“The initiatives supported by The Jockey Club, together with others or wholly backed by The Jockey Club, have increased substantially in the last decade and a half,” said James Gagliano, president and COO, The Jockey Club. “They reflect the commitment by the board of stewards to invest our profits into a wide array of projects and activities that may serve as catalysts for growth of the sport and for ensuring the safety and welfare of its participants.”

The Jockey Club, a non-profit organization, has created a group of for-profit subsidiaries and partnerships, including the The Jockey Club Information Systems (TJCIS), InCompass Solutions, Equibase Company, and The Jockey Club Technology Services (TJCTS). These companies provide the industry with technology services and products and the profits they create are dispersed to The Jockey Club for investment back into the sport.

The Jockey Club supports two charities: the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and the The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation.

Other Jockey Club initiatives include the multi-media fan development platform, American's Best Racing, while its aftercare efforts include support of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, as well as the Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program.

According to the impact report, The Jockey Club's 2024 investments in racing include over $3.5 million in industry growth initiatives and over $1.5 million in aftercare initiatives.

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The Jockey Club released the agenda for its Annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, which will be held as an in-person event for the first time since 2019 and hosted for the first time at the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 14, at 10 a.m. ET, the conference will also be streamed on The Jockey Club's website, www.jockeyclub.com, and Facebook page, facebook.com/USJockeyClub. Chairman Stuart S. Janney III will preside over the conference.

As the keynote speaker, Lisa Lazarus, chief executive officer of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, will provide an update on the first six weeks of enforcement of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), which went into effect July 1. She will also discuss future plans for the authority and the status of rules for the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2023. Lazarus' appearance will be complemented by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. “Chuck” Schumer (D-NY), a key supporter of HISA, who will offer his perspective on the significance of the passage of HISA to the Thoroughbred industry.

Also included in this year's schedule:

• John Penza, a director of International Investigations at 5 Stones Intelligence and a former special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will be interviewed by James L. Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club, in a discussion about his experiences as an investigator and the impact of the March 2020 arrests of more than two dozen individuals who participated in an operation involving the systematic and covert administration of illegal performance-enhancing drugs to racehorses.
• Tom Rooney, president and chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, will talk about the NTRA's work in Washington, D.C., to benefit all industry stakeholders.
• Dennis Madsen, head of racing for the Swedish Horseracing Authority, will present on Sweden's new crop rule, which prohibits the use of the crop for encouragement and only allows it to be used for safety purposes. The rule went into effect this year.
• Dr. Lauren Stiroh, managing director of NERA Economic Consulting, will review her findings from an analysis of economic trends in Thoroughbred racing and breeding.
• Shannon Kelly, executive director of The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, will talk about issues facing the industry's workforce and how the foundation assists those in need.
• Carl Hamilton, president of The Jockey Club Information Systems and chairman of BloodHorse, will deliver the activities of The Jockey Club.

The full agenda and bios of all speakers will be posted on www.jockeyclub.com in advance of the conference.

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Speaking via pre-recorded video during Sunday's 69th Annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing that was hosted virtually by The Jockey Club (TJC), Scheeler said the Authority is currently developing its anti-doping and safety programs side by side, and that by the fall those initiatives will be shared publicly in an effort to generate feedback.

“All of this will be before we submit these proposed rules to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is what is required by the Act,” Scheeler said. “And then [the FTC] will make them public; publish them in the Federal Register for a 60-day period of notice and comment. So the industry will get a second bite at the apple–another chance to comment on these rules.

“After the 60 days, the FTC will decide whether to approve all or some of these rules. We hope that they approve all of the rules that we submit to them. And then they have to be posted and finalized for a four-month period of time. So no later than March 1, 2022, for these rules to become operative on [July 1, 2022],” Scheeler said.

“We will also, in the late fall and winter, be sharing with state racing commissions our estimates of the costs for the coming year. That is required by the Act to occur no later than April 1. But it is our goal to get those numbers to the states months and months in advance of the event,” Scheeler said.

“And then, July 1, we will go live together with a new system to enforce the anti-doping and medication laws, and to make the tracks safer, and to make the sport fair for everyone,” Scheeler said.

But that timetable for implementation could face legal pushback in the form of lawsuits initiated by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (National HBPA) and several state racing commissions.

Speaking in a separate section of the Round Table video presentation, TJC's chairman, Stuart Janney III, said such obstructionist tactics won't prevail in the long run.

“They defend the status quo with lawsuits that are effectively protecting a few bad trainers, veterinarians, and horsemen at the expense of those who are honest,” Janney said. “They offer nothing in the alternative other than worn-out notions of state-by-state compacts in defense of the same broken system.”

Janney also reiterated a prediction he made during last August's Round Table video presentation that more federal arrests of alleged horse dopers are in the pipeline.

Six of 28 defendants arrested in March 2020 have already pleaded guilty to felony charges in the federal government's prosecution of an alleged “corrupt scheme” to manufacture, mislabel, rebrand, distribute, and administer performance-enhancing drugs to racehorses all across America and in international races.

Elsewhere in the two-hour Round Table presentation, two Columbia University researchers–Dr. Yuval Neria, a professor of medical psychology, and Dr. Prudence Fisher, an associate professor of clinical psychiatric social work–gave an update on the Man O' War Project, which uses Thoroughbreds in equine-assisted therapy (EAT) to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“We plan on capitalizing on our work so far by creating the Man O' War Center at Columbia University,” Fisher said. “And its mission will be to advance the promising field of EAT. The center will coordinate and carry out many initiatives that further our work.”

Neria said another goal is to provide EAT training to others in the field.

“Over the last two to three years, we have been approached by many programs who are eager to learn from us and implement our protocols,” Neria said. “[And] we plan to adapt our protocols for use with other groups beyond veterans with PTSD. For example, children and adolescents, and also others. With support from Ambassador [Earle] Mack, this fall we will be carrying out a pilot study with anxious youths.”

Fisher added that research work on the original protocols will be expanded by undertaking a randomized, controlled trial later this year.

“This would be a larger study, and we plan on partnering with other sites that we will train to make it work,” Fisher said.

Neria added that “a critically important part of our mission is to expand the number of retired Thoroughbred racehorses that are used in the EAT programs.”

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At the 2017 Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, Ben Vonwiller of McKinsey & Company spoke on the importance of race scheduling among different racetracks to maximize total handle. According to McKinsey's models, a more synchronized race schedule could lead to an annual handle increase of $400 million across the United States.

“Our question was, 'Do the preconditions for schedule optimization exist in racing and can applying scheduling analytics really drive value?' We left that exercise with real conviction that the answer is yes.”

In response to these findings, Equibase established a scheduling office to assist tracks in communicating to each other about their post times to minimize overlap. Through a scheduling hub, tracks submit their proposed off-times, and Equibase suggests changes based on a tool developed by McKinsey & Company. On race day, any changes to post times can be communicated to other tracks. The Jockey Club encourages racetracks to participate in this service for the benefit of the horseplayer and of the racing industry.

The post The Jockey Club Commends Gulfstream Park For Eliminating Post Time Drag appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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“While we are disappointed that we cannot host an in-person event, we are excited by this year’s line-up of speakers and the perspectives they will share with the conference’s virtual attendees,” said James L. Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club.

Gagliano will interview three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond about anti-doping and the importance of clean competition. Trainers Mark Casse, John Gosden and Jessica Harrington will discuss training and competing in different jurisdictions in a panel moderated by Matt Iuliano, executive vice president and executive director of The Jockey Club.

Bob Costas, former sportscaster for NBC Sports and current sportscaster for MLB Network and contributor to CNN, will discuss covering the Triple Crown races and the challenges faced by sports in 2020. Sal Sinatra, the president and general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, will present on America’s system of claiming races and recommend changes and Katrina Adams, the immediate past president of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), will discuss the importance of diversity.

The full agenda and bios of all speakers will be posted on jockeyclub.com in advance of the conference.

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“While we are disappointed that we cannot host an in-person event, we are excited by this year's lineup of speakers and the perspectives they will share with the conference's virtual attendees,” said James L. Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club.

Gagliano will interview three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond about anti-doping and the importance of clean competition. LeMond has been outspoken about performance-enhancing drugs for more than 30 years and has testified before the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Bob Costas, former sportscaster for NBC Sports and current sportscaster for MLB Network and contributor to CNN, will discuss covering the Triple Crown races and the challenges faced by sports in 2020. Prior to leaving NBC Sports in 2019, Costas co-anchored or hosted its coverage of baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, NASCAR, boxing, the Olympics, and horse racing. Costas co-hosted NBC's coverage of the Kentucky Derby from 2001-2018.

Sal Sinatra, the president and general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, will present on America's system of claiming races and recommend changes that would benefit the sport. Before joining the Maryland Jockey Club, Sinatra spent 15 years at Parx Racing, where he was the vice president of racing and racing secretary.

Katrina Adams, the immediate past president of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), will discuss the importance of diversity. She previously served two terms as the USTA's chairman and president and was an accomplished professional tennis player on the Women's Tennis Association Tour for 12 years. Adams was the first African American, first former professional tennis player, and youngest person ever to serve as USTA president.

Jason Wilson, president and chief operating officer of Equibase, will deliver a report on the activities of The Jockey Club.

The full agenda and bios of all speakers will be posted on jockeyclub.com in advance of the conference.

The Jockey Club Round Table Conference was first held on July 1, 1953, in The Jockey Club office in New York City. The following year, it was moved to Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

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