Sal Sinatra

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."...

Former president and CEO of Equibase, Sal Sinatra, will advise the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) for the next six months on the integration of the InCompass interface at racetracks with the HISA portal, they said in a statement Thursday. Sinatra designed, programmed and installed racing office software for more than 30 racetracks when he was a principal with TSNS in the late 1980s, before it was acquired by a subsidiary of The Jockey Club. The TSNS assets were then merged into what is now known as InCompass, the...

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...

Sal Sinatra has been named the next president of Equibase Company LLC by the Equibase Management Committee, effective June 21. Sinatra succeeds Jason Wilson, who departed Equibase to join The Stronach Group this past April. Sinatra, who completed a double major in Mathematics and Statistics from Rutgers, was an assistant clerk at the Daily Racing Form and in 1985, he became a racing official at Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands. He was also the assistant racing secretary at Beulah Park in Ohio. Between 1990 and 1999, Sinatra was president and...

Although winter weather has delayed a planned aeration project to aid with drainage on the Laurel Park turf course, track management is projecting that with a little help from Mother Nature, grass racing could begin by Apr. 17. Speaking at the Feb. 25 Maryland Racing Commission meeting, Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club, which owns Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, described the turf maintenance as similar to work that is often undertaken on golf courses. Except that at Laurel, Sinatra said, this "deep drill and fill" involves...

Despite paying more than $20,000 monthly to exterminators to try and quell an ongoing rat problem on the Laurel Park backstretch, the infestation has persisted, leading track management to seek additional professional help by soliciting new bids from additional companies. Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which owns both Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, disclosed the plan of action during the Jan. 28 Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) meeting. Sinatra has mentioned the track's efforts to control the rats at previous MJC meetings. But when he didn't...

Laurel Park's winter meet will feature 24 stakes worth $2.65 million. The highlight of the schedule is the $250,000 GII General George S. and the $250,000 GIII Runhappy Barbara Fritchie S., both to be run Feb. 13. Laurel's winter stakes schedule will also include two new stakes races to be run Jan. 16--the $100,000 Spectacular Bid S. for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs and the $100,000 Xtra Heat S. for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs. The $75,000 Not For Love S. and $75,000 Conniver for Maryland-bred/sired horses, not raced earlier this...

The Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) voted unanimously  Wednesday to expand a race-day Lasix ban that began this year with 2-year-olds to include horses of any age competing in graded stakes starting in 2021. "A few months ago, the commission passed an emergency regulation restricting Lasix to any horse that's two years old for the next three years, as part of [a negotiated] agreement between the HBPA and The Stronach Group," J. Michael Hopkins, the MRC's executive director, explained prior to the vote during the Dec. 2 teleconference meeting. "Moving forward,...

For the past 32 years, the Maryland Jockey Club has had a tradition of handing out free pies to its patrons during its Thanksgiving Day program. Along with live Thoroughbred racing at Laurel Park, fans would arrive in the morning to free cider, coffee and donuts, and leave with an apple or pumpkin pie. This year, with no fans in attendance for Thursday's live program, the Maryland Jockey Club didn't want to stop the tradition of giving away pies. So 1,500 pies were ordered as usual, with 500 going to...

Even as Pimlico Race Course opened Sept. 24 for its two-weekend, GI Preakness S. mini-meet, work was being done at Laurel Park to prepare for a return to a four-day weekly schedule when the Oct. 8-Dec. 31 meet resumes there. "It's all systems go up here at Pimlico. We're trying to get the old mare looking good for NBC, and we're looking forward to a really good event," Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which owns both tracks, told Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) members during Thursday's...

In a sport crying out for more strict, no-nonsense regulators and administrators, Maryland Jockey Club president Sal Sinatra fits the bill. Just in the past week and a half, Sinatra has made major waves in the industry, first by calling for the eventual end to claiming races at The Jockey Club Round Table and then by busting Wayne Potts for "paper training" for a banned trainer in Maryland. Wednesday, Sinatra joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss an array...

Sal Sinatra, the President and General Manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss how to clean up racing for good.