The Jockey Club

Stuart S. Janney, III, will step down from his position as chair of The Jockey Club, effective August 2025, the organization announced Tuesday morning. On Janney's recommendation, the board of stewards has chosen Everett Dobson to be his successor. The leadership transition will commence over the coming months, and Janney will remain on the board of stewards through his term, which will end in August 2026. Janney, a prominent Thoroughbred owner and breeder for several decades, was elected vice chair of The Jockey Club in 2010 and became chair in...

Charlie Boss, the former chief commercial officer for the Jockey Club, is returning to take up the position of interim group chief executive. He starts his new job on December 9, ten days before the departure of the current chief executive Nevin Truesdale, who in June announced his intention to leave his role after 11 years with the organisation. Boss's previous tenure at the Jockey Club was between March 2021 and April 2023 and he has subsequently been chief commercial officer for Southampton Football Club.  Baroness Dido Harding, senior steward...

In the week leading up to this year's Breeders' Cup, observers who remained trackside at the conclusion of morning training would have spotted a young man with a short bristly moustache lug an unusual looking contraption around the two ovals at the heart of Del Mar. If these trackside observers hung around long enough, they would have spotted this two-legged interloper stop to place down and trigger what appeared to be a miniature guillotine, twiddle with a few buttons, then either jump back into his golf cart or set off...

The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.) Championships finished Sunday, Oct. 27, which included participation from 206 Thoroughbreds and 210 riders. The show took place at Stable View in Aiken, SC, from Oct. 24-27. Cash prized totaling $2,000 were awarded to the 42 divisions, including hunters, jumpers, English pleasure, dressage, combined test, Western pleasure, ranch riding, competitive trail and in-hand competition. "The 2024 T.I.P. Championships was a phenomenal display of the versatility and potential of Thoroughbreds in careers after their time on the track," said Kristin Werner, coordinator of T.I.P....

Jim Allen has been appointed as the new general manager of Epsom Downs Racecourse, it was announced by the Jockey Club on Monday. He succeeds Tom Sammes, who leaves the Jockey Club at the end of this month. Allen's early career involved the management of two UK racecourses, Huntingdon and Sedgefield, before he served as racing director at Arena Racing Company (ARC) between 2006 and 2015. In this role he was involved in the innovation of the All-Weather Championships, the introduction of the new Tapeta racing surface at Newcastle and Wolverhampton...

The Jockey Club's traceability initiative, which was announced at the 2023 Round Table Conference, continues to progress. The initial phase began with email prompts to racetracks and sales companies with digital certificates of horses that have had no Interactive Registration (IR) activity and no Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.) number in the past two years. Beginning this week, The Jockey Club Registry will send an email to individuals listed as the certificate manager of a horse that has had no IR activity and no T.I.P. number in the past two years....

A federal judge in California on Monday terminated a nearly two-year-old lawsuit initiated against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) by Thoroughbred owner Jerry Jamgotchian that alleged Jamgotchian's constitutional and civil rights were violated when the stewards at Los Alamitos Race Course denied entry to one of his horses in 2022 over a naming and registration controversy. Although the Aug. 12 ruling out of United States District Court (Central District, Southern Division) quashed the lawsuit itself, the litigation has never stopped the now 5-year-old Malpractice Meuser (GB) (Helmet {Aus}) from...

The 72nd annual Jockey Club Round Table Conference, held Aug. 1 in Saratoga Springs, New York, was livestreamed as it happened on The Jockey Club website last Thursday. Official transcripts and video replay are now available at jockeyclub.com. The Round Table Conference has been held since 1953 and annually features discussions on critical industry topics, including aftercare, equine safety, marketing, and national uniformity.

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...

Baroness Dido Harding has succeeded Sandy Dudgeon as one senior steward of The Jockey Club (TJC). Her term will last for five years. A member of TJC since 2004 and part of the Board of Stewards since 2017, Harding will chair TJC's main board, and will serve as a senior steward with The Lord Grimthorpe as her deputy senior steward. Also on the board of stewards are stewards William Rucker, William Sporborg, Tim Syder, Sam Waley-Cohen, Lady Carolyn Warren, and William Wyatt. The 56-year-old was previously a racecourse committee member...

An injunction prohibiting acts of intentional disruption at The Jockey Club's Epsom Downs Racecourse has been extended an additional five years by a High Court judge, TJC announced on Wednesday. The injunction will be subject to an annual review. The original injunction was put in place in May of last year when protesters from Animal Rising made it clear that they planned to breach course security and stage a disruptive protest at the Derby Festival. Judge Sir Anthony Mann has ruled that the final injunction--sought by TJC to restrain acts...