Tickets are on sale for the second Horse Racing Women's Summit (HRWS), scheduled for Sept. 27-29 at Santa Anita Park. Reagan Cannon, an international leadership speaker and coach with over 20 years of experience at Fortune 15 companies, will deliver the keynote address. Tickets for the three-day summit, which are limited and sold out last year, can be purchased at WomeninRacingSummit.com.
“In our second annual HRWS, we look forward to building on the momentum from 2022 with robust programming and an impactful lineup of speakers and panelists,” said Jodie Vella-Gregory of the HRWS Planning Committee. “With sincere appreciation to our enthusiastic supporters, generous sponsors, and invested volunteers, the HRWS is excited to continue to push the women in racing dialogue to empower, connect, and challenge the barriers faced while providing key takeaways for all of our attendees.”
The inaugural event was held a year ago at Santa Anita and has since made stops in Lexington, Tucson, Hallandale Beach, and Saratoga Springs.
The inaugural edition of the Horse Racing Women's Summit (HRWS) is just three weeks away and the planning committee behind the buzzed-about event is so enthusiastic about spreading the word that they say down with the TDN to share how the multi-day summit is gaining national attention and discuss why it is important that the event will be bringing in women from all facets of the industry.
“The Horse Racing Women's Summit is designed to empower, connect and remove barriers in leadership in racing,” said Jodie Vella-Gregory, a member of the planning committee and the Director of the Office of Innovation at 1/ST Racing. “It's really for anyone who is interested in pushing the industry forward and is ready to discuss not only how to overcome challenges, but also how we can identify growth opportunities. We see it as a place for leaders, future leaders and any industry participants and we see it as a catalyst to start a conversation and bring people together.”
The summit will be held September 28-30 at Santa Anita Park. Susan Packard, the first woman to join the Churchill Downs Inc. Board of Directors and a key player in the launch and development of CNBC, HGTV and HBO, will be the keynote speaker. Thursday's session will include three panels called Thriving Through Challenges, Looking Ahead–Opportunities for the Industry and Industry Integrity–A Brighter Future. Each panel will feature notable industry participants from various aspects of the sport and will end with a Q and A session.
The event will conclude on Friday, which is also opening day of Santa Anita's fall meet, with a handicapping seminar from TVG's Christina Blacker. HRWS attendees will have access to reserved box seats throughout the weekend of racing at Santa Anita, which will be highlighted by two Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' races.
Committee Chair Stephanie Hronis of Hronis Racing was the visionary behind the event. She explained how the idea formed last summer after a Thoroughbred Owners of California women's luncheon at Del Mar was a smashing success.
“Seeing women come together with the opportunity to network there was such a good energy,” Hronis said.
From there, Hronis formed a team and started putting out feelers on how a national summit would be received by the industry.
“It was kind of like tapping into a sleeping giant,” Hronis explained. “The wave of interest was huge. What started out as a vision for bringing women together has really grown into this movement of a summit and bringing people both from within the industry and outside of the industry, which you will see with our panelists and our keynote speaker Susan Packard.”
HRWS committee member Jordyn Egan, who is also the Executive Director for the Thoroughbred Owners of California, said that they received immediate interest from a vast array of women in the industry.
“The feedback was very diverse,” she said. “It was everything from, 'I want to become an owner but I'm intimidated' to 'I've been working in this industry for 20 years and I don't know what to do next.' We had to really think about what we are going to do with this event that will help address, connect and empower all women in racing so that regardless of where you are, this is a great professional and personal development opportunity.”
The HRWS planning team laid out the five core pillars that they hope will be accomplished through the event: to remove barriers, to empower, to build inclusivity and leadership, to mentor, and to develop and grow the sport.
Committee member Kellie Hill, who is involved in the industry as the CEO of Stay Classy Horse Racing and who also works outside of the sport as the Sr. Vice President of MedWest Realty, talked about how the concept of removing barriers will benefit horse racing as a whole.
“What they have found with so many different studies, from Harvard Business Review to the London Business School, is that the more you have gender equality, the profits go up, the innovation goes up and the efficiency goes up,” Hill explained. “So when we're saying that we want to remove barriers, it's so that we can get equal representation across the board in order to propel the whole industry up.”
1/ST Racing and FanDuel TV will be the presenting sponsors for the event with over a dozen other organizations also backing the summit. Hill said the support they have received from the industry through sponsorship has been overwhelming.
“I can't tell you how shocked I have been by the level of sponsorship that has come in and embraced this event,” she explained. “Most of our sponsors pretty much immediately said, 'Yes, no problem' and they have made a bigger leap than we anticipated. I think that put the wind in our sails when we first started this so that we knew that we were headed in the right direction and that this is absolutely needed.”
Shona Rotondo, the Head of Marketing at MyRacehorse, serves as the unofficial East Coast representative of the HRWS committee. She said their team does not shy from the fact that they must receive support from organizations outside of California in order to properly represent women in racing from all across the country.
“This is not just a West Coast Thing,” she said. “We understand that the travel and investment in getting people from the East Coast to the West Coast is a little tricky, but it's also an opportunity to challenge your company to invest in women.”
“I would not take the location as an excuse not to go out there or not to push your company to give the opportunity,” Rotondo continued. “I have said to a lot of businesses, including my own, to invest in your women, send leaders in your organization who are smart and capable and passionate, and let's all get together and come up with some really actionable ideas.”
To learn more about the Horse Racing Women's Summit and to purchase tickets, visit womeninracingsummit.com.
The Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) is pleased to announce the election of three new members to the board of directors: Neil Agate, Buck Davidson, and Jodie Vella-Gregory. Each has agreed to serve for a three-year term and is eligible to serve up to two terms concurrently. They replace board members Christy Clagett, Rosie Napravnik and Steuart Pittman, whose terms have expired.
Neil Agate is the founder of Four Gates, LLC, a business and technology services firm; he also serves as the President of the Maryland Horse Council and guided the organization through two major initiatives: the acquisition and management of the Equiery publication, and the formation of a safety net program for horses and owners called Maryland Equine Transition Service (METS). Neil is an avid polo player, and in 2015 was the top amateur in the Thoroughbred Makeover's polo discipline.
Buck Davidson is an international event rider and coach, having competed at the highest level all over the world and ranked in the top 10 eventing riders globally (he was ranked #1 in 2012). He has coached numerous riders to the Olympic Games and the 5* level. Buck has enjoyed success a the top levels with numerous Thoroughbreds, including one of his current mounts Jak My Style. He is the co-presenter of the RRP's annual charity golf event in Ocala, Florida and served as a clinician in an RRP Master Class.
Jodie Vella-Gregory currently works in the Office of Innovation for 1/ST Racing (formerly The Stronach Group), working in member services and hospitality, marketing, new business, community relations, and more. Previously, she worked for Breeders' Cup Limited and still contracts with them to assist in the annual event. Jodie has been instrumental in helping to expand the RRP's reach to the West Coast, which in a non-pandemic year would have included several Master Class events. She grew up riding off-track Thoroughbreds in eventing.
Agate, Davidson and Vella-Gregory join current RRP board members Carolyn Carlson (president), Sue Smith (vice president), Amanda Dabruzzo (treasurer), Carrie Brogden, Richard Lamb, Graham and Anita Motion, Pavla Nygaard, and Jen Roytz (who serves as the RRP's executive director and non-voting member of the board).
The RRP board also voted to extend the title of board member emeritus to Steuart Pittman, the organization's founder, past executive director and past board chair. Pittman, who stepped down from the executive director role within the organization in 2018 to run for political office in Anne Arundel County in Maryland, where he is currently serving his first term as County Executive. As a lifelong equestrian and skilled community organizer, Pittman created the Retired Racehorse Project in response to the growing need to reinvigorate the demand for Thoroughbreds after racing in equestrian sports. Over the past decade, Pittman has served in a variety of roles with distinction for the Retired Racehorse Project and his wealth of knowledge and experience will remain valuable to the organization.
“We're thrilled to welcome Neil Agate, Buck Davidson, and Jodie Vella-Gregory to the RRP Board,” says board chair Carolyn Karlson. “They each bring a unique background and professional experience in various parts of the racing and equestrian industries to the table, which positions the RRP to continue to meet the challenges facing Thoroughbred aftercare. I'm equally pleased to retain Steuart Pittman's involvement for the RRP's next chapter.”
