The new general manager at Muswellbrook Race Club may have had to use her phone for directions to Skellatar Park on her first day in office this week, but there is no question she knows her way around a race club.
Christine Williams is an experienced race club administrator having previously run Lismore Turf Club and the Murrumbidgee Turf Club in Wagga Wagga, and before that she worked as a racing journalist in Sydney.
“I grew up in a racing family, I used to ride horses, worked as a stable hand, that sort of thing,” she shared.
“I spent the last four years working with Racing New South Wales, the governing body, I still had my full-time job with Cancer Council and I worked with Racing New South Wales on race days as a judge, clerk of the scales, swabbing steward, whatever they want me to do.”
Being such an all-rounder in the industry, having done basically everything in the racing industry except being a jockey, will be a tremendous asset to Muswellbrook Race Club.
When discussing what drew her to apply for the position, Christine said she did a lot of research about the area and the club, with the manicured grounds, 18 race meetings a year and the $4.2 million grant to upgrade Silks Function Centre all drawcards.
“It’s going good as it is, but the potential for such a picturesque race club, in a town that’s obviously healthy from manufacturing and mining, and then this new function center, everything’s looking forward and I like that,” she told The Hunter River Times.
There are still details to be confirmed before the Silks renovation can start, but that hasn’t hindered Christine’s goal to get Muswellbrook Race Club another NSW Country TAB Race Club of the Year award, which it has previously been awarded on two occasions.
To achieve this, there will be a continued focus on cohesion with all parties involved.
“We all make our money on that same patch of grass, it doesn’t matter what side of the fence you are on, so let’s work to work together towards the same common goal,” Christine concluded.
