Greg O’Connor calls time on Trackside

By Dave Di Somma - Harness News Desk

After nearly a decade at Trackside Greg O’Connor has made the big call – to take redundancy.

The Christchurch-based 47 year old, who is the face of harness racing coverage in this country, says a move away from having presenters on-course prompted him to re-assess his future in the job.

“Sitting in a studio isn’t for me,” says O’Connor, “I love getting out there and tell the stories of the industry and if I am not doing that a lot of the joy of the job is gone.”

O’Connor will officially farewell the job in about three weeks. In August he would have been marked 10 years in the job.

“I am a little sad but that’s the reality and I have to move forward.”

O’Connor’s impending departure follows a major re-structure at the Racing Industry Transition Agency which has seen the departure of a number of key personnel including journalist Michael Guerin and noted tipster Craig “The Whale” Thompson.

As part of a major cost-cutting exercise RITA has recently decided to drastically reduce the number of meetings where presenters will be on-course and also culled a number of shows including the popular “Box Seat” which O’Connor fronted with Guerin.

A father of two teenagers O’Connor hopes to devote more time to them and to the stables run by his wife Karen, who has a team of ten horses.

As for his future in the industry O’Connor says he’s keeping an open mind.

“I love racing , always have and always will.”