The Jockey Club

Trainer Bob Baffert now wants the federal judge handling his year-old lawsuit against Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), to recuse herself. The stated reason is that legislative lobbying efforts conducted by the judge's husband for two racing industry clients allegedly create a conflict of interest for Judge Rebecca Jennings in adjudicating Baffert's case. Baffert is attempting to reverse the second year of a two-year ban by CDI that prohibits his trainees from accruing qualifying points and competing in the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby. CDI first imposed that punishment in June 2021...

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...

Despite HISA court filings claiming everything was legal and pronouncements that the HIWU anti-doping program starts on March 27th, reality needs to set in on the Thoroughbred industry in the same way it does for a young child who comes to realize that the Christmas Eve Santa tracking report may not be true. This week's decision and mandate just issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is nothing less than a smack down for HISA. It underscores that the constitutional questions are far from settled and may actually break...

Formal dress codes will no longer be in place at any of The Jockey Club's 15 racecourses beginning this year. The move is a result on the part of the organisation to make horseracing more "accessible and inclusive". The only exceptions to the new rule are offensive fancy dress or offensive clothing of any kind and replica sports shirts. The Queen Elizabeth II Stand at Epsom Downs Racecourse will also continue to require either morning dress or formal daywear on Derby Day. Nevin Truesdale, Chief Executive at The Jockey Club,...

More than 6,700 awards and classes at more than 1,400 shows in 43 states and six Canadian provinces will be offered for off-track Thoroughbreds in 2023, The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P) announced on Tuesday. Awards are available for multiple disciplines, including eventing, dressage, Western and English pleasure, ranch riding, hunter/jumper, endurance, barrel racing, polo, and polocrosse. T.I.P. Championships in hunters, jumpers, combined test, dressage, English pleasure, and English in-hand will return this year to Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, from Oct. 5 through Oct. 8. T.I.P. Western...

Applications for The Jockey Club's summer internship program for college students and recent college graduates will open Tuesday, January 17. The program will accommodate up to three interns. "The first two years of our internship program were very successful," said Matt Iuliano, executive vice president and executive director of The Jockey Club. "The interns have been intelligent and motivated, and they have all done a tremendous job working within The Jockey Club companies. They will be an asset to any organization within our industry, which is the goal of the...

Seven new members and one honorary member have been elected to The Jockey Club. The seven new members are as follows: Victoria Dunn, Brian Finch, David Maxwell, Simon Munir, Simon Philip, The Hon. Frances Stanley, and Nicholas Wright. Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who races G1 Fillies' Mile heroine Commissioning (GB) (Kingman {GB}) with his uncle Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, was made an Honorary Member of The Jockey Club. William Sporborg, who was announced as the new Chair of Jockey Club Estates at the end of 2022,...

Amplify Horse Racing, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to education, mentorship and career opportunities in the Thoroughbred industry for youth and young adults, has announced the appointment of Annise Montplaisir as executive director. Guided by a goal to develop a platform for youth in horse racing, Montplaisir co-founded Amplify with Madison Scott in 2019, and has served as the organization's president since its incorporation in 2020. Scott remains on the board of directors alongside Price Bell, Jordyn Egan, Hallie Hardy, Laurel Humbert-Stock, Katie LaMonica, and Cate Masterson. Originally from Fargo, North...

Carl Hamilton, since 1994 the president of The Jockey Club Information Systems (TJCIS), has retired as of Dec. 31, 2022. Hamilton will remain in role as chairman of BloodHorse and will continue to represent The Jockey Club on a variety of national and international committees related to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) and the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA). Matt Iuliano will be nominated for election as president of TJCIS and continue as executive director and executive vice president of The Jockey Club. "Carl's leadership of TJCIS...

Voting is now open for the 2022 FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year, where the public will pick one of the 11 most memorable, significant, and reflective events from the last 12 months of Thoroughbred racing in North America. The FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year will be recognized during the 52nd Annual Eclipse Awards Presented by John Deere, Keeneland, and The Jockey Club at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida Jan. 26. Voting is available on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) website, NTRA.com, and via Twitter, where every...

Eclipse Award ballots were sent out electronically to voters on Dec. 12, with 19 days remaining on the calendar in 2022. That's how it's done. The ballot always lands in your in-box with a few weeks to go in the year. In a normal year, that's not a problem.  Come mid-December there are only a handful of major races left on the calendar and most Eclipse races have been wrapped up by then. But that wasn't the case in 2022. The GI Runhappy Malibu S. at Santa Anita turned into...

A $1.7-trillion omnibus spending bill that includes language that would give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) more authority over the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) passed in the House of Representatives Friday. Friday's development came one day after the bill passed in the Senate. The bill will next go to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The language in the bill relating to HISA is meant to address issues raised by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in November. That court ruled that HISA was unconstitutional...