There will be a changing of the guard in August when Stuart Janney, III steps down from his long-held position as the Chairman of The Jockey Club. His replacement will be owner-breeder Everett Dobson. Janney recommended Dobson, and the board of stewards of The Jockey Club agreed.
Dobson has long involved himself with some of the sport's most important and influential organizations. He is on his second term as a steward of The Jockey Club. He serves on the executive committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and is immediate past chairman of the American Graded Stakes Committee. Dobson serves as a member of the Breeders' Cup in addition to being a trustee of the Keeneland Association. He now takes over one of the most important jobs in the sport, but it's one that requires hours of work, no salary and will involve slings and arrows from those who are not happy with the direction The Jockey Club has gone.
So why would he take the job? That was among the questions Dobson was asked when he joined our crew for this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. Dobson was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.
“My wife says that I am a glutton?' Dobson said. “So now I am. I just have a calling, I guess. I was asked to do it and I feel like I am capable and qualified to do it, so here I am.”
Dobson will not be your prototypical Jockey Club Chairman. He didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth as part of a wealthy family and he's not an Ivy Leaguer. He went to Southwest Oklahoma State University. Some, including Mike Repole, have accused The Jockey Club as being an “old boys club,” in need of new blood and new ideas. Does he see his appointment as being symbolic of a changing of the guard?
“I think there's something to that,” he replied when asked a question about his being new blood. “I'm coming to you from Oklahoma, which has been my residence for many years. I do have a farm in Kentucky and spend a fair amount of my time there. I think as much as anything, this is a recognition that the sport is evolving and it's changing. It's not the legacy sport that we knew from 100 years ago or even 25 years ago. My perspective is going to be from a business background. It's going to come from my being an owner and my involvement in the breeding and the racing side of the sport as well. I also have an investment in an NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. So I will have a perspective on that. Stuart and I had a lot of conversations about my capabilities and what I might bring to the sport as well as the other stewards. I know many of them well and the rest I will get to know well. But I think there is a recognition that the sport is evolving and changing. And, hopefully, I can I can bring those perspectives that are going to matter in the future.”
Prominent and outspoken, Repole was a severe critic of The Jockey Club and Janney in particular. Has Dobson had a chance to sit down with Repole yet and perhaps mend some fences?
“I mentioned that I have plans to meet with everybody,” Dobson said. “I was at the Breeders' Cup and Mike and I were able to spend three hours together in a private room and had a great conversation. Very little did we disagree on. We do disagree on what our priorities should be. But Mike comes at it from a similar approach that I do in that he comes at a lot of the issues from a business background. This business is all about change. Business is about growing and being better. So on that, Mike and I agree. Only our styles are a little bit different. But that's okay. We laugh about that. But I do think Mike is like a lot of people in a sport in that he wants to see some improvement and some help.”
Can Repole, the former nemesis, be an asset to The Jockey Club?
“Yes,” Dobson said. “I don't think there's any question about that. I know Mike and I respect Mike. When it comes to what he's been saying, on a lot of topics, he is spot on. Now, his tactics, you know, sometimes they might differ with mine a little bit. But regardless, we need Mike.”
In our weekly breeding spotlight section, we took a look at the Winstar stallion Timberlake.
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, and XBTV.com, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss talked about the return of White Abarrio (Race Day), an impressive winner in a Gulfstream Park allowance that will be one of two preps for the GI Pegasus World Cup. The impressive win by Two Sharp (Twirling Candy) in the GIII Chilukki S. at Churchill was another topic of discussion. They then turned their attention to the mess that is California racing and the brutally honest comments made recently by Aidan Butler, president of TSG's 1/ST business. Butler continues to lobby for some sort of merger of the Northern and Southern California circuits and said to do otherwise would be “suicide” for both regions.
For the video version of the podcast, click here. For audio only, click here.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
