Executive Director

Gary Crispe is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Racing and Sports ('RAS'). As a youngster Gary regularly attended race meetings. His family had been involved in racing as owners, trainers and jockeys. While the industry was in his blood, he never envisaged it would become his profession.

Attending university, Gary trained as a engineer, gaining degrees in civil engineering and economics. He then worked in Queensland for 14 years, as senior planning and design civil engineer in road and airport design

In late 1981, his career took an unexpected turn. He gained entry into one of the world's premier learning institutions, Harvard University in Boston, to study for a Masters Degree - an opportunity of a lifetime. Yet he had come to the realisation that racing - and in particular race form analysis - was his life's passion, and decided to make it his profession.

Within months, Gary moved to Canberra, joining forces with Warren Block and the late Don Scott as racing manager and chief handicapper of Superform.

In conjunction with the legendary Scott, Gary prepared the class standards for inclusion in Scott's many land-mark books, Winning More, The Winning Way and Winning In The 90's. He also prepared form and ratings analysis chapters for these books, and was much sought after to give lectures on the emerging art of race handicapping.

In 1987, together with Block, Gary developed the ground-breaking national weekly racing newspaper The Wizard Formguide, where he was the chief handicapper. He later worked on the development of the Daily Form Service covering thoroughbreds, harness and greyhound racing.

Until June 2002, Gary also prepared Computercard and Mr. Magic assessments carried weekly by major national newspapers.

In 1998 Gary co-founded Racing and Sports Ltd with IT professional Robert Vilkaitis, and they established the acclaimed Racing and Sports website. The free site has developed into a foremost thoroughbred form resource - with associated analytical tools - servicing all significant racing centres globally.

Reflecting his status as a pre-eminent racing analyst and thinker, in 2000 Gary was approached and joined the iconic global ratings agency Timeform as their Australian handicapper, and more recently was appointed head of Timeform Australia. In that role, he is responsible for overseeing the expansion of the Timeform brand in Australia.

Also, in 2009, Racing NSW sought Gary's assistance to overhaul its official handicapping process. This resulted in the design and implementation of the benchmark handicapping process now widely adopted throughout Australia and in other countries. Gary remains a consultant to Racing NSW and advises on the merit of individual overseas thoroughbred performance.

As racing expands globally, Gary has taken the RAS business model with it. The Company anticipated the emergence of Asia as a racing and wagering powerhouse, and Gary has been heavily involved assisting the Singapore Turf Club to grow its international brand. He races horses in Singapore and in 2014 was the recipient of the club's "English Media Award", for services to Singapore racing.

Gary attends many of the major international racing carnivals, including Royal Ascot, and his interviews and reports are conveyed, often in real time, through the Racing and Sports website.

He's an in-demand media commentator and panellist, and his form and industry analysis has graced mediums including: SKY Racing, RSN, ABC Radio National, Timeform Global, and the BBC, as well as national newspapers and racing industry publications.

In predicting future trends in thoroughbred racing and wagering communication, Gary lives by the adage, "look, listen and learn". He says this is no better illustrated than by travelling on the London tube. Where once the newspaper was king, today tablets and smart phones are "where the audience is".

He says, however, there is still no substitute for a quality free website and quality content. These remain at the core of how Racing and Sports creates, delivers, and captures value, and are the foundations of digital publishing success.

More recently Gary has joined the Racing Australia Hall Of Fame Judging Committee and contributes to other Racing Australia Committees.