A new Racing Manager has been appointed at Hamilton Park Racecourse, enhancing the venue’s executive team.

Sulekha Varma has lived and breathed horse racing for 12 years and has a deep understanding of modern racecourse management.

The 30-year-old will join Hamilton Park in January 2016, forming an integral part of the management team at the racecourse, which has enjoyed a very successful 2015 season.

Her new full-time role will include ongoing analysis and promotion of the race programme – with regular contact with the horsemen to establish and respond to their views on racing at Hamilton Park.

A University of Durham honours graduate, Sulekha joins the course with an impressive CV.

She has been Clerk of the Course at Jockey Club Racecourses’s Warwick and Huntingdon, tracks since January 2012. As Huntingdon has just been awarded with the Racecourse Association Groundstaff Award for Best National Hunt Racecourse, she will be used to the high standards already achieved at Hamilton Park where the team won the equivalent award for Flat racecourses in 2014.

Before that she held the same role at Market Rasen and Nottingham Racecourses, which are also part of The Jockey Club, from 2010 until 2012.

A graduate of the British Horseracing Board Development Programme she has also been Racing Manager at the Arabian Racing Organisation at Newbury Racecourse and Racing Secretary for Lucinda Russell, in Kinross.

She said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Hamilton Park Racecourse. I cannot wait to get started working alongside such an innovative and forward thinking team whilst being responsible for the strategic direction of the race programme. It is a real honour to be taking on this role at such a prestigious course.”

Vivien Kyles, Chief Executive at Hamilton Park Racecourse said: “We are delighted to have Sulekha on board and are very excited about what she will bring to the position.  Her appointment, and the enhanced, in-depth role she will play, are clear markers of where Hamilton Park Racecourse is headed as a top quality racing venue and as a business.  Sulekha will be on the ground in regular contact with horsemen. She will be able to listen to and respond to their views on racing at Hamilton Park and so help shape the strategic direction of the course.  We look forward to welcoming her to the team in January.”