Now a familiar face on Television Jamaica (TVJ) as a presenter of various sporting events, Denise Walters is one of two women challenging the status quo at the station by entering the male-dominated field of thoroughbred racing. The other is Ally ‘Skaii’ Stirling who was featured last week in the Complete Racing Guide.

Walters is oftentimes the presenter of the horse racing programme ‘

A Moment with Thoroughbreds’ which is aired on Sundays at 6:30 pm on TVJ’s sister station, TVJ Sports Network.

Walters, 32, says she has always been a lover of horse racing and that her job as a presenter has reignited the bond between the sport and herself.

“I love horse racing. I can’t say I remember specifically when I started to get into it, but I think my first memory of a big horse or a great horse was

Milligram. I know my parents were lovers of horse racing, with my mother having a favourite horse namedPoorlittlerichgirl. She lovedWar Zone,Terremoto,Simply Magic, among others – all those great horses who won Classic races here in Jamaica. I also have an uncle whose favourite jockey was Al Gopie.

“So you can say I have been around the sport for some time now. I remember coming to the track with my mother and her sister, but when my aunt died in 2009, we took a hiatus, and now this job has brought me back here,” Walters said.

Although horse racing is traditionally a man’s domain, Walters – who is also a producer for TVJ Sports Network – indicated that there is really nothing in her job that she can’t handle.

“The major challenge really would be just some remarks, but that is fine, it is life. However, at the age where I am at now, it is like water off a duck’s back, so that is not a challenge for me. I love my work and I am enjoying every moment of it, I am happy,” Walters affirmed with an obvious gleam in her eyes.

In broadcasting sports to Jamaican viewers, Walters indicated that it comes naturally as she was born to be a part of the profession.

“I don’t think that I have never been a sports fan. I have always been a fan of sports from the age of about four. I remember watching cricket with my father and I became a West Indies fan, with cricket my first love.

“Seeing Patrick Patterson bowling, I became hooked on it and then it was football, and when I saw David Beckham making his debut for Manchester United, they became my team. I just live in a house where there are sporting aficionados, it is like every sport I can think of I am a fan.

“I don’t cover all sports, but I have been known to cover just more than the regular sports – in fact I host and produce a programme for TVJ Sports Network called ‘Extreme Sport’,” Walters stated.

A graduate of St Catherine High School, Walters, who studied Mass Communication at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville, Manchester, said that being a TV presenter was always her lifelong dream.

“I wanted to be a presenter when I started out. I can remember when I saw Helene Coley-Nicholson reading the news, I wanted to be like her as there was something about her that grabbed me, and when I did Mass Communication at NCU, I realised that I also liked being behind the scenes, and even though I am in front of the camera presenting, being a producer is fine,” she said.