Wilf Walsh poised to join Racing Authority board as independent director

Former Coral managing director Wilf Walsh is expected to be named shortly as senior independent director of the Racing Authority, the body set to take over the Levy Board's distribution role from April.

As part of his role Walsh will also chair the Betting Liaison Group set up under the umbrella of the authority with the intention of growing betting on British horseracing.

Walsh, the chief executive of Carpetright, was managing director of Coral for eight years until 2008 and returned to be a non-executive director of the Gala Coral group for a further six years until the merger with Ladbrokes.