Paul Champion
Paul’s interest in racing began with 50p each-way on Hallo Dandy in the 1984 Grand National, and he has been hooked ever since. He cut his teeth in the industry at Furlong Press in Sussex, working as a race-reader and handicapper for Superform for nearly five years. He joined Weatherbys in October 2003 and for three and a half years was the author of the National Hunt Season and Summer Festivals Betting Guides, as well as writing racecard editorials for the vast majority of British racecourses. He now works for Weatherbys Chase, the Point-to-Point arm of Weatherbys, as the senior Chase Co-Ordinator. He still keeps a close eye on all forms of racing, but Point-to-Pointing is his main passion, and as well as being an occasional race-reader for the official Form Book, he uses his deep knowledge of the amateur sport to successfully write the Hunter Chase Advisory Service.
James Cochrane
Local boy James grew up in the Northampton area and the Cobblers is where his football allegiance lies. With his family originally from London his Spurs colours are never too far away however. He studied Business and Sports management at Nottingham University and so Weatherbys was the logical next step for him. A keen follower of golf, he plays to a very respectable standard and it is this love of the sport that allows him to identify many juicy sized betting possibilities. From a sporting perspective there isn’t much James doesn’t have an opinion on, from basketball to volleyball, and is a fountain of knowledge on basically all sports. He can be found providing football and golf content for Bettrends, as well as being the man responsible for maintaining the site.
Andrew Dutton
Andrew grew up in Stourbridge and is a huge fan of horse racing, especially jump racing. His educational background is in Economics and at University he combined the two when writing his dissertation which led to the new University course of Economics and Gambling being established. After working for Ladbrokes and William Hill he joined Weatherbys in 1995 and is the Supervisor for the Racecourse Section. After writing several racecard editorials and being sub-editor of the Cheltenham Betting Guide, he set up the Horses To Follow Service in 2006 which has proved very successful and last season he led the Tote Jumps Ten to follow competition. As well as regularly contributing to the National Hunt Betting Guide he is a keen follower of football and tennis and loves getting involved in the Ante-Post markets in those sports
Gary Emmerson
From an early age, Gary Emmerson was destined for a career in sport. Born in Sunderland, he first stepped into the world of sports journalism as a 13-year-old reporting on local sport and, after graduating from the University of Bedfordshire in 2001, landed a roll as sports reporter and then news editor with the Collings Sport News Agency in Hertfordshire. Assignments involved covering Premier League Football, Premiership Rugby Union, ATP Tennis, Golden League Athletics as well as a regular stint on the Formula One circus for both national newspapers and international news agencies. He made the move into Horse Racing when joining Weatherbys in March 2005 as has worked in the racecard department since, compiling racecards for The Derby, Ebor Festival and Cheltenham Festival among others, while also writing Formula One and Football services for bettrends.
Ian Grimwood
Ian was born in Ealing, West London and has been a racing fan for as long as he can remember. He started his career in racing working for the trainer Dean Ivory in Radlett before moving to Middleham to take up the role as Racing Secretary for Mark Johnston. He joined the Weatherbys team in January 2007 and is the current author of the Summer Festivals Betting Guide as well as providing many of the countries racecourses with the editorials that go in their racecards. Flat racing is his real passion but he always makes sure that he is kept up to speed on both codes throughout the year
Neil Hubbard
Neil’s sporting enthusiasm was nurtured in the sleepy village of Weldon in Northamptonshire. He attended football matches from an early age and the mighty Posh (Peterborough Utd to all non-football people) are the apple of his eye. It wasn’t until his time at Leeds University that his love of racing began to manifest itself into something more than just a causal interest and after graduating from said university with a degree in European Politics (!) he set about following a career in the racing industry. He began at Weatherbys in May 2007, providing editorials for the majority of Britain’s racecourses. After his weekend preview package, ‘The Saturday Service’, proved successful during the last jumps season he was entrusted with the job of writing this year’s National Hunt Season Betting Guide.
Paul Jones
Paul Jones is a former editor of the Form-Book who is best recognised for pioneering the ‘Betting Guide’ series of publications back in 2000 and researching the statistics and writing all four books at that time. He now concentrates on his passion for jump racing and writes the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide and Aintree & Punchestown Festivals Betting Guide. In addition, Paul writes periodical trends-based articles for attheraces.co.uk, provides form guides for a selection of racecourses and supplies a hugely-successful Private Jumps Season Advisory Service that incorporates the Cheltenham Festival Ante-Post Portfolio Service that has secured massive profits for his subscribers over the last two seasons following a succession of big-priced winners advised often months in advance.
More from the bettrends Team
