Lee Mottershead pays tribute to a legend of the Racing Post reporting team who retired on Wednesday
THE final scoop has been scooped. Wrongdoers will breathe a sigh of relief, for after nearly two decades Wednesday is the last Racing Post edition to include the byline of Graham Green, who has retired following a career in which he indisputably proved himself to be racing’s premier newshound.
You almost certainly would not recognise Green if you saw him. Truth be told, neither would we. Save for a few exceptions, only a handful of journalism’s elder statesmen have met him but, incognito and surrounded by a plume of cigarette smoke, he has long been the master of unearthing stories whose central characters would have preferred they stayed unearthed.
“My badge of honour is I’ve had more stories vetted by lawyers than anyone else at the Racing Post – but I’ve never been sued,” says Green, who began his working life upsetting the matriarch of a gangster family. That set a trend.
“I tended to write most of the corruption stories,” he says. “I’ve often said I built my career on the back of John McCracken. After he was banned he used to phone me up, claiming to be someone else, revealing John McCracken would be at Plumpton that day. McCracken would duly turn up.”
Green, however, has not been racing for many a year, yet he was once a racecourse regular and also worked as agent to Walter Swinburn, Alan Munro and Darryll Holland. More recently, trainers or jockeys receiving one of his calls have all thought the same thing – what have I done wrong? Even those who had done nothing wrong.
But the king of investigative journalism – once told after filling a Racing Post laptop with fag ash he had “smoked it to death” – could have been lost to print reporting had a potential broadcasting switch not been scuppered.
“I was approached to work for Roger Cook at the BBC,” he recalls. “I was sent for a voice test but failed. I was told I sounded effeminate.
“The pleasure for me has come from digging out stories no-one else had. On the phone I can get people to talk to me. A lot of people tell me things because they know I’ve always respected confidences.”
'One of a kind'
Many of Green’s dealings have inevitably been with the BHA, principally in recent years with media manager Robin Mounsey, who says: “When Graham’s number flashed up – which was often several times a day – you always knew two things: firstly you were going to be put on the spot as his exceptional network of intelligence would have picked up a prime nugget or two; secondly, you would be dealt with in a fair and trustworthy manner, and with his customary chuntering sense of humour, which brought us all great amusement.
“He may have caused us a few headaches over the years but Graham will be greatly missed. He is one of a kind and deserves a long, happy retirement.”
Racing Post editor Bruce Millington agrees. He says: “It is probably unusual for an editor to have worked with his main story-getter for eight years without having met him, but that’s how Graham liked it so it was fine by me too.
“I don’t need to have shaken his hand to be able to appreciate what a superb operator he was. With an unrivalled network of contacts, an unquenchable desire to nail stories and a willingness to ask anyone the toughest question Graham has been a phenomenal reporter for many decades.
“Whether he was trying to uncover corruption or reporting on some heroic fundraising feat, Graham was professional, thorough and meticulous at all times, and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with him.”
And so say all of us. ‘GG’ will be missed enormously.
“Matt Chapman [of At The Races] once saw me at Wolverhampton and said he had never seen anyone look less like a racing reporter,” says Green, adding: “That’s a remark I treasure.”
Graham Green might not look like a racing reporter, but looks can be deceptive. He bows out as the best in the business.
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