Who has been the biggest inspiration in your career?
JS: My first job in racing is the one I'm in now so Jimmy George has been my boss and biggest influence on my career for more than 20 years now. Whilst he's taught me a lot, I cannot name him as his head will explode.
A couple of years before I started work at Tatts I was running a very amateur website on Australian racing and breeding and Susan Archer, who was working for the NZTBA at the time, offered great encouragement and gave me the confidence to pursue my dream of working in racing. Susan and her husband Michael bred the legendary Sunline and were integral in setting up the NZTBA's Sunline Scholarship which has given so many young racing enthusiasts a leg up into the industry. A lot of people will know Susan through her work at the NZTBA and more recently at Arrowfield Stud and I'm sure I'm not the only one to been given a helping hand by her.
What's the best advice you've been given?
JS: I was once at a talk given by Sir Mark Prescott who said that to remember that racing was just horses running around a field. I hope I haven't misquoted him, and it may sound a strange thing to say it is the best advice I've been given. Racing and breeding can be all-consuming, and I think it's essential to have interests outside racing and to be able to get away from it every now and then. I think it only makes you appreciate it more.
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