By Ray Paulick
Voting begins tomorrow (July 1) on the six open board seats for the 13-member Breeders’ Cup board of Directors. Candidates must be currently serving on the 48-person board of Members and Trustees to be eligible to run. Individuals from that group wishing to put their name up for election have until 5 p.m. today to notify Jim Philpott of their intention. The Paulick Report has learned who is expected to be on the ballot for that election.

Voting takes place electronically July 1-8 and is being handled by the same company, TrueBallot, Inc., that conducted the recent election of Members and Trustees by Breeders’ Cup nominators. Eligible to vote are elected Members and Trustees, Founding Members, Breeders’ Cup president Greg Avioli and past presidents James E. Bassett III and D.G. Van Clief Jr., according to the Breeders’ Cup election website.

Eligible voters also have the option to cast their vote at the annual meeting of Members and Trustees in Lexington on July 9. Curiously, the election rules approved by the board of Directors allow someone who may have voted electronically to change his or her vote if he or she attends the July 9 meeting and wishes to vote in person.

A final method of voting is the proxy, but for the first time any Breeders’ Cup Member of Trustee who is holding a proxy vote for someone else must declare who that individual is. Transparency of proxies is a good rule so that nominators in future elections can weed out individuals who are simply running for the board of Members and Trustees as “rubber stamp” candidates. If an individual doesn’t feel well enough informed about voting for the board of Directors, then that person shouldn’t be elected in the first place. In past elections for the board of Directors (before electronic voting was in place) there was a large number of proxy votes, but they were never identified.

The six open seats include four individuals who are expected to run for re-election: Reynolds Bell Jr, G. Watts Humphrey Jr., Robert T. Manfuso, and Don Robinson (appointed earlier this year to the seat vacated by B. Wayne Hughes, who resigned). The two-year board of Director terms for Don Dizney and Tracy Farmer are expiring, but neither is eligible to run because they did not get re-elected to the board of Members and Trustees.

The other seven Directors whose terms expire in July 2010 are: Helen Alexander, Antony R. Beck, William Farish Jr., Terry Finley, R.D. Hubbard, Roy Jackson and Satish Sanan.

The board tilts heavily to what I have referred to in the past as “status quo” or “old guard” members that has kept the power in the hands of the father and son duo of Will and Bill Farish. For years before Breeders’ Cup elections were held, the Breeders’ Cup Executive Committee was run by Will Farish and also included G. Watts Humphrey Jr., a longtime partner in the horse business, and Jim Philpott, an equine attorney closely associated with Farish’s Lane’s End Farm. When elections began in 2006, the “old guard” was well organized and maintained control of the board of Members and Trustees that elected the board of Directors. The latter board, in a series of meetings before its first meeting, “decided” that Bill Farish would be the Breeders’ Cup chairman, keeping power in the family.

Opposition has gradually mounted since then, through a series of controversial decisions like the one made (and quickly reversed) last December to eliminate the Breeders’ Cup stakes supplement program. The recent vote by nominators for the board of Members and Trustees, in which current Directors Don Dizney and Tracy Farmer, were voted out, could help shake up the board of Directors and bring on different points of view.

Let’s hope so.

In addition to the four incumbents listed earlier, it’s expected that the following individuals will run for the board of Directors: Tom Ludt of Vinery; Clem Murphy of Coolmore/Ashford; Richard Santulli of Jayeff “B” Stables, John Sikura of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, Olly Tait of Darley USA, and Duncan Taylor of Taylor Made Farm and Sales Agency.

Those are six very strong candidates who bring a diverse set of skills and industry and/or outside business experience. Santulli and Sikura were rebuffed in last year’s election, which outraged many breeders who recognize both men for their intellect and commitment to this industry. Santulli has an extraordinary reputation in the business world, and Sikura is widely respected as a man with, as the saying goes, "skin in the game," and a no-nonsense approach to getting things done. Murphy and Tait represent the two largest farms with the greatest global vision and would be a great asset to the board of Directors as the Breeders’ Cup seeks to expand internationally. Ludt has demonstrated independence and a common-sense approach to analysis and problem solving in various board positions, and Taylor is one of the brightest marketing people in the Thoroughbred industry today who has a compassion  and drive to see the industry  reconnect with the public.

If those six declare their candidacy, as expected, and are elected to the board of Directors, the Breeders’ Cup will be in very good hands. 

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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