Cheltenham Racecourse Gain Two New Committee Members

British horseracing commercial group the Jockey Club has appointed two new members to the Cheltenham Racecourse committee, William Rucker and William Vestey.

Both William Rucker and William Vestey have a long association with the course and have joined the committee as of June 1, 2014.

William Rucker is Chief Executive of Lazard in London. He is also Chairman of Crest Nicholson Holdings plc and Quintain Estates & Development plc. He has many horses in training with Evan Williams and his horses have finished in the top four in the last six runnings of the Grand National, with familiar names such as Cappa Bleu and State Of Play, the latter of which also won the  2006 Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury. He also has horses in training with Fergal O’Brien and with Sir Mark Prescott on the Flat.

William Vestey has grown up with Cheltenham Racecourse as a big part of his life, as his father Lord Vestey was Chairman for over two decades. He is Lord Vestey’s elder son and is Associate Director for the family business, Vestey Group. William has horses in training with Jeremy Noseda, Nicky Henderson and Charlie Longsdon.

Robert Waley-Cohen, Chairman of Cheltenham Racecourse commented: “I am delighted that William and William have agreed to join the committee at Cheltenham. William Rucker has a wealth of experience both as a racehorse owner and as a businessman and William Vestey has experience of Cheltenham as a long-term member during his father’s time as Chairman. I look forward to working with them both.”

William Vestey added: “I am thrilled to be joining the committee for Cheltenham Racecourse, having grown up with my father as Chairman. I have many happy memories of racing at Cheltenham over the years and look forward to my first season as part of the committee.”

The Cheltenham Racecourse committee is led by Robert Waley-Cohen, with support from Vice Chairman Christopher Hodgson, a director at KBIS Insurance, CEO of Talk Talk Dido Harding, Head of the Country House Department at Knight Frank Rupert Sweeting and Chief Executive of the Injured Jockeys Fund Lisa Hancock.