The Jockey Club of America

Editor's Note: The TDN received this letter from Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. 2023 was certainly a year of many challenges for the Thoroughbred industry. Much has been written and spoken about the issues we face, although very little action has taken place. As we enter 2024, I believe it is imperative we make meaningful efforts to improve our sport. Every component of the industry must pledge to do a better job. We must find common ground and set aside our egos. We must commit (at a minimum) to the following actions...

The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred (RMB) statistics reflects that through Oct. 18 of this year, 867 stallions covered 26,597 mares in North America during the breeding season, a decrease from 2022 when 925 stallions covered 27,163 mares, the organization said in a release early Friday. They estimate an additional 2,500 to 3,500 mares will be reported as bred during the 2023 breeding season. Kentucky traditionally leads North America in Thoroughbred breeding activity. During 2023, Kentucky's 199 reported stallions covered 16,953 mares, or 63.74% of all of the mares...

Eric Gustavson, who with his wife Tamara Hughes Gustavson own Spendthrift Farm, has been named to Keeneland's Advisory Board of Directors, the association said in a press release Thursday. Gustavson has played a pivotal role in restoring Spendthrift Farm's position as one of the world's premier Thoroughbred breeding operations. He is also a member of The Jockey Club and Breeders' Cup Board of Directors. "We welcome Eric Gustavson to the Keeneland Board, where his business skill and marketing acumen will be instrumental as we meet the opportunities and challenges of...

Under the toughest of spotlights, the industry's collective eyes often turn to the stuff under foot. At least, that's what trainer Mark Casse did in a widely-shared TDN Q&A. "I think we really, seriously, need to look at more synthetic tracks," Casse said, triggering yet another cavalcade of commentary on the conceived benefits and blights of synthetic surfaces. "I believe in them. I believe they've got plenty of data to back that up." Former TDN writer Lucas Marquardt followed it up with an analysis of race-day fatality data through The...

The Jockey Club of America has added a link online to its Equine Injury Database (EID) page which provides an analysis of racing fatalities based on surface and track conditions for 2021 and 2022, the organization said in a release early Wednesday morning. Additional statistics will be added to the EID page as they become available.

"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...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A panel on computer-assisted wagering (CAW) and its pros and cons, and another on trainers' reactions to the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) regulations, took center stage at the 2023 Jockey Club Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing held in Saratoga Springs, New York on Thursday. Patrick Cummings, the moderator of the panel on CAWs, is the Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, a racing-industry think tank. Cummings took the panel through a brief history of parimutuel wagering and the changes...

The 2023 edition of The American Racing Manual is now available through The Jockey Club's Fact Book online, the organization said in a release Thursday. The online Fact Book is a statistical and informational guide to Thoroughbred breeding, racing and auction sales in North America and is updated quarterly, with The American Racing Manual serving as a compendium of historical data through 2022. The Jockey Club is accepting feedback for potential modifications to this text, which can be submitted to contactus@jockeyclub.com.