Jockey Club CEO heads towards celebrating a Golden Anniversary of racing leadership at Callaghan Park.

The Chairman and Committee of the Rockhampton Jockey Club have extended the tenure of Chief Executive Officer David Aldred through to the end of the decade.

Mr. Aldred, who took up the CEO position in 2023, is now entering his third term with the Club and the RJC Committee has happily provided the highly experienced operator with the extension to his current agreement.

“The extension will mark a significant milestone in racing for David, who will achieve 50 years of full-time senior management service for the racing industry, and that’s a tremendous achievement,” RJC chairman Mr. Rob Carr said.

“The committee decision was unanimous, and we are very lucky that David has decided to continue as our CEO and to lead our Club.

“With David continuing in the top role it provides the RJC, our members and participants with stability and certainty, and the management committee will continue to support him as he guides us forward.”

A racing industry, management and media multi-award winner, Mr. Aldred has been a prominent contributor to racing for a long time.

Starting in management in 1979, he was one of horse racing’s youngest General Manager’s ever to be appointed, the following year at the Mackay Harness Racing Club. A qualified journalist, long standing newspaper columnist and former press and magazine editor, TV and Radio sports show host, sports commentator and race caller, Mr. Aldred has worked in the capital cities of most states of Australia and overseas in Canada, carving out a remarkable career in the racing industry and media in senior management positions.

“He has worked hard to achieve what he has, over many, many, years, and we are both fortunate and proud to have a person with David’s experience, knowledge, skills and versatility running the Club,” Mr. Carr said.

Lifetime in Racing

At the start of the 1990s, Mr. Aldred concentrated on building his career in top-level racing industry management and was appointed to his first CEO and Board positions while still in his 30s. Over the past three decades he has represented the three codes of racing on different Boards and held CEO and Executive Director positions in Queensland, Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Canada, and General Manager positions in Queensland, Tasmania, New South Wales, and Victoria.

In these positions Mr. Aldred has seen, managed and led some great changes and improvements in racing management and been part of the sport’s progression, particularly in the areas of wagering, broadcasting, club operations, infrastructure and safety.

“I think I have been fortunate to be part of and lead some amazing changes for the better and I have been able to do it wherever I have worked in racing,” Mr. Aldred said.

“When I first started in racing there was no computers, no internet, no digital media, no Sky Racing, no Tabcorp, no sports betting and no corporate bookmakers. “Racing’s wagering was a government run, non-privatised-TAB agency. “The radio, newspapers and limited TV coverage were really the only services punters had to be kept informed; things were very different back then.

“I’ve been fortunate to see and be part of the evolution of racing and its transformation into the fabulous product we have today.”

It all started at Callaghan Park

Attending his first ever race meeting at Callaghan Park at the age of three and starting primary school in Rockhampton at The Hall and Leichhardt Ward State Schools, Mr. Aldred believes having the opportunity to finish his career with the RJC will complete a full circle.

“I was watching horse racing at Callaghan Park when I was a preschooler, which stimulated a lifelong love for racing, so to now be in charge of the track where it all started, at the end of my career is something that I will always treasure,” he said.

Mr. Aldred added that he is very proud of his team at Callaghan Park racecourse and the direction that the Club is going.

“The RJC committee has recently finalised elements of the new masterplan for Callaghan Park, and I am confident that some of the work to ensure Rockhampton racing’s future is secured long term can be completed during my time at the Club,” Mr. Aldred said.

“The short-and long-term plans that the Committee has for the racecourse are exciting, and we all want to see them all come to fruition one day, so I will be doing whatever I can to make the Club’s vision a reality.”

• On behalf of the Chairman and Committee of the Rockhampton Jockey Club