Racing Victoria exec quits to start international 'spring horses' business

THE architect behind one of the most successful Melbourne Cups in decades and the man that lured the first Japanese horses to Australian shores has resigned as one of Racing Victoria's senior executives, reports The Age.It says: Leigh Jordan, who was general manager of racing operations with Racing Victoria, has decided to leave the organisation and take on the international recruitment of horses for the Melbourne spring carnival in a consultancy role. Jordan's shock decision will rob RVL of val

THE architect behind one of the most successful Melbourne Cups in decades and the man that lured the first Japanese horses to Australian shores has resigned as one of Racing Victoria's senior executives, reports The Age.

It says: Leigh Jordan, who was general manager of racing operations with Racing Victoria, has decided to leave the organisation and take on the international recruitment of horses for the Melbourne spring carnival in a consultancy role. Jordan's shock decision will rob RVL of valuable racing knowledge as he has worked for 25 years both with RVL and the Victorian Racing Club. His vast experience both domestically and internationally will be greatly missed.

His departure will leave a dearth of racing talent within the executive of RVL but according to Jordan his decision was based purely on a change of direction. ''This is an exciting venture, I'm going out on my own but RVL have been terribly supportive in allowing me to maintain the consultancy and as I look back we've had some exciting times in making the Melbourne Cup into one of the greatest races in the world,'' he said. ''But it's amazing, the feeling across Europe and Asia is that owners and trainers in those regions are now desperate to win our Melbourne Cup. They see it as the ultimate in horse racing across the world and it's my job to nurture those feelings to make the race even stronger.''

Initially, Jordan was the driving force behind the successful Vobis and Super Vobis incentive schemes, making the scheme one of the most successful in the southern hemisphere.