The Horseracing Bettors Forum (HBF), created with the assistance of the British Horseracing Authority to represent the interests of those who bet on British horseracing, has announced four new Forum Members as part of a planned refresh of its membership ahead of its second anniversary.
Paul Johnson, Colin Hord, Colin Magee and Martin Hughes have been selected by HBF to represent the betting public and replace four of the original nine Forum Members.
Colin Hord has already replaced Jason Brautigam – who left the Forum late in 2016 – and was in attendance at the Monday 3 July HBF meeting.
Colin Magee, Martin Hughes and Paul Johnson will replace original HBF Forum Members Quen Emmenes, Glenn Alcoe and Scott Ferguson.
All four new Forum Members are passionate horseracing fans and the last three will be joining HBF in advance of the Forum’s second anniversary meeting, which is planned for Nottingham Racecourse in October.
Members will serve three-year terms and there will be another planned refresh of the HBF membership in 2018.
Simon Rowlands, who will remain as Chair of HBF for one further year, said:
“We were all very impressed with the standard of applications, which made the decisions regarding appointments difficult, and are confident that the new intake will ensure that the interests of the British horseracing betting public continue to be represented in an independent and insightful manner.
“I would like to thank Quen, Glenn and Scott for their sterling efforts over the last couple of years, without which the creation and early stages of the HBF would have been considerably more difficult.”
HBF has meetings roughly each quarter and has lobbied on behalf of the British horseracing betting public with bookmakers and with bodies such as The Gambling Commission, The Information Commissioner’s Office, The Starting Price Regulatory Commission, The BHA and The Racecourse Association.
HBF will continue to ensure a key customer group of British Racing is represented in the new Levy environment and is currently especially active in the areas of improved data provision for bettors, Non-Runners, the future of pool betting and the creation of a Betting Charter.
It may be contacted through its website at ukhbf.org and its Twitter account at @HbfBritain.
The Forum Members
MATT BISOGNO, London, is a former software development project manager and consultant who is now managing director of the popular online racing community geegeez.co.uk. A passionate racehorse owner and syndicate manager, his betting is data-driven and he has contributed to previous BHA focus groups about betting.
COLIN HORD, London, works at the Civil Aviation Authority and has a degree in meteorology. He is the policy lead in the Safety and Airspace Regulation Division. He is a member of Kempton Park Racecourse and writes a blog with his betting selections.
MARTIN HUGHES, near Newcastle, worked at Barclays Bank plc for 19 years in various roles. For the past 8 years he has been a full-time bettor, adopting several approaches and becoming a specialist in in-running (without fast pictures).
PAUL JOHNSON, Leeds, worked for William Hill for over 30 years and is now a professional horseracing bettor. A keen racegoer who has visited 55 racecourses in the UK, he also advises on horseracing at Regulus Partners.
COLIN MAGEE, London, is an enterprise software executive and entrepreneur, and is a regular racegoer. He authored the first published book on how to program the Betfair API and is also owner of www.betwise.co.uk, a site which provides data analysis tools for bettors who wish to build their own systems.
JAMES PROSSER, Swansea, is an owner and director of MyRacing.com, a site for horseracing punters which has over 200,000 Twitter followers. Previously primarily a football bettor, he has concentrated on horseracing since gaining a Law degree and bets daily on the sport while owning shares in a number of horses.
SIMON ROWLANDS, (Chair), near Sheffield, is a self-employed horseracing analyst and writer who formerly worked as a betting-shop manager, racing editor for a national newspaper and for many years for Timeform. He was recently appointed to British racing’s Disciplinary Panel.
TANYA STEVENSON, Surrey, is from a bookmaking family and has many years of experience in the betting industry, including as betting expert on Channel 4 Racing. She has worked on BHA groups, Tattersalls Committee and is a judge of the Betting Shop Manager of The Year.
STEVEN TILLEY, Gloucestershire, has been a racing fan since he was a teenager and a member at Cheltenham racecourse for 30 years. He has written about betting for magazines and spoken at betting workshops, and mixes with punters across the spectrum from those in it purely for fun to those who take it very seriously. He has been a local councillor for the last 25 years.
