Arena Racing Company (“ARC”) today confirm the appointment of Paul Barker as the Clerk of the Course at Doncaster, home of the World’s Oldest Classic, the Cazoo St Leger Stakes.
Paul will continue in his role as Regional Clerk of the Course for ARC in the North, supporting other racecourse teams in the region, as well as taking on the Doncaster role at the beginning of January 2022.
Ahead of taking up the role at Doncaster, Paul will oversee the installation and opening of the new tapeta all-weather surface at Southwell Racecourse, where he has been Clerk of the Course for three years. Southwell is scheduled to first host racing on tapeta on 7 December 2021, following the installation of a state of the art floodlight system at the venue in 2019.
Managing Director of ARC’s Racing Division, Mark Spincer, said, “We are delighted to appoint Paul to the role of Clerk of the Course at Doncaster. As a Group One racecourse, hosting some of the most important races of the British flat season, as well as a number of high profile races in its jumps programme, it is a hugely important role and one in which we know Paul will do an excellent job.”
“We would all like to thank Roderick Duncan, who has done an excellent job at Doncaster, and other racecourses in our group, for many years, and wish him all the best with future endeavours.”
Paul Barker said, “It will be a real honour to take over the reins at Doncaster next year. It is a racecourse I know well, having worked there for a number of years prior to my current role at Southwell. I have had the benefit of working very closely with Roderick Duncan and the team throughout this time at a number of feature meetings, which has offered invaluable insight into the management and preparation of the track across the year.
“I am very much looking forward to getting underway full time in January, but in the mean time will focus on the delivery of the new tapeta surface at Southwell, which I believe will make it one of the finest all-weather racecourses in the country.”
Doncaster Racecourse hosts 36 fixtures per year, across both flat and jump programmes. Feature events include the Lincoln Handicap, four day Cazoo St Leger Festival and Vertem Futurity Trophy on the flat, as well as the Summit Juvenile Hurdle, Great Yorkshire Chase and the Grimthorpe Chase over its jumps programme.
