Our Board of Stewards

Dido Harding became our Senior Steward in July 2024. This means she chairs The Jockey Club’s main board, which sets the strategic direction of the organisation and oversees our executive functions.

Dido has been on the Board of Stewards since the end of 2017, having been appointed a Member of The Jockey Club in 2004. She is a Peer in the House of Lords and sits on the Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee. She was Deputy Chair of the Court of the Bank of England; is a Board Member of MyAgro, a West Africa-based social enterprise providing saving schemes for farmers; a Member of the Advisory Board for The Fore Trust, a charitable trust that supports early stage social enterprises and charities; a non-executive director of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation.

Until October 2021 she was Chair of NHS Improvement and played a central role in the UK’s Covid response as Executive Chair of NHS Test and Trace. She was previously Chief Executive of TalkTalk Telecom Group plc, having held senior and customer-focused executive roles at Sainsbury’s plc and Tesco plc. Previously she served on the Board of The British Land Company plc, was a racecourse committee member at The Jockey Club’s Cheltenham Racecourse and was a director of Racecourse Holdings Trust, which was later rebranded Jockey Club Racecourses.

Harding’s racing interests have included more than 25 career wins as an amateur jockey and owning Cool Dawn, the winner of the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup. She was appointed as a Member of The Jockey Club in 2004.

Teddy Grimthorpe was appointed to our Board of Stewards in December 2020, as Deputy Senior Steward. He is currently Chairman of The National Stud and Racing Manager to Imad Al Sagar.

One of the most respected figures in British Racing, Teddy was Racing Manager to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah and Juddmonte for 22 years, where he became synonymous with some of the leading racehorses ever to grace the Turf, including the world’s highest-ever rated racehorse, Frankel, and two-time Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, Enable.

He was also Chairman of the York Race Committee for nine years and was appointed as a Member of The Jockey Club in 2007.

William Rucker was appointed to our Board of Stewards in December 2020. He brings a wealth of experience of financial markets, corporate finance and business strategy to The Jockey Club and is currently Chair of Lazard in the UK, Martson’s plc and the UK Dementia Research Institute as well as being one of the two founders of Flint Housing, a private provider of new affordable rent and shared ownership homes in England.

Previously he chaired Crest Nicholson plc and Quintain Estates and Developments plc and Bizspace Ltd, was a non-executive of Rentokil Initial plc, and was a racecourse committee member at The Jockey Club’s Cheltenham Racecourse.

William is a racehorse owner and Trustee of the Racing Foundation. He was appointed as a Member of The Jockey Club in 2013.

Tim Syder was appointed to our Board of Stewards in December 2019 following a successful 30-year career in private equity. A chartered accountant by training, Tim co-founded Electra Partners, a specialist investor in medium-sized unquoted companies.

He was appointed chair(man) of the JC’s Finance Review Committee in 2023 and was formerly a non-executive director of the racehorse training grounds and land management arm, Jockey Club Estates, and a racecourse committee member at Epsom Downs Racecourse.

His racing interests include Jumps horses in training with a number of NH trainers including Emma Lavelle. He was appointed as a Member of The Jockey Club in 2016.

Carolyn Warren was appointed to the Board of Stewards in December 2021.

She is one of the leading racehorse breeders in Britain as a Director of Highclere Stud, which she ran in partnership with her husband, John Warren, who was Bloodstock and Racing Advisor to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

They have bred, reared and consigned many top performers including recent world champion miler, Palace Pier. Carolyn was also responsible for running the Highclere Sales Consignment business, leading the vendors table on numerous occasions at both Tattersalls and Goffs UK. Carolyn was appointed a Member of The Jockey Club in 2005.

William Wyatt was appointed to the Board of Stewards in December 2021.

He brings a professional lifetime of management, corporate finance and investment experience and is currently Chief Executive of Caledonia Investments plc, as well as Chair of Real Estate Investors, a non-executive director of Cobehold and a Trustee of the Rank Foundation charity.

He and his family breed predominantly Flat racehorses at Dukes Stud near Newmarket and have a number of Flat horses in training. William is Chair of The Jockey Club’s Newmarket Racecourses, having been on the racecourse committee since 2015. He was elected as a Member of The Jockey Club in 2016.

William Sporborg was appointed to the Board of Stewards in January 2023.

A former amateur jockey, Newmarket based Sporborg is a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge University and a chartered accountant.

William has worked in private equity, venture capital and private companies over the last thirty years, and is currently Managing Partner at Managing Capital LLP.

William has also served on the racecourse committees at Huntingdon and Newmarket almost continuously since 2003.

Sam Waley-Cohen was appointed to our Board of Stewards in January 2024, having been elected as a Member of The Jockey Club at the end of 2017. Sam has also been a member of the Finance Review Committee of The Jockey Club since 2020 and was a Trustee of the Injured Jockey Fund from 2012-2021.

In 2009 he founded Portman Dental Care and is Group CEO. Portman Healthcare International Group is the UK and Europe’s second largest provider of dental care and currently has over 450 dental practices across the UK, Ireland, France, and the Benelux.

Sam was also the pre-eminent amateur Jump jockey of his generation in the UK, riding 75 British winners over jumps, plus one on the Flat. Among that total were four successes at the Cheltenham Festival, including the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup, two wins of the King George VI chase at Kempton Park and seven victories over the Grand National fences at Aintree.