Brighton days led to a lifetime of pictures

What is your earliest racing memory?
When I was a business undergraduate at Brighton Polytechnic in the mid-1970s. I recall regularly missing statistics and nipping to the races, where I stood among 20 bookies midway down the straight outside the course. The horses flashed past, everyone cheered but never knew whether they were on the winner for ages.

When did you first know you’d become a photographer?
When I went to Brighton in 1979. I had purchased a Nikon FE and a Chinese man approached me asking if I was an official photographer. Of course I wasn’t but for some reason I said yes. He asked me to photograph his horse as his trainer thought it would win. I recall its form line was a row of zeroes. The horse was called Chinese Kung Fu and it won at 33-1. The owner ran down and practically dragged me into the winner's enclosure to take more photos. His name was Bill Tang, a successful businessman and restaurateur who became a friend.

Who has been the greatest influence on your career?
Dick Hern and his wife Sheilah, Lady Tavistock and the management at United Racecourses, namely Tim Neligan and Robert Browse.