James Gagliano

Gatewood Bell has been appointed to serve on the management committee of Equibase Company LLC, announced company chairman Ian D. Highet. The vice president of racing for Keeneland and a third-generation horseman, Bell also served as president of Cromwell Bloodstock for a decade before joining Keeneland as well as previously serving on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. He has been a member of The Jockey Club since 2020 and serves as a member of the Breeders' Cup. Bell fills the vacating board seat of James Gagliano, president and chief operating...

Todd Gralla, principal at Populous, will be the keynote speaker at the 72nd annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, which will be held Aug. 1 at the Excelsior Springs Event Center in Saratoga Springs. Populous is a global design firm that focuses on sports and entertainment, from stadiums and arenas to event spaces and urban environments. Gralla will discuss cutting-edge racetrack projects around the globe and he will provide a look into the redesign of Belmont Park, which attempts to integrate modern technology into racetrack operations, while...

Stephen Panus has resigned as president of The Jockey Club's Media Ventures, which oversees the America's Best Racing brand, and several other structural changes were made to the management team, said Jockey Club president and COO James L. Gagliano via a press release on Thursday. Gagliano will replace Panus, while Greg Charkoudian and Dan Tordjman have each been promoted to vice president of TJC Media Ventures. Charkoudian has been associated with The Jockey Club team since 2012 and Tordjman since 2014. "I'd also like to thank Stephen Panus for his...

The Jockey Club has released its 2024 Industry Impact Report. The report, which has traditionally been released at The Jockey Club's annual Round Table Conference in August, details how at least $7 million will be used in the coming year to support initiatives ranging from equine safety and aftercare to industry promotion and national and international collaboration, according to a Tuesday press release from the organization. "The initiatives supported by The Jockey Club, together with others or wholly backed by The Jockey Club, have increased substantially in the last decade...

The Jockey Club has become an Ed Brown Partner and under its partnership with the Ed Brown Society, will be working collaboratively to provide exposures and experiential growth opportunities to Ed Brown scholars and fellows across the various companies and initiatives it operates. "We are excited to embark upon this critical work with The Jockey Club. Because The Jockey Club's operations touch virtually every aspect of our industry, this partnership opens up many more professional opportunities for our scholars and fellows to explore. So, we salute The Jockey Club for...

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." --Daniel Patrick Moynihan Letters to the editor are, by definition, opinions. You can disagree with an opinion, but you can't exactly say it's wrong. But when "facts" that are not facts are offered in support of an opinion, that is disinformation. The writer of the July 26, 2023, Thoroughbred Daily News letter to the editor slamming HISA could be the poster child for that. Over the past week I reviewed his criticisms with executives with HISA and HIWU...

Michael Lopez, senior director of Data and Analytics for the National Football League, will be the keynote speaker for the 71st Annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, The Jockey Club announced today. The conference will be held at the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, on Thursday, Aug. 3, at 10 a.m. ET. Chairman Stuart S. Janney III will preside over the conference and give insights on activities of The Jockey Club and the future of the sport. Lopez will discuss how data is...

Kyle McDoniel has been named president and chief operating officer of Equibase Company LLC by the Equibase Management Committee, effective June 1, 2023, the company announced on Tuesday. McDoniel succeeds Sal Sinatra, who resigned in July 2022. James L. Gagliano served as interim president. "Kyle will bring a fresh perspective to Equibase and the sport," Ian D. Highet, chairman of Equibase, said. "The management committee is confident that his extensive background within sports media and sports betting alongside his business development and strategic planning skills fit perfectly with Equibase's objectives."...

The Jockey Club has announced the recipients of five scholarships to be awarded for the 2023-2024 academic year. Megan Elcombe has been selected to receive The Jockey Club Scholarship, which provides $15,000 to a student who is pursuing a bachelor's degree or higher at any university and has demonstrated interest in pursuing a career in the Thoroughbred industry. Elcombe is studying veterinary medicine at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine with a graduation date of May 2024. Carly Schuerger, who will graduate in May 2024 from California State University, San...

In Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) President Ed Martin's letter to the Thoroughbred Daily News on Feb. 2, he once again defends the status quo with few facts and no real solutions to racing's lack of national uniformity in rules and regulations for safety and medication control. Ed has been defending the status quo for years. In 2018, and again in 2020, Ed testified before Congress against the then-forerunner to the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act, saying it was "a radical and unnecessary federalization of a state responsibility...

Sal Sinatra, president and chief operating officer of Equibase, resigned Friday, according to a release of the Equibase Corporation. "I am stepping aside at this point so that I may dedicate my time to personal issues that require my full attention," said Sinatra. "I am grateful to the members of the Equibase Management Committee for their support of me and to my co-workers at Equibase Company and The Jockey Club for their help and kind assistance since I joined Equibase one year ago." Ian Highet, chairman of Equibase, said that...

The Jockey Club has announced it will offer The Jockey Club Fact Book Chronicle as part of its free online Fact Book. The Fact Book Racing Chronicle will offer past performances directly from Equibase, and charts from graded stakes races will be provided through links to equibase.com. "The information in The Jockey Club Fact Book Chronicle is valuable for everyone from researchers and reporters to handicappers and casual racing fans, and we are pleased to be able to provide this resource as part of our Fact Book," said James L....