happening at first-hand is perfect."
It will have surprised some that Goodwood have appointed a northerner who is not yet 40 as MD, but Waterworth comes with an excellent racing pedigree – and having demonstrated long ago that age need be no barrier to progression in this game.
He was part of the first intake for a Jockey Club graduate development scheme when he was at university 20 years ago and this led to a work placement at Cheltenham racecourse – not a bad little venue for starters.
He stayed on as a trainee manager and at 23 became general manager of Huntingdon racecourse. Few can have been given overall responsibility for a course at such an age.
After several years, he was given a wider role overseeing a string of tracks owned by the Racecourse Holdings Trust, now the Jockey Club. In 2000 he took over as MD at Haydock Park, his local track when he was growing up getting to know the sport, and he stayed there until Doncaster came calling in 2006.
"There are comparisons you can draw between Doncaster and Goodwood," he says.
"Doncaster has the St Leger festival and a 500,000 race, so I'm used to hosting top-class racing.
"There are some very important, prestigious and valuable races there.
"Like Goodwood, it has its main festival, but also a significant number of other meetings which need to work well."
Despite having been first past the post in the race to succeed Fabricius, Waterworth says he doesn't know if the primary aim of Lord March and colleagues was to find someone who could simply carry on where Fabricius was leaving off, or a candidate who could bring new ideas and changing methods in an industry which is all too aware it needs to work hard to keep on pulling in new race-goers.
"I'd like to think I can do both. There are some fine traditions here to uphold, but there is the future to think about too.
"I've been quite involved in the nationwide Racing For Change initiative – it's something I believe in. We have to get racing to a younger audience.
"But I'm a racing person and racing people know that whatever else we need to do, we need to ensure racing comes first."
One question that doesn't really need asking is how much Waterworth has been looking forward to Glorious.
He observes: "Glorious Goodwood is one of the leading racing festivals in the world, and this year, if this year only, I will able to watch it without the pressure of running it.
"I've got six months to learn from Rod and, after that, having him on the end of the phone will be invaluable. It's all tremendously exciting."
Waterworth is married to Sally and they have two children, Jack, five, and Alice, three.
His family will follow him south during the summer holidays and they'll then decide where to set up home.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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