It is with great delight that we report the promotion of ‘Romford Rob’ Abrey to the position as Racing Manager at Hove.
The nephew of a leading owner at Romford, Rob joined the Racing Office under the supervision of the highly rated Peter O’Dowd, and working alongside ARC’s recently appointed Senior Racing Manager Paul Illingworth.
Rob spent a spell in the Corals Head Office in Barking before returning to racing office duties at Hove, originally under Peter Miller and more recently under Daniel Rankin.
Throughout most of that time – with a short gap – Rob has made magnificent contribution to the Star through his weekly Rob’s Romford Round-Up column. The project was his idea, and rather than simply concentrate on big name stars, Rob set out to unearth untapped potential with many of his guests, trainers who would seldom make the headlines.
In announcing Rob’s promotion, Entain’s Leo Walker said: “Rob has a wealth of experience after working in the racing offices at Romford and Hove for many years and pure passion for the sport that comes across in abundance. He has the support from the Hove Racing Office, our Hove Stadia team, all of us here at Entain and I’m sure the wider industry, to achieve success in his new role.
“It always gives me the greatest of pleasures when you are able to recruit from within and reward hardworking, talented individuals like Rob. A well-deserved promotion'”
Rob himself responded: “I’m really pleased to have been given this chance to become Racing Manager at Hove. It’s a track steeped in history and I’m very much looking forward to being part of its next chapter.
“I have a brilliant and experienced team behind me that will help make the transition from Assistant Manager to Racing Manager a smoother journey. I have the trainers support and look forward to working with them from a Racing Managers perspective.”
Understandably, Rob’s appointment means that he will be giving up his ‘Round Up’ column.
While disappointed for the Star, I am personally delighted that such a decent enthusiastic young guy has taken such an important step in his life. When Kim Sanzone and Peter O’Dowd first recommended Rob for the column, he was a shy single guy with a huge enthusiasm for greyhound racing and greyhound people.
He is now settled down with a family of his own but his enthusiasm and decency has never changed. He now has more than a decade of racing office experience.
It is unconfirmed that he will now spend a week in racing manager school learning to roll his eyes, shake his head in disbelief, and generally mutter under his breath, but we wish him the very best for the future.
A fabulous appointment!
Floyd Amphlett – Editor.
