Undoubtedly this year's May racing carnival will be closely watched by people who wish to see jumps racing banned. What do you think of the pressure which you will be under as a club this year?

I can't do anything about the pressure and neither can the Warrnambool Racing Club. We understand that our carnival and any jumps races at other race meetings will be under scrutiny. I would say that scrutiny will continue in the future but we must improve the sport by not having as many falls.

The future of the sport is virtually in our hands and any other club which hosts a jumps meeting. We're confident the changes that are being implemented for this jumping season will be positive and should stop a lot of the accidents which have happened over the past few years.

What's the build-up been like to this year's event compared to other years?

I can't really comment on other years because I'm in a new role now but from what the staff say the vibes are very good. We've been answering a lot of enquiries from people regarding this year's carnival. We just hope that the enquiries turn into people turning up to enjoy three day's racing at Warrnambool in May.

You looked after the track for last year's carnival. How is it at this stage of the year leading into the 2010 carnival compared to last year?

The people working on the track are doing a great job. I would say we're in better shape this year than last year. We started watering in October last year, the previous year our watering started in September. The natural rainfall we had was great for the course and the surrounds in September last year. The spring rainfall enabled us to do a lot of renovation work on the track. We've had to change our rail placings for our race meetings in the lead-up to this year's carnival.

How many more meetings does the club have before this year's carnival?

We've got three more meetings. We will put the running rail out two metres for our February 22 meeting. It will then be out five metres for our March 9 meeting and eight metres for our April 6 meeting before going back to the true position for the carnival, which starts May 4.

John, why do you think Warrnambool trainers have so much success at race meetings which are run at Warrnambool?

I suppose there are a few reasons why that happens. The first one would be the trainers have access to the course proper each Tuesday. We usually have about 50 horses that gallop there on Tuesdays. I would say the general environment does wonders for horses in Warrnambool. A lot of horses are not suited to city life. We've got the sand track and the grass track plus Albert Park and three beaches. I think the variety keeps horses mentally fresh. Another thing would have to be the ambitious trainers. We're fortunate that we've got some very good skilful young trainers and when you mix them in with a few wiser heads you've got a great mix of trainers in Warrnambool.

Have you been in the ownership of any racehorses?

Yes. I've been lucky that I've had a bit of success as an owner. Craig Conron, who trains at Portarlington, has trained a few winners for me. I was in the ownership of Fluid Motion when he won at odds of 10-1 on the last day of the Warrnambool May Carnival in 1996. I've been very lucky that I've had three other horses that have won races at the May racing carnival. Craig loves targeting races at the Warrnambool carnival. We also had some luck with Geiger Queen winning at the carnival and so did General Feelgood but our biggest win was when Judusk won the Wangoom Handicap.

Judusk was a handy horse. How many wins did he have during his career?

He ended up winning 17 races. I think it's pretty obvious by his record that he is my favourite horse. We retired him but he's been bored in the paddock so he might come back as an eventing horse. Judusk won more than $335,000 in prizemoney for us. Apart from his win in the Wangoom Handicap he also notched up two wins at Moonee Valley, one at Sandown and one at Caulfield. He never raced until he was a four-year-old. We waited until he was mature. Giving him the time to mature meant he could run until he was a 10-year-old.

What would be your working highlight in racing?

That would have to be when I was the racecourse manager for the old Victoria Amateur Turf Club. The club wanted to have 45 race meetings a year at the Sandown racecourse.

I worked on the project which saw the Sandown racecourse have two tracks developed. There's the Lakeside track and the Hillside track. It was an exciting project to work on. As well as working on the Sandown redevelopment I also had to look after 20 race meetings which were run at Caulfield.

John, when did your career start as a racecourse manager?

I started as a trainee racecourse manager at Sandown in 1979 and stayed there until I finished my traineeship in 1984. I then went up to Caloundra (in Queensland) as racecourse manager for 12 months before having a break. I went and worked at Caulfield in 1989 before taking over the assistant racing manager role at Caulfield for two years from 1991. I then filled various roles at Caulfield and Sandown before having a five-year break from 2003 and then picked up the job at Warrnambool in 2008.