William Andrew Picken OAM (born 5 May 1950) is an Australian horse racing executive. He served as chairman of the Sydney Turf Club (STC) from 2008 until its merger in 2010 with the Australian Jockey Club (AJC). [1]
Picken attended Newington College (1958–1967), commencing as a preparatory school student in Wyvern House. [2]
He joined the STC in 1988. He was elected to the board in 1998 and has served as Honorary Treasurer from 2003 to 2004 and Vice Chairman from 2005 to 2008. In December 2008 he was elected Chairman. [3] Picken has a long association with the racing industry and has successfully raced and bred horses. He was also member of the AJC and is a Councillor of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales (RAS). He has been Ringmaster at the Sydney Royal Easter Show on numerous occasions since 2007. [4]
In 2022, Picken received the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to horse racing. [5] [6]
Thoroughbred horse racing is an important spectator sport in Australia, and gambling on horse races is a very popular pastime with A$14.3 billion wagered in 2009/10 with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). The two forms of Thoroughbred horseracing in Australia are flat racing, and races over fences or hurdles in Victoria and South Australia. Thoroughbred racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules football and rugby league, with almost two million admissions to 360 registered racecourses throughout Australia in 2009/10. Horseracing commenced soon after European settlement, and is now well-appointed with automatic totalizators, starting gates and photo finish cameras on nearly all Australian racecourses.
Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing located in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse is Crown Land leased to the Australian Turf Club and known to many Sydney racegoers as headquarters. The racecourse is located about six kilometres from the Sydney Central Business District in the suburb of Randwick. The course proper has a circumference of 2224m with a home straight of 410m.
Newington College is a multi-campus independent Uniting Church single-sex and co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Stanmore, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1863 at Newington House, Silverwater, the college celebrated its sesquicentenary in 2013. The college is open to boys of all faiths and denominations. Newington has been governed by an Act of Parliament since 1922.
Vain was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse that dominated Australian sprint racing in the period 1968–70, when he won 12 of the 14 races he contested and ran second in the other two. He went on to become a leading sire in Australia.
The Australian Derby is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds at set weights held at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia in April, during the Autumn ATC Championships Carnival. The race is considered to be the top ranked event for three-year-olds in Australian and New Zealand race classifications.
Arthur William Morrow was an Australian physician and specialist in gastroenterology. He served terms as president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and of the Australian Club.
Flight (1940–1953) was an Australian Thoroughbred racemare that was the highest stakes winning mare in Australasia. Her courageous efforts made her a crowd favourite during the post World War II era and she had victories over some of the great horses of the time including Shannon, Bernborough, Royal Gem and Russia.
Sky High was an outstanding Australian Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Some of his major race victories include the 1960 STC Golden Slipper Stakes, 1960 VRC Derby, 1961 and 1962 VRC Lightning Stakes and the 1961 AJC Epsom Handicap.
Shannon (1941–1955), named Shannon II in America, was an outstanding Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He created new racecourse records in Australia before he was sold to an American buyer who exported him to California in 1948. There Shannon equalled the world record of 1:473⁄5 for the nine furlongs in winning the Forty Niner Handicap Stakes, then one week later equalled the world record of 1:594⁄5 for a mile and a quarter. Shannon was named the 1948 American Champion Older Male Horse. At stud in America he proved to be a good sire.
Phillip Peter Dutton, OAM is an Australian-born Olympic-level equestrian rider competing in eventing for the United States of America. He is a dual Olympic gold medalist who formerly competed for his country of birth but now competes for the USA.
Bruce Albert Edward Skeggs was a longstanding Australian Victorian Parliamentarian who was equally famous for his career as a race-caller. He was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1973 to 1982, representing Ivanhoe. He was the Liberal member of the Legislative Council from 1988 to 1996, representing Templestowe Province.
William Elliot Veitch Robson was an Australian parliamentarian and businessman.
Wyvern House is one of the two independent Uniting Church single-sex primary day schools for boys of Newington College, that is located at 115 Cambridge Street, Stanmore, an Inner West suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The other primary school is located at Lindfield, on Sydney's North Shore. Both schools are commonly called preparatory schools.
Encosta De Lago was an Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse that won three group races from eight starts including the Group One (G1), Vic Health Cup against older horses. He was the Leading sire in Australia during 2008 and 2009.
James Jonathan Chapman is an Australian former national, Olympic representative and Olympic medal winning rower.
Australian Turf Club (ATC) owns and operates thoroughbred racing, events and hospitality venues across Sydney, Australia. The ATC came into being on 7 February 2011 when the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) and the Sydney Turf Club (STC) merged. The ATC primarily operates out of their offices at Randwick Racecourse and employs approximately 270 full-time staff and over 1,000 casual staff across the five venues. The venues include Randwick, Rosehill Gardens, Canterbury Park, Warwick Farm and the Rosehill Bowling Club.
John Egan Moulton was an Australian medical practitioner. He was Chairman of the NSW Institute of Sports Medicine at Concord Hospital, team doctor of the Australian national rugby union team and Honorary Secretary of the Council of Newington College. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Moulton was honoured by his nation with the award of the Medal of the Order of Australia for his "service to surgery and medical education particularly in relation to sports medicine."
Zephyr Bay was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion.
Reg Inglis is a bloodstock agent in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Inglis family have been prominent as bloodstock agents since the nineteenth century.