A former boss of the Jockey Club is to launch her own sports and media venture nearly six months after leaving the owner of some of Britain’s most prominent racecourses amid a bitter row.
Sky News has learnt that Delia Bushell is setting up Silberhorn Media Capital, which describes itself as “a strategic advisory firm to businesses and investors in the media, entertainment and sports sectors”.
Ms Bushell is joining forces with James Baker, a former boss of Red Arrow Studios, a multinational media content and distribution business.
City sources said Ms Bushell had also discussed the idea of creating a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in recent months with a view to acquiring a company in the sports or media industries, although she said that this option had now been abandoned in order to focus on Silberhorn.
Her departure from the Jockey Club, which organises the Cheltenham Festival, followed an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct including “bullying behaviour towards colleagues”.
Ms Bushell rejected the allegations, said she had been forced out by “a cabal of male co-conspirators” and threatened legal action against British horseracing’s most prestigious body.
She had been in the job for little more than a year.
The status of any litigation was unclear on Wednesday.
Ms Bushell previously worked in senior roles at companies including Sky, the immediate parent of Sky News, and BT Group, where she oversaw the development of its sports broadcasting strategy.
Ms Bushell said in a statement issued to Sky News: “We’ve considered and rejected the option of a SPAC, and instead launched Silberhorn Media Capital as an advisory business to the media, entertainment and sports sector, supporting businesses and investors on strategy and deal advisory work, and working on a range of interesting new projects.”