The Jockey Club: Racing leaders are urged to modernize

In the keynote address Thursday to The Jockey Club’s 72nd annual round table on matters pertaining to racing, Todd Gralla of Populus discussed how integrating modern consumer tastes into the redesign of racetracks can retain the history of racing while enhancing the fan experience and keeping horses safer.

“Honoring this history and looking to the future, as well as putting horses front and center with experiences and intimate connections between the patrons, horses, jockeys, trainers and owners, has become our design philosophy driving our horse racing projects,” said Gralla, director of equestrian services for Populous, a global design firm focused on sports and entertainment.

Meghan Rodgers, senior vice president of public affairs for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, gave an overview of the success of the national Safety Runs First campaign and called on the industry must work together to promote the sport.

“It is our responsibility to continually inform and reassure the public that horse racing today is the best and safest it has ever been, and a deep-rooted love for these magnificent Thoroughbreds is at the core of the sport,” Rodgers said.

Gary Fenton, chairperson of the Thoroughbred Owners of California and managing partner of Little Red Feather Racing, spoke via Zoom from Del Mar about the present and future of California racing. He explained the importance of California racing to the industry and what is next for the state.

“California is actively seeking ancillary revenue streams within and outside our state to increase purses and lead to the economic growth for both California and the rest of the country,” he said. “It is priority no. 1. But our goals are also more expansive and organic, like increasing the awareness of our sport.”

Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for 1/ST Racing, shared insights into how California has improved the safety of its equine and human athletes, namely through the new program Racehorse 360 geared toward helping racing offices, trainers, veterinarians, and stewards.

Highlighting the changes Racehorse 360 has made in equine safety, Benson said, “In January and February of 2024 ... we had zero racing fatalities. We saw a 40 percent decrease in training fatalities from 2019 to the first two months of 2024.

“To date, we’ve completed two re-trainings of the AI program. The improvement in identifying horses with issues has been impressive from my perspective. As of today, of the clips sent by Track Optics, approximately 75 percent of those are determined to be worth following up by track veterinarians.”

Joe Asher, who chairs the board of the Wilson Center and is the former CEO of William Hill US and president of IGT’s PlaySports, highlighted the similarities and differences between horse racing and sports betting. Asher touched on the effortless task of sports betting and its significant contrast to betting on horse racing, especially for beginners who are not up to date on the industry.

“You have the content,” Asher said. “It’s just a matter of getting it in front of people with a proclivity to gamble and an easy way for them to form an opinion on what to bet.”

The Jockey Club president and chief operating officer Jim Gagliano discussed internal initiatives that have been taken to improve the sport and strategies the organization is taking to help support it in the future.

“Our team has modernized the organization from its role as a breed registry into a technical and data-driven organization whose products and services have been essential to the growth of interstate and international trade,” Gagliano said. “Going forward The Jockey Club and our related companies are embarking upon a series of new projects and services.”

Gagliano also expounded on the rebranding of several of The Jockey Club’s technology companies into TJC Innovations, including the purchase of TLore and an agreement with Halo.

In his closing remarks, The Jockey Club chairperson Stuart Janney said the three elements that affect horse racing are safety, integrity and finance. He said the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is taking care of the first two.

“Finance, on the other hand, is not within HISA's purview,” Janney said. “It is shared across a broad spectrum of groups and entities, (including) sales companies, owners-partnerships, trainers and our partners in state government and, through the tax code, the U.S. government.”

Janney also mentioned challenges facing the industry, such as stagnant purses, sunsetting of IRS tax incentives and pitting tracks against each other for purse levels, stakes schedules and post times. The Jockey Club, he said, is addressing them.

“I predict we will work on every one of these issues and many more,” Janney said. “We can’t do it and don’t want to do it alone. We need you.”

The round table was held at the Excelsior Springs Event Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and streamed live on The Jockey Club website.