Posts Tagged ‘b. wayne hughes’
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
What does a former longtime editor of Blood-Horse magazine have to do with one of the leading sires of American Graded Stakes winners of 2009?
Plenty, if you ask Josh Pons, who helps run his family’s Country Life Farm in Maryland, where top sire Malibu Moon got his start at stud in the year 2000 for a modest fee of just $3,000 live foal.
This is not about yours truly, who served as Blood-Horse editor in chief from 1992-2007, but Kent Hollingsworth, who held that post (as well as publisher) with great distinction for nearly a quarter century, from 1963-86. Hollingsworth was a mentor to Pons, a former two-time Eclipse Award-winning writer for the weekly magazine (and to many others who respected Hollingsworth for his insights, intellect, sense of humor and courage). When Hollingsworth died in 1999, Pons traveled from Maryland to Kentucky to attend a memorial service at the Kentucky Horse Park.
While in Lexington for the July 1 memorial, Pons ran into horseman John Stuart, who told him about an A.P. Indy colt that suffered a career-ending slab fracture of the knee after an impressive Hollywood Park 2-year-old maiden victory for owner B. Wayne Hughes and trainer Mel Stute. Pons was looking for a stallion to add to the Country Life roster and thought, “Hey, I’m halfway to California, maybe I can find a cheap flight and go take a look at the horse.”
It meant Pons would have to miss the annual Fourth of July celebration at the farm, but he followed his instincts, got that cheap flight, and struck a deal with Hughes to buy a half-interest in Malibu Moon and bring him to Maryland. He admits there wasn’t a lot of competition to stand the horse at stud.
 To this day, even after Malibu Moon was moved to Kentucky, standing first at the late Dr. Tony Ryan’s Castleton Lyons Farm and now at Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm, that deal is paying dividends to Country Life, which retains a 25% share in the horse. In a strange kind of way, Hollingsworth gets more than a little credit.
“That such an important person in my life made this kind of a beneficial impact—even from the grave—is really kind of amazing,” Pons said of Hollingsworth. Pons said he stops by a small marker memorializing Hollingsworth at the Kentucky Horse Park when he is in Lexington.
Despite having only that one win from two starts, Malibu Moon was well received by breeders in the Midatlantic region, getting over 100 mares his first year for a stud fee of $3,000 live foal. “He was such a handsome horse that he really stood out,” said Pons. From his first crop of 62 foals came 44 winners, 13 of them as 2-year-olds, and seven stakes winners, including multiple American Graded Stakes winner Perfect Moon. At the end of 2003, he was moved to Castleton Lyons, which bought half of Country Life’s half interest. “It was a little bit like a game of poker,” said Pons, “but Mr. Hughes said 25% of the horse would be worth more in Kentucky than 50% in Maryland.” Malibu Moon’s fee went up to $10,000 for 2004, and then to $40,000 in 2005 after Declan’s Moon (from his second crop) won an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 2004. He stood four years at Castleton Lyons, then moved to Spendthrift before the 2008 breeding season. He stood for $40,000 in 2009.
“Country Life did a great job getting him rolling, and Castleton did a tremendous job while they had him,” said Ken Wilkins, who joined the Spendthrift team as stallion director in October 2007. Wilkins said the book was closed for Malibu Moon after he was bred to 152 mares in 2008 and, with overall demand down, 136 mares in 2009. Hughes, who owns about 120 mares, bred 11 to Malibu Moon himself this year.
“The last four years he’s been A.P. Indy’s leading son of stakes winners,” Wilkins of Malibu Moon. “The next hurdle for him is to be a sire of sires. With better mares coming, it’s a matter of time for that to happen.”
Malibu Moon has sired six American Graded Stakes winners of 2009, the same as Giant’s Causeway, Dixie Union, Pulpit and Candy Ride. Only his sire, A.P. Indy, has more, with eight. Malibu Moon’s six AGS winners are Grade 1 winners Funny Moon (out of an Easy Goer Mare), winner of the Coaching Club American Oaks, and Devil May Care (Red Ransom mare), winner of the Frizette; Grade 2 winner Luna Vega (Rock Royalty mare), winner of the Molly Pitcher Handicap; and Grade 3 winners Ah Day (Thirty Eight Paces mare), winner of the Toboggan Handicap, Sweet August Moon (Royal Academy mare), winner of the Las Flores Stakes, and Sara Louise (Mt. Livermore mare), winner of the Victory Ride Stakes.
Mr. Prospector’s 17-year-old daughter Macoumba, a stakes winner in France who produced Malibu Moon, is currently in foal to Distorted Humor and has a yearling by Dynaformer.
In some respects, Malibu Moon winning even one race was something of a longshot. As a foal, he was stepped on by his dam and suffered a cracked pastern. According to Pons, Hughes was told the horse would probably never race, though he recovered from that injury and blossomed in training for Stute, showing unusual precocity for a son of A.P. Indy. “Not many A.P. Indys win in May,” Pons said.
It’s a longshot for any horse that wins just one race to have the opportunity to succeed at stud, but Malibu Moon has overcome the odds. The credit for that success can be spread around, to farms in Maryland and Kentucky, and to an editor that Josh Pons will never forget.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick
Tags: a.p. indy, American Graded Stakes Standings, b. wayne hughes, blood-horse, candy ride, castleton lyons, Country Life Farm, Dixie Union, giant's causeway, Josh Pons, Keeneland, ken wilkins, kent hollingsworth, macoumba, malibu moon, mel stute, mr. prospector', pulpit, spendthrift farm
Posted in American Graded Stakes Standings, Keeneland, Stallions | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
The Breeders’ Cup has begun to let the sun shine on the annual election process that determines who ultimately sits on the organization’s board of directors. For the first time this year, the Breeders’ Cup has decided to publish a roster of eligible voters and their available number of votes; complete results of its elections, with vote counts for winners and losers; it is requiring candidates for the board of directors be declared prior to the annual meeting, with no nominations to be accepted from the floor; has established on-line voting for both the members and trustees election and for the board of directors; and its officers have agreed to abstain from voting in the board of directors election.
The process began on Monday, May 4, when stallion and foal nominators could begin nominating candidates to run for 13 openings on the 48-person Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees. By now, nominators should have received a letter from the Breeders’ Cup with a customer login and passcode to access a secure voting website that will be open for one week until May 11. Individuals must receive a minimum of 50 votes to be nominated (one vote is assigned for each foal nominated to the Breeders’ Cup and one vote for each $500 in stud fees for nominated stallions). There are 39 elected positions on the board of members and trustees, each with three-year terms, and 13 positions are up for election every year. The other individuals on the board of members and trustees are founding members of the Breeders’ Cup, past presidents and corporate officers.
When nominators go to the voting site, they should have access to a complete list of nominators and the total votes each nominator is eligible to cast. The disclosure of the nominators and number of votes is new to this year’s election.
The next step (from May 12-15), following the closing of nominations, is tabulation of the list of nominees. Individuals that received the required 50 votes are sent a consent form and will be requested to provide a short biography and suitable photo.
On May 18, True Ballot, a company that specializes in elections for labor unions, professional organizations, etc., mails nominators a letter with customer login and password information for secure online election voting. Nominators may request a paper ballot if they prefer.
Voting for the members and trustees election is open from June 1-15 among all nominators to the Breeders’ Cup program.
Following are the 13 members and trustees whose terms are expiring this year: John Amerman, Boyd Browning, Alice Chandler, Donald Dizney, Tracy Farmer, Tom Ludt, Clem Murphy, B. Wayne Hughes, Ogden Mills Phipps, Dan Pride, Richard Santulli, John Sikura, and Frank Stronach. These members and trustees whose terms are expiring are automatically re-nominated unless they opt out of the election.
On June 22, True Ballot will report the results of the members and trustees election and Breeders’ Cup will publish the results. Those results won’t be made official, however, until the annual meeting of members and trustees is held on July 9, and the candidates with the most votes are put up for election by the existing members and trustees. Prior to the vote at the annual meeting, according to section 4.2 of the Breeders’ Cup bylaws, nominations from the floor can also be made by members and trustees.
All members and trustees wishing to be candidates for two-year terms on the smaller board of directors have until 5 p.m. on June 30 to submit their names to Jim Philpott, the Breeders’ Cup corporate secretary. While the election for those open board positions (there are six this year) is conducted during the July 9 annual meeting of members and trustees, individuals unable to attend may vote through the election web site or via proxy, provided the member holding the proxy reveal the identity of each proxy he or she has received at the annual meeting. Each member is entitled to vote for up to six candidates.
The six board members whose two-year terms expire in July are: Reynolds Bell, Don Dizney, Tracy Farmer, Don Robinson (who is serving the remainder of the term of B. Wayne Hughes, who resigned from the board in January), G. Watts Humphrey, and Robert Manfuso. There are 13 elected board members, plus Breeders’ Cup president/CEO Greg Avioli.
Breeders’ Cup will publish the results of the board election, including votes, at the conclusion of the July 9 meeting.
Officers are elected at a subsequent meeting of the newly elected board of directors. According to Breeders’ Cup bylaws, no individual may serve more than five consecutive years as chairman or vice chairman of the board. Bill Farish of Lane’s End Farm is in his third year as chairman.
In a memo to the Breeders’ Cup members and trustees, Farish outlined the changes to this year’s election (publication of vote totals by nominator, full election results, on-line voting for both elections, proxy procedures, and officers electing to abstain in board of director election). “These changes to the election procedures are intended to provide full transparency to all nominators and ensure confidence in the election process,” Farish said in the memo.
The changes were requested by members and trustees who felt previous elections lacked sufficient transparency.
Additional changes have been requested, including amendments to the bylaws that would eliminate voting in the election for the board of directors by current officers (they have voluntarily abstained from the upcoming election); voting in the board of election by past presidents (James E. Bassett III and D.G. Van Clief Jr.); and voting in the board of election by founding members of the Breeders’ Cup, some of whom are no longer active in the Thoroughbred industry.
I’ll have my own thoughts on the Breeders’ Cup election process in a follow-up commentary tomorrow.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
Support the Paulick Report. Make a donation today.
Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick
Tags: Alice Chandler, b. wayne hughes, Bill Farish, boyd browning, Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, breeders' cup elections, Breeders' Cup members and trustees, Clem Murphy, D.G. Van Clief Jr., Dan Pride, Don Robinson, donald dizney, Frank Stronach, G. Watts Humphrey, Greg Avioli, Horse Racing, James E. Bassett III, John Amerman, John Sikura, Ogden Mills Phipps, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, reynolds bell, richard santulli, robert manfuso, tom ludt, tracy farmer, true ballot, trueballot.com
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Industry Organizations, People | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
B. Wayne Hughes has stepped down from the Breeders’ Cup board of directors less than three weeks after the board was involved in the controversial decision to suspend and later reinstate the 2009 stakes supplement program.
A self-made billionaire who founded and chairs Public Storage company, Hughes, 75, is a prominent West Coast-based Thoroughbred owner and breeder and the owner of Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. Hughes brought proven business skills and a strong-willed personality to the Breeders’ Cup board upon his election in January 2006, when Breeders’ Cup governance changed from a self-perpetuating board to one more democratically chosen. After joining the board, Hughes spent considerable time learning the financials and management of the Breeders’ Cup, and not long thereafter there were a number of high-level departures, including the retirements of chief financial officer Ferguson Taylor and president D.G. Van Clief Jr. It isn’t clear whether or not Hughes was the catalyst for those changes.
According to sources, however, Hughes was the most vocal opponent to the original 2009 budget presented to the board by current president Greg Avioli. That budget, with shortfalls on the revenue side caused by projected declines from stallion and foal nominations, called for an operating deficit despite a scaled-down stakes supplement program. The board asked Avioli to go back to the drawing board, and he returned with a balanced budget that included major cuts in marketing expenses and suspension of the 2009 stakes supplements.
That budget was approved unanimously by the board, but the outcry among Breeders’ Cup nominators led to a reversal within a week to reinstate the stakes supplements — at least for 2009 – using some of the $29 million in cash reserves held by the Breeders’ Cup to make up for the shortfall. Word began to circulate throughout the industry days later that Hughes had resigned from the board, though his resignation was not confirmed until today.
"Since I began serving on the Breeders’ Cup Board in 2006, we have undergone a series of changes and innovations, and I am proud to have played a role in helping chart a new course for the organization," said Hughes in a press release.
"We will miss Wayne’s passion for our industry, his business acumen and candor, and we are very grateful for his service to the Breeders’ Cup," said Breeders’ Cup chairman Bill Farish.
The Breeders’ Cup board will choose a replacement for Hughes from the larger board of members and trustees on Jan. 20. Hughes’ term expires in June.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
Visit the Paulick Report for all the latest news throughout the racing world.
Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary.
Tags: b. wayne hughes, Bill Farish, Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, breeders' cup cash reserves, breeders' cup stakes supplements, D.G. Van Clief, ferguson taylor, Greg Avioli, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, spendthrift farm, William S. Farish Jr.
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Industry Organizations, People | 5 Comments »
Monday, July 14th, 2008
On the surface, it seems unfathomable that the 40-some members and trustees, founding members and officers of the Breeders’ Cup who select the organization’s operating board of directors could have rejected Richard Santulli, whose business acumen is such that he is on the short list of candidates to succeed Warren Buffett, the “oracle of Omaha,” as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. But that’s what they did on Friday, when the group voted to fill seven positions on the 14-member board. Neither Santulli, a New Jersey-based Thoroughbred owner and breeder, or Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm owner John Sikura received enough votes to secure a board seat.
The members and trustees re-elected all five of the candidates who sought re-election to two-year terms: Breeders’ Cup board chairman Bill Farish of Lane’s End Farm, Antony Beck of Gainesway Farm, Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds, racetrack and casino owner R.D. Hubbard, and Satish Sanan of Padua Stables. Two open seats, made possible when board members Robert Clay and Joseph Shields Jr. were voted off the board of members and trustees by Breeders’ Cup nominators, were filled by Helen Alexander of Middlebrook Farm and Roy Jackson of Lael Stables.
Those seven are joined on the Breeders’ Cup board by the following individuals who were elected to two-year terms in 2007: Reynolds Bell Jr., Donald Dizney, Tracy Farmer, B. Wayne Hughes, G. Watts Humphrey Jr., and Robert Manfuso. The 14th board position is filled by the Breeders’ Cup CEO, Greg Avioli.
It is widely believed that the xenophobic duo of Farish and his father, Will, the vice chairman of the Jockey Club, lobbied heavily with the members and trustees to keep Santulli and Sikura off the board. Ironically, Santulli has been a client of Lane’s End, keeping mares at the Versailles, Ky., farm. Both Santulli and Sikura have been outspoken in their criticism of various aspects of the Breeders’ Cup in recent years. NetJets, the company Santulli founded and which is now part of the Berkshire Hathaway empire, was a Breeders’ Cup sponsor for several years but did not renew its sponsorship in 2008.
New Jersey-based Thoroughbred Daily News publisher Barry Weisbord, a close associate of Santulli, is believed to have lobbied to get Santulli elected. In addition, a number of Kentucky-based members and trustees pushed for the election of Sikura.
Simply put, Farish had the most juice in this election, and sources say it wasn’t even close.
The two new board members, Alexander and Jackson, represent old money. Alexander is an heir to the massive King Ranch, which raced 1946 Triple Crown winner Assault. She is widely respected for her independence and toughness, and support for her candidacy likely reached across the various factions.
Jackson, an heir to the Standard Oil fortune through his grandfather, William D. Rockefeller, is best known as the owner-breeder with wife Gretchen of Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner whose injury in the Preakness and unsuccessful battle to survive was a closely followed national drama two years ago. Having the conservative and low-keyed Jackson seek election was a stroke of genius by whoever convinced him to run. He and his wife, along with trainer Michael Matz, jockey Edgar Prado and veterinary surgeon Dean Richardson, were the human elements in the Barbaro story, and the Jacksons received plaudits from all corners for their handling of the horse’s post-Preakness struggles.
I’ve never heard anyone compare Jackson’s business experience with that of Richard Santulli, or his knowledge of the horse industry with John Sikura. But he is without enemies in the business and doesn’t make waves: a sure-fire qualification for an endorsement from the Farishes.
The respect for Alexander and the affection for Jackson notwithstanding, the rejection of a highly successful businessman like Santulli is mind-boggling. If he is good enough to be a candidate to run Berkshire Hathaway, it’s almost comical to think he would not be an asset on the Breeders’ Cup board.
The only conclusion I can make is that the most influential board members, led by Bill and Will Farish, are interested only in maintaining power by preventing individuals with different points of view from getting elected.
“Billionaires run the industry,” one horseman said to me after the election. “The only way to beat them is on the racetrack.”
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick.
Tags: Antony Beck, b. wayne hughes, Barbaro, berkshire hathaway, Bill Farish, Breeders' Cup, donald dizney, g. watts humphrey jr., Greg Avioli, Helen Alexander, Horse Racing, John Sikura, Joseph Shields, king ranch, lael stables, netjets, Paulick Report, R.D. Hubbard, Ray Paulick, reynolds bell jr., richard santulli, Robert Clay, robert manfuso, Roy Jackson, satish sanan, Terry Finley, tracy farmer, Warren Buffett, Will Farish
Posted in Breeders' Cup | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
Phone lines in Central Kentucky have been burning up among the nearly 50 incumbent and newly elected members and trustees of the Breeders’ Cup, who will be responsible for electing seven individuals to the 14 member operating board of directors in Lexington, Ky., on Friday.
Five members of the board — Antony Beck, current board chairman Bill Farish Jr., Terry Finley, R.D. Hubbard and Satish Sanan - are up for re-election, and all five are expected to seek a new two-year term. There are two open positions previously held by Robert Clay and Joseph Shields Jr., who lost re-election bids to the members and trustees board, voting for which was conducted in June among all Breeders’ Cup program nominators. Clay was vice chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board of directors.
John Sikura is the only new name that has surfaced as a "declared" candidate for a board seat, though others will certainly will develop by Friday’s meeting.
In the meantime, numerous phone calls are being made by members of two distinct camps seeking proxies and support in advance of what figures to be a hotly contested election for control of the Breeders’ Cup. In previous elections
Here are the members and trustees listed on the Breeders’ Cup web site or last week’s election results: Josephine Abercrombie, Helen Alexander, John Amerman, Gregory C. Avioli, James E. Bassett III, Antony Beck, Reynolds Bell Jr., Boyd Browning Jr., Doug Cauthen, Alice Chandler, Brownell Combs II, Donald R. Dizney, William S. Farish, William S. Farish Jr., Tracy Farmer, Terrence P. Finley, James E. Friess, Thomas Gaines, Lucy Young Hamilton, L. William Heiligbrodt, R.D. Hubbard, B. Wayne Hughes, G. Watts Humphrey Jr., Roy Jackson, Brereton C. Jones, John T.L. Jones Jr., John T.L. Jones III, Tom Ludt, Wayne G. Lyster III, Robert T. Manfuso, Robert McNair, Clem Murphy, Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, Charles C. Nuckols III, J. Michael O’Farrell Jr., Bill Oppenheim, James A. Philpott Jr., Ogden Mills Phipps, Dan Pride, Don Robinson, Satish K. Sanan, Richard T. Santulli, John G. Sikura, Frank Stronach, Mark Taylor, D.G. Van Clief Jr., Charlotte Weber, Barry Weisbord, and Christopher Young.
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick.
Tags: Alice Chandler, Antony Beck, b. wayne hughes, Barry Weisbord, Bill Oppenheim, Boyd Browning Jr., Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, Brereton C. Jones, Brownell Combs II, Charles C. Nuckols III, Charlotte Weber, Christopher Young, Clem Murphy, D.G. Van Clief Jr., Dan Pride, Don Robinson, Donald R. Dizney, Doug Cauthen, Frank Stronach, g. watts humphrey jr., Gregory C. Avioli, Helen Alexander, J. Michael O'Farrell Jr., James A. Philpott Jr., James E. Bassett III, James E. Friess, John Amerman, John G. Sikura, John T.L. Jones III, John T.L. Jones Jr., Josephine Abercrombie, L. William Heiligbrodt, Lucy Young Hamilton, Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, Mark Taylor, Ogden Mills Phipps, Paulick Report, R.D. Hubbard, Ray Paulick, reynolds bell jr., Richard T. Santulli, Robert McNair, Robert T. Manfuso, Roy Jackson, Satish K. Sanan, Terrence P. Finley, Thomas Gaines, tom ludt, tracy farmer, Wayne G. Lyster III, William S. Farish, William S. Farish Jr.
Posted in Breeders' Cup | Comments Off
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
The startling election results for the Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees conducted among nominators to the program teaches us one thing about this relatively new process: no single farm or entity can stack the board with its own candidates.
That is driven home by the fact that Robert Clay of Three Chimneys Farms, the current vice chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board of directors (the 14-person board elected by the 48 members and trustees), did not receive enough votes to retain his spot as a member/trustee. It is confirmed again by the election loss of James McAlpine, a longtime Magna executive associated with Frank Stronach, who presumably would have thrown the considerable clout of his Adena Springs Farm behind McAlpine in the Breeders’ Cup election process that Stronach himself helped bring about through reforms in governance several years ago. (Those reforms were detailed in a two part series in the Paulick Report: Part 1, Part 2). In voting conducted during the month of June, Breeders’ Cup nominators received one vote for every $500 they paid in foal or stallion nominations. Stallion farms with the high-end stud fees obviously hold the most votes, since a $100,000 stud fee would give a farm 200 votes in the process. Yet even with a Three Chimneys stallion roster that currently includes $460,000 in annual “published” stud fees (and, thus, 920 votes, theoretically), Clay was unable to secure enough votes to retain his seat on the board of members and trustees.
As a result, Clay, who has served on numerous industry organization boards over the last 25 years, will not be eligible to run for re-election to a two-year term on the 14-member Breeders’ Cup board of directors, the group that makes the key operational decisions for the organization. That election will be held during a meeting of the newly elected board of members and trustees in Lexington July 11. To be eligible to run for the board of directors, an individual must be on the larger board of members and trustees. Just as consensus building is necessary to get federal legislation passed in Congress, individuals seeking seats as Breeders’ Cup members/trustees must build coalitions among different groups of nominators. Clay apparently did not do that; nor did three others seeking re-election on the board of members and trustees: Robert Cromartie, Leverett Miller, and Joseph Shields, Jr.
Elected to the board of members and trustees were Helen Alexander of Middlebrook Farm; Doug Cauthen of WinStar Farm; Bill Farish Jr. of Lane’s End; Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds; Lucy Young Hamilton of Overbrook Farm; Maria Niarchos-Gouaze of Poseidon Services Inc; Charles Nuckols III of Nuckols Farm; Bill Oppenheim, a bloodstock agent who writes for Thoroughbred Daily News; Don Robinson of Winter Quarter Farm; Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Farm; Charlotte Weber of Live Oak Stud; and Barry Weisbord, publisher of Thoroughbred Daily News. Of that group, Alexander, Farish, Young Hamilton, Niarchos-Gouaze, Nuckols, and Taylor were re-elected.
In addition to Clay, Cromartie McAlpine, Miller and Shields, the following nominees to the board of members and trustees did not get enough votes for election: Bobby Flay, Arnold Kirkpatrick, Allan Lavin Jr. and Ric Waldman.
Seven of the 14 board of director seats will be open for nomination during the July 11 election, including the seats that have been held by Clay and Shields, whose terms expire. With their required departure, there will be at least two new members elected. In addition, the two-year terms of Antony Beck, current board chairman Bill Farish Jr., Terry Finley, R.D. Hubbard and Satish Sanan also expire, with each eligible for re-election.
The smaller board of director positions are staggered, and the following six individuals were elected to two-year terms in July 2007: Reynolds Bell Jr., Donald Dizney, Tracy Farmer, B. Wayne Hughes, G. Watts Humphrey Jr., and Robert Manfuso. The 14th board position is filled by the Breeders’ Cup CEO, Greg Avioli.
It may be noteworthy that Clay, Miller and Shields were considered part of the “old guard,” as each are members of the Jockey Club, which for decades has tried to assert control over many industry organizations. Not everyone newly elected or re-elected to the board of members and trustees can be classified as “old guard” or “new guard,” but victories by Doug Cauthen, Bill Oppenheim and Barry Weisbord clearly indicate that efforts were made by nominators with large blocs of vote to inject new blood into the organization that runs the two-day championships scheduled to be held for the next two years during the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting at Santa Anita Park in Southern California.
What new alliances are formed among the newly seated board of members and trustees will determine who is retained, newly elected or rejected from the smaller board. That new board, to be seated in September, will determine whether Bill Farish will remain chairman and will also elect a vice chairman of the board. More importantly, the new board will control the fate of the Breeders’ Cup—at least until the next election.
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
Tags: Allan Lavin Jr., Arnold Kirkpatrick, b. wayne hughes, Barry Weisbord, Bill Farish Jr., Bill Oppenheim, Bobby Flay, Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, Charles Nuckols III, Charlotte Weber, Don Robinson, donald dizney, Doug Cauthen, Frank Stronach, g. watts humphrey jr., Greg Avioli, Helen Alexander, Joseph Shields Jr., Leverett Miller, Lucy Young Hamilton, Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, Mark Taylor, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, reynolds bell jr., Ric Waldman, Robert Clay, Robert Cromartie, robert manfuso, Terry Finley, tracy farmer
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Industry | Comments Off
|
|
.jpg)
