Simon Bazalgette

Simon Bazalgette (born 28 March 1962)^[1] is chief executive of The Jockey Club, which runs 15 UK racecourses including Cheltenham, Aintree, Epsom and Newmarket, and other assets such as The National Stud. Governed by Royal Charter, with a turnover of £150.3m in 2012,^[2] The Jockey Club is the largest commercial group in British horse racing. He is also chairman of Jockey Club Racecourses^[3] and The Grubb Institute.

Bazalgette is often described in the media as the 'most powerful man' in British horse racing.^[4][5][6] He features in The Times Power 100 of the most influential people in sport.^[7]

He is the great great grandson of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who designed London's sewer system, and the cousin of Big Brother creator, Sir Peter Bazalgette.^[8]

Between 2004 and 2008, Bazalgette ran Racing UK, the media rights management company and satellite TV channel, as its founding executive chairman.^[9] From 1993 and 2003, he was one of the founding directors of digital broadcast network, Music Choice Europe, becoming chief executive in 1999.^[10] Under his leadership, Music Choice Europe reached more than 14 million subscribers across Europe and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2000.^[11] Prior to that Bazalgette worked at KPMG for 10 years as both a chartered accountant and management consultant specialising in media and entertainment businesses.^[12]

Bazalgette was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. He attended Thames Valley Grammar School in Twickenham and Richmond upon Thames College before reading mathematics at Warwick University, where he graduated in 1983.^[13] He is a supporter of Brentford FC.^[14]

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