Business Matters: Hubbard the new man at the licensing helm.

PHIL HUBBARD has joined the Jockey Club staff to succeed Richard Smith as manager of the licensing department.

Smith, who has been at Portman Square for 19 years, will leave next month, when racing's regulator and the sport's governing body, the BHB, move to new offices in Shaftesbury Avenue.

Hubbard, 49, served in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force for 23 years, before returning to the UK in 1997. He has since been a company director in the property and leisure sectors.

Jockey Club director of regulation Malcolm Wallace paid tribute to Smith, saying: 'His work has been exemplary.

'He deserves particular credit for preparing the way for stable staff to ride as amateurs, and introducing formal qualifications for trainers, jockeys and stable staff through the NVQ system. His input to various committees has been invaluable.'

At a busy time for appointments, the Jockey Club has taken on former jump jockeys Jason Callaghan and Chris Dennis as 'half-time' starters based in the North.

Callaghan, 36, has been in racing for 20 years. He first became apprenticed to George Moore on the Flat, later became the stable's conditional jockey, and rode more than 220 winners before his retirement in October 2000. He runs a livery yard in Leyburn.

Dennis, 35, rode more than 50 winners, mainly as a conditional jockey. Since retiring from riding, he has built up a livery yard of 50 horses, near Richmond, and as well as training more than 40 point-to-point winners, he breaks in yearlings.