News UK appoints Easyodds CEO James Garmston to lead Sun Racing

Former Easyodds CEO James Garmston has been appointed head of Sun Racing by News UK, EGR Intel has learned.

Garmston left Easyodds after seven years and started at Sun Racing on 1 January 2018, telling EGR Intel that the “opportunity to build Sun Racing and to work with the incredible talent News UK has across content, marketing, tech, analytics and commercial was simply too good to turn down”.

Garmston, who also spent seven years as head of racing and betting at Press Association Sport, will be charged with building his own team and discussions with several individuals are underway.

Early investment from Sun Racing has been pumped into sponsorship of the 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival, while Sky Sports Racing’s Matt Chapman and jockey Megan Nicholls have been recruited as brand ambassadors.

Sun Racing head James Garmston

“We have a real depth of racing knowledge and content and with the Sun being the most viewed digital media site with over 11 million uniques per month, racing is a very natural position for us to invest in and 2019 is certainly going to be an exciting year,” Garmston told EGR Intel.

“We have incredible resource available so it is a case of building, shaping and moulding the right team across content, marketing, tech, analytics and commercial,” he added.