Kyle McDoniel

Equibase has added new gate-to-wire timing to all racing result charts, the company announced Thursday. The gate-to-wire times will be in addition to the fractional and official final times already included in charts. Per their report, gate-to-wire times include the run-up distance, which is the untimed, extra distance horses travel from the starting gate to the designated point where the official race distance begins and the timer starts. Official final times do not include the run-up distance, which can vary from zero feet up to a sixteenth of a mile...

Equibase Company, the Thoroughbred industry's official database for racing information, has incorporated two changes to its performance-based horse rating that takes into consideration the weight of accomplishment at the highest levels and early career recognition for maiden special weight winners with limited starts, the data gather said in a press release on Wednesday. The Equibase rating--which is intended to provide an unbiased performance score based on race outcomes and measurable factors such as speed, race strength, track conditions and trip factors--launched last fall with inaugural ratings races conducted at Santa...

A new performance-based rating system for Thoroughbreds has been launched by Equibase to provide "more options for tracks to consider when developing race conditions," the company said in a release Thursday. The first such race using the Equibase rating will be contested at Santa Anita on Friday, Oct. 24. The Equibase rating provides an algorithmically generated predictive performance score based solely on race outcomes and measurable factors such as speed, race strength, track conditions, and trip factors and was developed with the input of industry stakeholders with the goal of...

John Velazquez and Mike Smith were elected co-chairmen of The Jockeys' Guild when the organization hosted its annual assembly virtually Jan. 14. Javier Castellano, Julien Leparoux and James Flores were elected co-vice chairmen, Tyler Gaffalione as secretary and Julien Leparoux as treasurer. In addition, Joe Bravo, Drayden Van Dyke, James Graham and Rodney Prescott will serve on the Board of Directors. Senate members for the guild in 2025-2026 are: Eastern region: Joe Bravo, Kendrick Carmouche, Javier Castellano, Frankie Dettori, Reylu Gutierrez, Flavien Prat, Sheldon Russell, Drayden Van Dyke and John...

Technological changes on the immediate horizon for the racing industry won't be so much of the gee-whiz or sci-fi variety. Instead, they'll be more like much-needed ease-of-use and cumbersome-task-simplifying tools that are currently being built and driven by massive collections of data. Tuesday's Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in Tucson kicked off with Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive officer of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), articulating a significant data point--that as of Dec. 10, 2024, the fatality rate of...

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."...