Kiwi put Cox Plate on racing calendar

Ian Stuart Campbell McEwen, racing industry executive. Born Christchurch, May 21, 1930; married (1) 1950 Alma Casady (diss 1982) 1 son 1 daughter, (2) 1984 Jo Boyle; died Melbourne, October 15, 2007; aged 77.

Ian McEwen was a former Kelburn schoolboy who went on to be one of the greatest innovators of modern Australian racing.

For 20 years, he was the inspiration of the Moonee Valley Racing Club in his role as chief executive. Together with then chairman Bill Stutt in the 1970s, they lifted the Cox Plate to the weight-for-age championship of Australasia.

When Mr McEwen joined the sleepy Moonee Valley club somewhat controversially in 1970, the club had only had three secretaries since its inception in 1917.

Mr McEwen, who spotted the position advertised in a New Zealand racing calendar, was then secretary of the Bay of Plenty Racing Club after working as a racing writer for The Dominion newspaper. Appointing a New Zealander to the post was, at the time, a controversial move. That didn't bother Mr McEwen, or "Macca", as he was known to his many friends.

When he took over, the Cox Plate was worth A$30,000 and was not even the feature race on the day. Now, it has prizemoney of A$3 million.

Mr McEwen was son of Stan McEwen, a former racing editor of The Dominion. He was educated at Kelburn Normal School and Wellington College before joining the staff of the Dom in 1945. He left in 1950 to become a racing writer for NZ Truth at Auckland and was with the tabloid till 1964 when he became managing secretary of the Bay of Plenty racing and trotting clubs.

During his time as CEO, from 1970-90, Mr McEwen turned Moonee Valley into the "Action Attraction" and was the first to introduce a host of features, including detailed form in the racebook, integrating men and women in the members' enclosure, allowing trainers and bookmakers to become members, introducing twilight and Sunday meetings, providing dining boxes for the public and a total undercover betting ring – innovations that are taken for granted these days.

In a 1988 interview, Mr McEwen envisaged, among other features, racecourses equipped with hotel- style facilities and racing on artificial tracks, which are now coming to pass, and he was one of the first to call for removal of the principal clubs system that ruled Australian racing for so long.

After leaving Moonee Valley, he was appointed executive consultant to TAB Gaming before the TAB was privatised. In 1994, Mr McEwen, who had been responsible for the building of the harness racing track at Moonee Valley, was appointed chairman of the newly appointed Harness Racing Board.

Though he had recurring health problems due mainly to his long battle with diabetes, he threw himself into the job as passionately as he had into the gallops. When he finally opted for retirement, life on a farm at Tallarook with his second wife, Jo, was not for him and they soon moved back to Essendon.

Despite losing his lower right leg to diabetes, which caused him to miss his first Cox Plate in 30 years in 2000, and losing partial sight in an eye, he remained as passionate as ever about racing, particularly at Moonee Valley.

At the MVRC annual meeting in 2003, he led an attack on the committee against the club charging a A$50 admittance fee on Cox Plate day.

Mr McEwen had many other roles. He was inaugural national vice-president of Diabetes Australia in 1983 and president from 1985-91; chairman of the Diabetes Foundation of Victoria 1980-89; and a member of the Royal Melbourne Hospital board of management for many years.