THERE was a time when Hazel Peplinski harboured ambitions of becoming a jockey. Those plans may not quite have panned out but that is something the Scot is not too disheartened about - she is, after all, now one of the most influential women on the British horse racing scene.
Peplinski has recently celebrated her second anniversary as chief executive of Perth Racecourse and with the racing season beginning on Wednesday with the three-day Perth Festival, the final preparations are in the process of being made.
Peplinski is an old hand at this though, and has made her name as one of the most focused and capable individuals in the business.
This is quite a feat, considering that horse racing has, in the past at least, been significantly male-dominated. But for Peplinski, who was a farmer’s daughter in West Lothian and grew up around horses, it seemed a logical step to begin working in the sport.
After beginning her career in sports promotions and PR, Peplinski became chief executive of Hamilton Racecourse in 1993 at the absurdly young age of 27. She denies the achievement was quite as grand as it sounds though.
“At that time when I joined at Hamilton, it was a very small operation,” she recalls.
“On my first day, I asked: ‘who am I chiefing?’, and there was nobody, not a soul other than me and the ground staff.”
Peplinski remained undeterred and set about growing the business. There was though, she admits, the occasional double take at this young woman who was certainly not the norm when it came to heading up a racecourse. “I was quite a novelty – and other people would look at me slightly differently,” she said.
“At that time, it was still very male dominated and much of the sport was run by military and army men so I was definitely a bit different.
“For me, it wasn’t the fact that I was a woman that was daunting or intimidating, I was much more intimidated about not being of the right ilk in the professional world.”
Peplinski has not, she says, always been wildly ambitious although she admits that even from her teenage years when she was a young athlete, she possessed a wealth of leadership qualities that have stood her in good stead for her life as a businesswoman. But from an early age, she was, it seems, always destined to be at the top.
“I did a lot of team sports and I always ended up in a leadership role and not particularly because I was the best at the sport so it must have been something else,” she said.
“I was captaining the Scottish lacrosse team in Australia in 1989 and I remember thinking: ‘why am I captaining this team when there are so many more talented players on the pitch?’ But often ended up as captain and I liked being in that role.
“I do wonder if that’s innate to me – or maybe I’m just a very determined person. I’m very focused and I won’t let any obstacles get in the way and that applies to sport and business.
“I feel like I fell into my role as chief executive in a lot of ways. But people say I am pretty adamant and direct and I think that as you get older, that strengthens because I think you come to trust your gut instinct even more. But in my younger years, I never had too much pride to ask so I was able to recognise my shortcomings.”
Peplinski’s move to Perth is already paying dividends. This season will see the highest prize money ever awarded at the course, with the total purse over the season totalling £1.25 million as well as an extra Saturday having been added to the calendar.
Much of Peplinski’s success is down to her laser-focused vision about what direction she wants to take the course in. By concentrating on the racing, she believes Perth Racecourse will continue to go from strength to strength. And what is particularly pleasing for Peplinski is that no longer are women in the business looked at as a novelty.
“We’re going back to focusing on the core product which is the racing and we’ve worked hard on getting the calendar right,” she said of the plans for the course.
“It’s about getting the basics right. I like to lead by example and I don’t get the impression that young females in this sport and business feel discriminated against. That’s great to see and the question of equality just isn’t an issue for me any more.”
For more information on Perth Racecourse’s 2018 season, which starts with the three-day Perth Festival from the 25 April, visit perth-races.co.uk
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