Award-winning journalist Nicholas Godfrey has been appointed as the new editor of the renowned international horse racing website Thoroughbred Racing Commentary (TRC) and its sister publication Gallop magazine.
London-based Godfrey, founding editor of the Horse Racing Planet website and a former deputy editor of the Racing Post, takes over at TRC/Gallop on February 1, succeeding Chris Smith, who is retiring. Smith has been with TRC since it began publishing in January 2014 and has been editor since August 2015.
The website is the home of the TRC Global Rankings, the industry’s only computer system providing rankings of all horses, jockeys, owners, trainers and sires competing in Group/Graded races around the world.
Godfrey, a past winner of the Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding Writing at the Breeders’ Cup, has worked in racing journalism for more than 30 years, during which time he has reported on the sport from North and South America, the Middle East, the Far East, South Africa and Australia, covering Breeders’ Cups and Kentucky Derbys, Dubai World Cups, the Saudi Cup, Japan Cups, The Championships in Sydney and the Melbourne Spring Carnival – plus all the big events across Europe.
He is the author of two books about his extensive travels around the world’s racecourses, Postcards from the World of Horse Racing and On the Racing Road, in which he writes about his experiences in 39 different racing nations.
He has been a regular contributor to both TRC and Gallop since 2018. Godfrey said: “I am delighted to be taking over at the helm of Thoroughbred Racing Commentary and Gallop, both of which already thoroughly reflect my area of interest and professional expertise, which is top-level international horseracing.
"I am also a strong advocate for the TRC Global Rankings, which I feel offer a vastly more accurate assessment than any traditional handicapping methods via a constantly updating chart of achievement akin to well-established rankings in other sports, such as tennis and golf.
“Alongside colleagues Jon Lees and Robin Gibson, I have covered similar ground to TRC since setting up Horse Racing Planet following a long career at the Racing Post and I am keen to transfer some of those ideas across. To that end, Jon is also joining the team at TRC, which will be a huge benefit.
“Chris, of course, is the hardest of acts to follow and he hands over TRC and Gallop in excellent shape – but I can’t wait to get cracking!”
TRC president and founder Charles Hayward, a former president and CEO at the New York Racing Association and previously Daily Racing Form, said: “Our company would not have established our international reputation without Chris Smith’s editorial instincts, his leadership and the respect of journalists around the globe. I write regular columns for TRC and they show significant improvement once they have taken a spin through Chris’s computer. We will really miss him, but I sincerely thank him for recruiting Nick Godfrey to succeed him as the editor of TRC.
“Nick and Chris worked together at the Racing Post and Nick went on to launch Horse Racing Planet and has been a regular contributor to TRC since November 2018. He has a tremendous reputation as a first-class international Thoroughbred racing expert.
“We will truly miss Chris Smith and his experience and skill, but we are fortunate to have Nick join the TRC executive team.”
Smith, a former editor of the Racing Post, described Godfrey as “the perfect replacement”.
“I couldn’t be happier that Nick is taking over,” he said. “Not only is he an all-round journalist of outstanding quality, he is a close follower of the sport internationally, particularly in the United States, which is crucial for TRC.
“He has developed a superb resource in Horse Racing Planet over the past two years, and he will bring some of the great innovations he made there with him to TRC, which can only strengthen the site’s offering. I will give him all the help and support I can as he gets to grips with the job over the coming weeks.”
Smith said he has mixed feelings about leaving TRC. “I’ve had a wonderful eight years here, working with some tremendous people. It’s been one of the most enjoyable and satisfying jobs of my career. But that career has gone on long enough now and it’s time for me to take it a bit easier.”
He said his highlight was the relaunch of Gallop after TRC acquired the glossy quarterly in 2018. “The designer, Dave Gibson, and I have worked with some fantastic writers from different parts of the world and produced a publication that I can say with absolute confidence is the best general-interest horseracing magazine of its kind you’ll see anywhere. It’s been a real thrill to have played a part.”