A chartered accountant who has been at York for six years, he formerly worked at Ascot Racecourse. He lives with his wife Polly and their two daughters near Helmsley.


What's your first memory of being outdoors?
Growing up in rural Sussex next to Forestry Commission woodland – it was pretty much a Swallows and Amazons childhood with lots of adventures, camps and a long-suffering dog.


When did you first come to Yorkshire?
As a schoolboy, we came on a school trip to York visiting the Minster, the Castle Museum and the National Railway Museum. At York Racecourse, we have a busy set-up in our stables complex with 130-bed accommodation. Outside racing the Racecourse Centre accommodates school groups as the next generation visit these same landmark attractions.


What's your favourite part of the county and why?
The Knavesmire, on which York Racecourse is located, is a very special place for me. On a busy race day it is alive with the fabulous mixture of top sporting action, fashion, social and large, enthusiastic crowds. I walk the course early each morning and it is a serene and tranquil open space at the heart of the city where you can virtually feel the history of York.


What's your idea of a perfect weekend/day out in Yorkshire?
First thing Saturday morning I ride out for Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer Peter Beaumont on his gallops at Brandsby. We then may go to the coast or Castle Howard with the children but we have also become attuned to hunting out great village playgrounds across the county and our eldest daughter could do a book on playgrounds to rival the Good Pub Guide. In the evening, we enjoy going to the theatre, either at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough or the York Theatre Royal. Sunday is a day in the garden or pottering at home – we have no mobile phone reception – hurrah!


Do you have a favourite walk, or view?
A walk on Blakey Ridge at the top of the North York Moors along the old mining railway lines offers spectacular views across the surrounding landscape and the prospect of lunch at the Lion Inn always quickens the step.


Which Yorkshire sportsman/woman would you like to take for lunch?
I would love to time travel to speak with a grand gentleman called James Melrose, who lived in the 1800s, who was very influential in York Racecourse's development.

He was chairman of York Race Committee for 50 years, drained the Knavesmire in the 1860s by installing a huge culvert running underground which feeds into the River Ouse, and became an MP to gain support for an Act of Parliament to give control of the Knavesmire to the race committee on race days. Almost 150 years on we are now building on his legacy by feeding our new drainage system into the culvert.


Which sports do you follow in the county?
I chiefly follow racing. Racing and Yorkshire are very important to each other and provide a significant amount of jobs, visitors and prestige. With nine racecourses, training centres at Malton and Middleham and the Northern Racing College, near Doncaster, racing is an important industry and employer in the region. In terms of other sports, I am a live sport nut and follow my football team, Brighton, when they visit the county, keep an eye on York City and am planning to see Yorkshire 20/20 cricket this summer.


What about Yorkshire's cultural or heritage life?
My wife studied history and castles so we have visited virtually every English Heritage castle in Yorkshire and I just about know my machicolations from
my crenellations.


Do you have a favourite restaurant or pub?
The Black Swan at Helmsley has a new owner and a fantastic new chef and we have had some great meals there in the last six months.


Do you have a favourite food shop?
Cinnamon Twist is a wonderful patisserie in Helmsley that sells delicious cakes.


Who is the Yorkshire man or woman you most admire?
There are, of course, so many from all walks of life. However, since we arrived in Yorkshire, Jane Tomlinson touched us, as she did many, with her strength, humanity and determination to carry on living.


How has Yorkshire influenced your work?
I work with a team of 100 permanently based at the Racecourse and many more for our big events, whose enthusiasm, skill and hard work in delivering successful, fun events from racing to banquets to Christmas parties is inspirational and means that I am lucky enough to have a job and a place of work that I thoroughly enjoy. Secondly, I think Royal Ascot at York was a great occasion for the region, as it both helped raise further the profile and standing of the Racecourse and Yorkshire racegoers attended in their droves and created an atmosphere, fashion parade and party to rival Royal Meeting at its Berkshire home. Thirdly, the knowledge and passion of Yorkshire people for horses, live sport and a knees-up makes running one of the county's largest sporting venues great fun.


Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist.My artist would, of course, be George Stubbs, the finest painter of horses and animals from the 18th century. James Herriot opened my mind to the world of North Yorkshire as a child in Sussex. I am lucky enough to be in the countryside he wrote about and some of the characters one meets now are straight out of his books. Gervais Phinn continues in a similar vein and has added new meaning now we have children of our own.