Posts Tagged ‘William S. Farish’
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Edited Press Release
The 2010 stud fee for two-time Horse of the Year CURLIN, who stands at Mr. and Mrs. William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Kentucky, has been reduced to $40,000 stands and nurses.
In a statement released today, majority owner Jess Jackson discussed the decision:
“We are delighted with the three CURLIN foals that we’ve seen so far, and are eagerly awaiting our home bred CURLIN babies.
We also know that times are tough for our friends in the breeding business. To continue to attract the best book of mares for CURLIN and further help our breeders, we have decided to lower CURLIN’s fee for the 2010 breeding season to $40,000.”
A classic winner of seven Grade 1 events, CURLIN is North America’s richest racehorse with earnings of $10,501,800. CURLIN, who entered stud last year, is by Lane’s End’s two-time leading sire Smart Strike.
Tags: Curlin, horse of the year, jess jackson, lane's end farm, smart strike, Versailles, William S. Farish Posted in Curlin | 13 Comments »
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
NTRA PRESS RELEASE
December 29, 2009
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers Association today announced that William S. Farish, owner of Lane’s End Farm and a pre-eminent industry leader of multiple organizations and causes, will be honored with the Eclipse Award of Merit for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in Thoroughbred racing.
Farish will receive the Eclipse Award of Merit on Monday, January 18 at the 39th Annual Eclipse Awards ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“I am so honored to have been selected for a sport which has given me and my family so much pleasure and enjoyment for the past 35 years,” said Farish, who resides in Lexington, Ky. “I am humbled to be chosen to join this list of outstanding people who have received this Award of Merit, many of whom have been long time friends.”
A successful owner and breeder who has served the Thoroughbred industry in a number of high-profile positions, Farish is one of the world’s most well-known and influential horsemen. He is a steward and vice chairman of The Jockey Club, a director and former chair of the executive committee of the Breeders’ Cup (for which his son, Bill, currently serves as chairman of the board), a member of the board of directors of the Keeneland Association, and a Keeneland trustee. He was chairman of the board of Churchill Downs from 1992-2001, where the company grew from a single race track to a multi-track corporation.
“Will Farish is deeply involved in every phase of the Thoroughbred Industry,” said Keeneland president Nick Nicholson. “If you follow the life cycle of the Thoroughbred each stage from mating, breeding, raising, registration, sales, training, racing, and then back to the farm for breeding, Will has positively impacted each step along the way. His knowledge, passion and willingness to give of his time for the betterment of the Industry and the sport have meant so much for the modern Thoroughbred world. We are grateful to have him serve as a trustee of Keeneland and appreciate his advice and counsel.”
In June, the William Stamps Farish Fund donated $1 million to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF). As a member of the PDJF board, and working with its executive director, Nancy LaSala, Farish is helping to raise some $10-12 million to endow a fund that will provide continuous support for disabled riders. “The more I explored the situation,” said Farish, “the more I realized that a sustaining pool of monies was necessary. I feel that everyone who is associated with our sport realizes that a permanent source of funding is needed improve the lives of these disabled riders.”
Farish was born in Houston, Texas and is the grandson of the late William S. Farish II, the founder of Humble Oil and Refining and chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey. Farish’s grandfather founded the famed Lazy F Ranch in Texas, which campaigned three-time Eclipse Award Champion Horse of the Year Forego in the mid-1970s.
Will Farish purchased his first Thoroughbred in 1963. In 1972, he campaigned Preakness Stakes winner Bee Bee Bee. In 1979, Farish founded Lane’s End, a stallion and breeding farm and public sales operation that covers more than 3,000 acres near Lexington, Ky. Among the 22 stallions currently standing at Lane’s End are 1992 Eclipse Award Champion Horse of the Year A.P. Indy; 2003 Eclipse Award Champion Horse of the Year Mineshaft, which Farish campaigned; leading sire Smart Strike; and Smart Strike’s sons Curlin, Eclipse Award Champion Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008, and English Channel, 2007 Eclipse Award Champion Turf Male. With the late Warner L. Jones Jr., Farish bred Seattle Dancer, who set the world-record price for a yearling when he was sold for $13.1 million in 1985. Farish is a two-time recipient of the Eclipse Award as leading breeder, including in 1999 when he and his partners bred the winners of all three Triple Crown races that year. Farish has raced more than 150 stakes winners in his name or with various partners.
From 2001-2004, Farish served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of Saint James, and the Farishes have hosted Queen Elizabeth II on her visits to Kentucky, most recently to attend the 2007 Kentucky Derby.
“In his many leadership roles over the years, Will Farish has been an immensely important contributor to the sport and business of Thoroughbred racing,” said D.G. Van Clief, Jr., former president and CEO of the Breeders’ Cup and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. “Whether serving as an Epsom Oaks-winning U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, the chairman of Churchill Downs, a trustee of Keeneland or the master of Lane’s End Farm, his presence has ensured progress and success. I know firsthand that Will’s service as the chairman of the Breeders’ Cup executive committee was instrumental to its successful launch and subsequent growth as a world championship. Without him it would not be the globally respected event it is today. Wherever Will Farish has applied his personal brand of leadership the sport has benefited, and there is no more deserving recipient of this award.”
The Eclipse Awards are bestowed upon horses and individuals whose outstanding achievements in North America have earned them the title of Champion in their respective categories. The Eclipse Awards are named after the great 18th-century racehorse and foundation sire Eclipse, who began racing at age five and was undefeated in 18 starts, including eight walkovers. Eclipse sired the winners of 344 races, including three Epsom Derbies.
The 39th Annual Eclipse Awards will be held on Monday, January 18 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. For hotel accommodations and Eclipse Awards ceremony reservations, contact Michele Ravencraft at the NTRA’s Lexington office, (800) 792-6872, or e-mail mravencraft@ntra.com.
-30-
Tags: churchill downs, D.G. Van Clief Jr., daily racing form, eclipse award of merit, eclipse awards, farish, Keeneland, Lane's End, national turf writers association, nick nicholson, NTRA, pdjf, permanently disabled jockeys fund, Will Farish, William S. Farish Posted in People, eclipse awards | 3 Comments »
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Please click here to donate to Breeders’ Cup Charities benefiting the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and V Foundation for Cancer Research. Give a minimum of one penny per mile and you will be eligible for a drawing to win one of 10 Breeders’ Cup caps to be signed by the winning jockeys of all 14 Breeders’ Cup races this Friday and Saturday.
Saturday was supposed to be strictly a driving day for the BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST fundraising drive, but Brad Cummings and I never met a racetrack we didn’t like, so when we saw that Will Rogers Downs was just a couple miles from the Claremore, Okla., exit on I-64, we felt compelled to stop.
The fundraising drive, done in partnership with Breeders’ Cup Charities, will benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
There was no live racing going on at WRD, but plenty of slot machines, simulcasting and a friendly staff. We even saw a patron arriving on horseback—not something you see every day.
The simulcast room was relatively full, and we talked with one of the regulars, a fellow who looked like a love child of Yosemite Sam and ZZ Top. He was a serious player, bringing a briefcase full of trip notes on tracks around the country, but said he was looking forward to the live meeting that begins at WRD in February. “The racing’s gotten pretty good here,” he said. “Some of the horses from the Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park will show up.”
This is one of those racetracks that probably wouldn’t be in business were it not for slot machines, or in this case Indian gaming. Will Rogers Downs is owned by the Cherokee Nation, one of three Indian tribes that own racetracks in Oklahoma. The Choctaw Nation owns Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw. That’s the track where jockey Mark Pace died earlier this month. Since that tragedy, the Choctaws announced they will be closing the track because of economic reasons related to the track’s location.
Tomorrow, we’ll be visiting Remington Park, which recently was purchased by Global Gaming Solutions, a subsidiary of the Chickasaw Nation. No track has taken ahold of the bit on raising funds for the BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST drive like Remington Park has, and I think we’ve got an exciting and gratifying day ahead of us tomorrow. Scott Wells and his staff have gone above and beyond any of our wildest expectations, and we owe a special thanks to Joy Rose Murphy, the track’s promotions coordinator.
I’m not sure I’ll feel the same way after tomorrow’s “Hippity Hop” race, when Brad and I mount giant rubber balls and bounce our way down the track against members of the local jockey colony. But if you’re going to be humiliated, you might as well do it for a good cause.
On a serious note: If our experiences with Remington Park under its new ownership are any indication, horse racing is going to benefit from the Chickasaws’ involvement in the industry. It appears they understand the value of good corporate citizenship.
The visit with Michael Straight and his family at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago will be with us for a long time. Sadly, just in the last 24 hours we’ve learned of more spills and mishaps involving jockeys, beginning with an accident at Keeneland involving Julia Brimo, a Sovereign Award winner as leading apprentice in Canada. She was listed in critical condition at a Lexington hospital. Apprentice Amanda Casey, who earlier on Friday at Aqueduct celebrated her first win of the meeting, ended up at a New York hospital with a bruised liver after getting kicked in a paddock mishap. Earlier today, we learned that Omar Moreno was involved in a spill at Woodbine in Canada.
The beat goes on, and so does the industry’s need to help provide for jockeys who are permanently disabled from riding accidents. If you haven’t made a donation to Breeders’ Cup Charities to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research, please do so by clicking here.
After Friday’s visit with the Straight family, we headed south and encountered heavy rainfall alongo the way. We thought we’d stop in and catch some racing at Fairmount Park’s simulcast room late in the afternoon, but didn’t bring our waders to walk through the parking lot to the front door. Apparently we’d just missed a heavy storm that flooded the parking lot and other businesses in the St. Louis area.
Our Saturday began with a tasty breakfast at a Waffle House in Springfield, Mo., in the Ozarks. I thought I’d walked into a bizarre rehearsal for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but Brad reminded me that it was Halloween morning, and the crew was just having a little fun. Too bad. I think the Rocky Horror Waffle House could be the next big thing in the franchise world.
Sponsors for the Chicago to Oklahoma City portion of this fundraising drive are: Global Gaming Solutions and Remington Park; Terry Finley and his West Point Thoroughbreds partners; Tommy Simon’s Vinery; and Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm.
Sponsors for our previous segments were TVG; Bill Casner and WinStar Farm; Barry Irwin of Team Valor International; Kate Lantaff of Tahoma Stud; the William S. Farish’s Lane’s End, Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley, Brereton C. Jones’ Airdrie Stud and the Young family’s Overbrook Farm.
A special thanks to our media partner TVG and the TVG’s online community for playing such a big part in promoting the drive and raising awareness and money for these charities. All sponsorship dollars go directly to Breeders’ Cup Charities, to be divided evenly between the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Tags: airdrie stud, Bill Casner, blue ribbon downs, Brad Cummings, Breeders' Cup Charities, breeders' cup or bust, Brereton C. Jones, cherokee nation, chickasaw nation, choctaw nation, darley, fox hill farm, joy rose murphy, Kate Lantaff, Lane's End, michael stgraight, overbrook farm, Paulick Report, pdjf, permanently disabled jockeys fund, Ray Paulick, remington park, rick porter, scott wells, Tahoma Stud, team valor, Terry Finley, tvg, v foundation, Varry Irwin, vinery, west point thoroughbreds, will rogers downs, William S. Farish, winstar farm Posted in Jockeys, breeders' cup or bust | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
KEEP just released an editorial in response to KY State Senator David Williams’ criticism of the Thoroughbred industry’s desire for alternative gaming in Kentucky. Are you moved by this editorial? Where do you stand on the slots issue and have any of the recent editorials changed your mind one way or the other? The Paulick Report wants to know. - Bradford Cummings
In a recent response to an editorial by Bill Farish entitled, “Gambling, Not a Partisan Issue,” Sen. David Williams continued to attack Kentucky’s horse industry in a misguided attempt to divide and conquer horsemen.
What Sen. Williams doesn’t understand is that his attacks only further cement the unity among our industry to seek alternative gaming at racetracks. The horse industry is more united today than at any time in our history because we understand the enormity of the threat posed to our competitiveness. We live it every day as we watch our racing dates eliminated, our purse money decline and owners and trainers ship horses to states where purses and breeder incentives are enriched by gaming revenue.
Sen. Williams began his editorial by saying expanded gaming is “bad economic policy for the state and for the horse industry.” I firmly disagree. Isn’t it bad economic policy for the state to stand by while its signature horse industry declines because we lack the competitive tools other states are using to capture what Kentucky already has? Kentucky has a horse industry that is world-renowned for its product. It generates a $4 billion economic impact. It supports 100,000 jobs statewide. But in the end, Kentucky’s bond with the horse cannot be measured by mere economics. It is that intangible that makes Kentucky unique.
Let’s take Sen. Williams’ points one by one.
Sen. Williams says, “expanded gambling will flood Kentucky with funds that will skew our body politic.”
In his response, Sen. Williams calls into question the Farish family’s affiliations and makes mention of political corruption in other states where gaming is allowed. This personal attack on the Farish family is an all-time low point in the gaming debate and will not go unanswered.
The Farish family has a long history of public service and staunch support of the Republican Party. William S. Farish served as United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James under President George W. Bush. His son, Bill, served as a personal aide to President George H.W. Bush. Both father and son are lifelong horsemen who are actively involved in all aspects of Thoroughbred racing and breeding. From their development of Lane’s End Farm into one of the world’s premier breeding operations, to their service with the American Horse Council, the Breeders’ Cup, The Jockey Club, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders, their commitment to the horse industry cannot be questioned.
Sen. Williams says that once slots arrive, horse owners and trainers will get the short end of the stick.
If alternative gaming is not growing purse money at racetracks in those states where it is allowed, then why are Kentucky horsemen shipping to Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia and Louisiana, among others?
Total purses in Kentucky have been stagnant or have declined since 2001. In contrast, Thoroughbred and Standardbred purses in Pennsylvania jumped nearly 40 percent from 2007 to 2008, the first full year of gaming operations. Indiana’s Hoosier Park just announced its second purse increase of the current meet. Louisiana racetracks such as Evangeline Downs and Fair Grounds are enjoying resurgence. Gaming revenues are up 5.5 percent at Florida’s Gulfstream Park compared to 2008; while Calder Race Course will open its gaming operation in 2010.
The horse industry’s plan to authorize video lottery terminals (VLTs) at Kentucky racetracks was the most comprehensive show of support for the entire horse industry—both racing and non-racing breeds—ever to be introduced in the United States. Though purse supplements for Standardbreds, Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds are the most visible allocation, revenue would be broadly distributed to enhance many Kentucky equine breeds and related programs.
Gaming funds would expand the Kentucky Breeders’ Incentive Program (KBIF), which offers economic incentives to encourage ownership of all Kentucky-bred horses, even non-racing breeds. As an example, since it’s inception in 2005 the KBIF has fueled dramatic growth in Kentucky’s Quarter Horse industry, attracting 600 new Quarter Horse stallions, more than 2,000 mares and an influx of new Quarter Horse farms.
Our proposal also dedicates revenue to promote the health and welfare of horses by funding new equine facilities and riding trails; it will enable improvements to the backside and stable areas at racetracks; properly fund the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and repeal a sales tax on feed and equipment for horses—an exemption already bestowed on other Kentucky livestock.
Though he would like to convince you otherwise, Sen. Williams’ plan is not a “horse industry” proposal. Under it, he addresses only purse money; contributing nothing to the KBIF or non-racing breeds. His proposal would redirect to the horse industry $19 million in existing tax revenues that currently go to the General Fund, which is already suffering a shortfall. He would place a 10-cent tax on lottery tickets, so your $1 lottery ticket would cost $1.10. The Kentucky Lottery Commission estimates this tax would result in significant lost lottery sales, which would adversely affect our children since all the funds go to funding the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program.
Sen. Williams says slots will not “save” Kentucky’s budget.
Kentucky’s horse industry has never made the claim that expanded gaming would be the silver bullet to Kentucky’s budget shortfall. However, what our proposal would do is generate at least $700 million in new revenue, including more than $200 million in new tax dollars for the state, and be a source of new jobs and new capital construction.
Sen. Williams says the horse industry is beset with problems endemic to the industry itself.
The horse industry competes with an explosion of casino gaming nationwide. Today, 36 states in the continental United States permit commercial, Indian and/or racetrack casinos.
Kentucky racing is battered by casino gaming forces on two fronts. First, we directly compete with six Indiana riverboats on our border, where $1.44 billion was wagered in 2008. Casinos also line Kentucky’s border with Illinois, Missouri and soon Ohio. These casinos, which include the nation’s largest riverboat, the Hollywood Casino near Lawrenceburg, are situated to take advantage of Kentucky’s major population centers.
Even more damaging to our competitiveness, each of the 12 racing states nearest to Kentucky—Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Louisiana, Florida, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Ohio—are using expanded gaming to strengthen their horse industries.
We don’t view alternative gaming as a long-term fix for Kentucky’s horse industry. Instead it will provide us with a short-term infusion of revenue we can use to spark economic development in our industry. These funds will help us compete, in the immediate future, by allowing us to raise purses and preserve Kentucky’s year-round racing circuit, renovate infrastructure, explore new marketing ventures and employ new technologies in an effort to attract new fans.
Alternative gaming at Kentucky’s racetracks will not change the behavior of Kentuckians. They already spend more than $670 million at riverboat casinos in Illinois and Indiana alone.
Sen. Williams, however, continues to stir the pot by stating that Kentuckians will have to “gamble” $11 billion to produce the $1 billion net win the horse industry proposal projects. As Sen. Williams knows, this is absolutely not true. He conveniently misuses this figure to confuse and concern. In reality, “churn”—whereby players repeatedly use their winnings to continue play—will account for most of that $11 billion gross wager. We are not asking any Kentuckian to gamble a single dollar that they are not already gambling. We are, however, asking that if they choose to gamble, they do it in Kentucky to help our own people. We don’t want a government subsidy! What we want is a level playing field. If we get this we will out-work and out-produce our competition and remain the “Horse Capital of the World”!
Tags: American Horse Council, Bill Farish, Breeders' Cup, david williams, Expanded Gaming, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jockey Club, keep, KEES, Kentucky, kentucky thoroughbred association, NTRA, Slot machines, TOBA, William S. Farish Posted in Kentucky, Slot machines, Thoroughbred Business | 41 Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Permanently disabled jockeys got a huge boost today with the announcement that the Williams Stamps Farish Fund has pledged $1 million to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, the organization currently assisting 60 former riders who have been seriously injured in racing accidents.
The president of the Farish Fund is William S. Farish, the owner of Lane’s Farm and vice chairman of the Jockey Club. His pledge, to be annualized with equal payments over four years beginning in 2009, was accompanied by a message of hope that others in the industry will also step up on this issue.
“I’ve made a lot of friends over the last 30 years who are riders,” Farish told the Paulick Report. “They are in a position that if something happens to them, they don’t have the support financially to move forward. There’s a void. I think this is something that everybody connected to our sport ought to be contributing to: owners, breeders, everyone who is involved in some way or another with racing. These are independent contractors, they’re not protected once they go down, and there’s nothing for them to fall back on.”
The PDJF was formed in 2006 with the assistance of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA Charities) and several racetracks, including those owned by Magna Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc. A number of racetracks, owners, corporate sponsors and organizations have supported the PDJF.
It was necessitated after the former Disabled Jockeys Fund administered by the Jockeys’ Guild ran out of money during the disastrous administration of Wayne Gertmenian, who was ousted in November 2005 after virtually sending the organization into bankruptcy over the previous four years. The PDJF now stands alone as a 501(c)3 charity. Nancy LaSala is executive director of the Fund, overseeing its annual operating budget of approximately $800,000.
For more on the PDJF, click here to see the May 29 feature on the organization that was part of the Paulick Report series, Good News Friday Sponsored by Liberation Farm.
Farish said the PDJF has “been on my radar for a while.” There is a separate endowment, created by the Guild, that Farish hopes can be built up to $10-million to $12-million. It currently has about $2 million, but the money cannot be used until it reaches a certain level.
The Williams Stamps Farish Fund has actively supported numerous community and racing organizations, including Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky, the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the Kentucky Derby Museum, among others.
“I’m hopeful and feel like by putting our name behind this very, very important organization, we can help financially and draw attention to the need,” he said.
“We are deeply grateful to Mr. Farish for his commitment to the PDJF and the disabled athletes it supports,” said executive director LaSala said in a press release. “Thanks to his generosity and leadership the PDJF can now focus more attention on building the endowment that will ensure that financial assistance for our disabled riders will always be available.”
Contributions to the PDJF may be directed to: PDJF, P.O. Box 803, Elmhurst, IL 60126. All contributions are tax-deductible. For inquires contact Nancy LaSala at (630) 595-7660. For more information visit www.pdjf.org.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.
Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick
Tags: churhcill downs, disabled jockeys, Lane's End, Magna Entertainment, nancy lasala, ntra charities, pdjf, wayne gertmenian, Will Farish, William S. Farish, williams stamps farish fund Posted in Jockeys, People, racing injuries | 13 Comments »
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
For those of you wondering whether I’d gone into the witness protection program following the announcement of election results for the Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees (where 10 of those elected were recommended here in an earlier analysis), fear not. As one of my mentors in this business often reminds me, family should be a person’s top priority, and I’ve spent the last couple of days carrying out his advice.
Several things stood out when the results were announced on Tuesday. First, I believe they represent a victory for continuing the trend toward transparency and openness for the organization. There should be no turning back to the days of secrecy with how the industry’s money is being spent at the Breeders’ Cup. Minutes to board meetings should be posted on the Breeders’ Cup web site, information about committees and subcommittees needs to be published, and decisions should no longer be made in a vacuum. I believe the board of directors, which has taken steps in the right direction over the last couple of years, has been put on notice in that regard during this year’s vote by nominators.
Second, I believe the results showed dissatisfaction with the status quo. Two members of the smaller operating board of directors, Don Dizney of Florida and Tracy Farmer, were not re-elected to the larger board of members and trustees. It’s that larger board that decides who to elect for the smaller operating board, and to be a candidate you have to be on the board of members and trustees. Dizney and Farmer will be replaced on the smaller board after having been defeated in the election.
Third, the results show the strength of stallion farms and coalitions, something I wrote about last year. I don’t think any one stallion operation has the votes to elect an individual to the board of members and trustees, but several farms working together can do so. And there was coalition building going on prior to and during this election process.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the leading vote getter among Breeders’ Cup nominees, Richard Santulli, is the same man rejected by a majority of members and trustees voting for the smaller board of directors last year. I wrote then that the members and trustees made a huge mistake in not electing Santulli to the board. He is a man with great energy, enthusiasm for this industry and great business experience that could be put to extraordinarily good use by the Breeders’ Cup. He is chairman of NetJets and often is mentioned as a potential heir apparent to Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet. Perhaps the “old guard” on the board of members and trustees voted against Santulli because NetJets dropped its Breeders’ Cup sponsorship, or maybe because he is closely associated with Thoroughbred Daily News Publisher Barry Weisbord, who can be a prickly critic of the status quo. It’s also widely believed that Santulli felt the Breeders’ Cup should have sought executive experience from outside of horse racing when current Breeders’ Cup president and CEO Greg Avioli was given the job in 2007. Putting him on the smaller board could add some discomfort to management.
Whatever the reason, the nominators in this election voiced strong disapproval of the vote to keep Santulli off the operating board. Let’s hope he still has the interest in giving his time, energies and insights to the industry and will submit his name for nomination later this month.
There are six open spots on the board of directors, and if dissatisfaction with the status quo and the old guard carries over into that election, we could have a significant change in philosophy on the operating board. As mentioned, the board positions currently held by Tracy Farmer and Donald Dizney are open because they failed to be re-elected to the board of members and trustees. The other four candidates that are up for re-election are Reynolds Bell, Don Robinson (appointed to fill out the remainder of the term held by B. Wayne Hughes, following the decision by Hughes to resign from the board earlier this year), G. Watts Humphrey and Bob Manfuso.
Bell and Humphrey are closely associated with Lane’s End Farm, owned by William S. Farish, the father of current Breeders’ Cup board chairman Bill Farish. For years, Humphrey and the senior Farish were the guiding force of the Breeders’ Cup executive committee, back when the organization practiced limited transparency and operated under the auspices of a self-perpetuating board.
While the old guard from the Jockey Club (Farish is a Jockey Club member, his father-in-law is chairman Ogden Mills (Dinny) Phipps and his father is vice chairman, Humphrey is a longtime member and former steward, and Bell is a member and current steward of the club) did maintain control in the last board election, their grip on power has been weakened. I expect the slate of candidates from opponents of the status quo/old guard to make a concerted effort to defeat Humphrey and Bell in the upcoming election. Sources say Bell, who does extensive bloodstock work for Lane’s End, has been hand-picked by the Farishes to replace Bill Farish as Breeders’ Cup chairman if Farish serves five years, the limit for a chairman under the organization’s current bylaws. He has served three years in that role.
There will be much more here in the coming weeks on the Breeders’ Cup board election, which takes place during a meeting of the newly elected members and trustees on July 9. Candidates seeking a position on the board have until June 30 to state their intention to run.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in 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: Barry Weisbord, Bill Farish, bob manfuso, Breeders' Cup, breeders' cup election, Dinny Phipps, Don Robinson, donald dizney, G. Watts Humphrey, Greg Avioli, Jockey Club, lane's end farm, netjets, Ogden Mills Phipps, reynolds bell, richard santulli, tracy farmer, William S. Farish Posted in Breeders' Cup, Industry Organizations, Jockey Club | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
“I’m often credited with the motto, ‘Only the paranoid survive.’ I have no idea when I first said this, but the fact remains that, when it comes to business, I believe in the value of paranoia.” – Andrew Groves, founder and former chairman, Intel Corporation.
“Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me.” Anonymous.
There appears to be a mixture of both paranoia and rational thinking when it comes to how governance over the Breeders’ Cup has evolved in the last decade among the different camps that have fought behind the scenes to control this critically important industry organization.
For most of its 25-plus years, the Breeders’ Cup was run by a small executive committee headed by Jockey Club vice chairman and Lane’s End Farm owner William S. Farish, and later by G. Watts Humphrey, a Jockey Club steward and a partner in many of Farish’s equine interests. Board meetings were perfunctory events where self-perpetuating members of the Breeders’ Cup board did little more than rubber-stamp decisions made by the executive committee. Breeders’ Cup management carried out those directives.
Some breeders grew increasingly frustrated over this “private club” style of leadership and made demands for change: specifically, a more democratically elected Breeders’ Cup board of directors and one that isn’t controlled by a small executive committee. Significant change came in 2005 with amended corporate bylaws and articles of incorporation that allowed breeders who nominate foals and stallions to the program to vote for a board of 39 members and trustees. Those members and trustees would then elect a smaller operating board of directors to guide the organization.
At first blush, it looked as though the individuals who had controlled the Breeders’ Cup (namely Farish and Humphrey) were acceding to a democratic system (or at least one based on one vote per $500 in Breeders’ Cup nominations). But a closer look suggests they may have found ways to tip the scales of the election in their favor. In fact, a Farish has been able to maintain control of the Breeders’ Cup under the new election process, but it’s William Farish’s son, Bill, who has held the title of chairman of the board since the new system was adopted and the first reconfigured board of directors elected in 2006.
The "election" of Bill Farish as chairman was a fait accompli even before the new board had its first meeting. "We have decided to elect Bill…" several newly elected directors were told on the eve of that first meeting, at which there was little discussion about a chairman. Farish has two years left to be chairman (term limits prohibit anyone serving more than five consecutive years as Breeders’ Cup chairman or vice chairman), and ground work is said to already be under way for Reynolds Bell, who does bloodstock work for Lane’s End, to replace Farish as chairman.
Back to the election of members and trustees. There is a section of the bylaws that permits the standing board of members and trustees to veto anyone voted onto the board by stallion and foal nominators. That authorization hasn’t been used since it was incorporated into the bylaws, but why is it even there? Is it possible this may be used in the event the people in control of the Breeders’ Cup become paranoid and worry that their grasp on power is in jeopardy?
Another example: Why would the current bylaws allow corporate officers (including paid employees) to participate in the election for the board of directors? Whether you are paranoid or thinking rationally, you’d have to assume that the paid officers, if they wanted to keep their jobs, would vote to maintain the status quo. The same goes for the section in the bylaws that allows past presidents to vote in the board of directors election. Currently, James E. Bassett III and D.G. Van Clief Jr. are permitted to vote for the board of directors at the annual meeting of members and trustees. Whenever the tenure of current president and CEO Greg Avioli ends, he will also have the right to vote for members of the board of directors.
Would it be paranoid to suggest that these three officers and two past presidents would be considered “safe” votes for the incumbents, as, represented by Farish and son?
For this year’s election of the board, to be held in July, the three corporate officers have agreed to abstain from voting. That’s a good move to alleviate concerns over conflict of interest, but the clause permitting their vote should be stricken from the bylaws. Past presidents Bassett and Van Clief should also agree not to vote in the election, and there is no reason to include past presidents in this decision making process.
Then there is the matter of the Founding Members, those individuals who put up $10,000 apiece as seed money when the Breeders’ Cup was established. The current founding members are Brownell Combs II (formerly of Spendthrift Farm), William S. Farish (Lane’s End), Jim Friess (appointed by Claiborne Farm’s Seth Hancock, the actual founding member), Brereton C. Jones (Airdrie Stud), John T. L. Jones Jr. (director emeritus of Walmac Farm)and John Nerud. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time to give certain lifetime rights to these individuals, but at least two of these founding members are no longer active in the business and it makes no sense for them to be able to vote annually on the election of board members. This is especially true when you consider the individuals (Sheikh Mohammed, John Magnier, Robert Clay, Tom Simon, Duncan Taylor, among others) who have put up huge sums in nominations and have to stand for election in order to have a vote for the board of directors.
So what we have is a sort-of democracy. One that allows nominators to vote for members and trustees (whose sole authority is to elect a board of directors), but which also says the existing members and trustees can exclude whoever has been elected by those nominators. It’s a democracy that gives current and past paid employees just as big of a say in shaping the board of directors as people who have put millions of dollars into the program and have to stand for election.
To the credit of the Breeders’ Cup, there has been progress (click here to read the Paulick Report article on this year’s election), though it would not have been made without criticism, paranoid or otherwise, of how the current election system is shaped. The old guard that’s run the Breeders’ Cup has come a long way, but there’s more to be done.
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: Bill Farish, Breeders' Cup, breeders' cup election, breeders' cup founding members, Breeders' Cup members and trustees, brownell combs, D.G. Van Clief, duncan taylor, G. Watts Humphrey, Greg Avioli, James E. Bassett, jim friess, Jockey Club, john magnier, john nerud, john t.l. jones, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, reynolds bell, Robert Clay, Seth Hancock, sheikh mohammed, tom simon, William S. Farish Posted in Breeders' Cup | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
President Barack Obama, on his first full day in office, called for higher standards in transparency and accountability for his administration. While there already have been some bumps on that road, our new president’s demands are in line with a broader movement toward greater transparency, accountability and openness, not only in government but in private enterprise as well.
A recent scandal in Lexington, Ky., involving the executive director of Blue Grass Airport and several of his key staff was uncovered only after the local newspaper, the Herald-Leader, filed an open records request and examined travel and expense reports of airport executives. What the paper found was shocking: thousands of dollars of taxpayer’s money spent on a night of partying at a Texas strip club, airport credit card purchases of a shotgun, audio systems, DVDs and other items seemingly unrelated to the operation, including scalped tickets to a Hannah Montana concert at Rupp Arena.
The airport’s oversight board at first dismissed the newspaper’s charges that the executive director’s travel and entertainment expenses were exorbitant, but after conducting an internal audit discovered numerous irregularities and suspended him. Shortly thereafter he resigned.
The episode teaches us several valuable lessons, including the importance of a free press, open records law, and vigilance by members of oversight boards. Without transparency or sunshine laws, it’s likely the airport scandal never would have been uncovered and taxpayers would continue to be abused by officials entrusted to serve them.
While I am by no means suggesting similar transgressions are taking place, a call for greater transparency and accountability is also at the heart of Thoroughbred owner and breeder Peter Blum’s recent criticisms of the Breeders’ Cup – a non-profit company funded in part through stallion and foal nominations by thousands of breeders. Following a guest commentary he wrote for the Jan. 10 edition of the Thoroughbred Times and a follow-up letter to the editor published in both the Jan. 31 Thoroughbred Times and Feb. 2 Paulick Report, Blum has heard from a number of fellow horsemen who are in philosophical agreement.
“As a result of my willingness to speak out, many people have contacted me and have expressed their concerns and serious reservations about Breeders’ Cup management,” Blum told the Paulick Report. “One theme that continually comes up when people share their thoughts with me is, ‘What are they trying to cover up?’ Have there been any bonuses recently paid, particularly in this troubling economy when (President Obama) in the last few days referred to bonuses paid to bankers as shameful, outrageous and the height of irresponsibility? If there have been any bonuses, who got them, when they did get them, and how much did they get? And if they were given, why were they given, especially in light of the Breeders’ Cup announcement to cut off supplemental funding for 121 races throughout the year? (That decision was quickly reversed.) Furthermore, have there been any recent senior management contract extensions. If so, who got them, and when and why were they given?”
Blum sees things only getting worse unless there are changes in how the Breeders’ Cup operates. “There is very little transparency and it is apparent that is the core of all major issues,” he said. “Does the Breeders’ Cup management not understand how angry its members are? Unless transparency soon occurs, the Breeders’ Cup cannot succeed in its present form. And has there been any disclosure to membership of an agenda of board member meetings, votes, and minutes? If not, why not?”
The Breeders’ Cup moved toward a democratically elected board in 2006 after complaints from some breeders that it had been run for too long by a handful of people selected by a self-perpetuating board of directors. But as Blum pointed out in his letter to the editor, there are flaws in the revised bylaws that appear to stack the election process in favor of the status quo.
Thirty-nine individuals are elected to the board of members and trustees by stallion and foal nominators (each year, 13 of the 39 seats are up for election to three-year terms). Those members and trustees are responsible for electing the 13-member operating board of directors. However, in addition to the 39 elected members and trustees who vote for the smaller board, also given votes in the small board election are six “founding fathers” of the Breeders’ Cup: Brownell Combs, formerly of Spendthrift Farm; William S. Farish of Lane’s End; Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm (whose proxy has been permanently bestowed upon farm executive Jim Friess); Brereton Jones of Airdrie Stud, John T. L. Jones, director emeritus of Walmac Farm; and James Philpott, an attorney who has served as Breeders’ Cup secretary. Two former Breeders’ Cup presidents, James E. (Ted) Bassett III and D.G. Van Clief Jr., also are entitled to vote in the small board election, as are four current officers of the Breeders’ Cup, including CEO Greg Avioli.
It strikes me as unfair to “grandfather” any founding fathers onto the board of members and trustees. When the U.S. Constitution was written, individuals who signed the Declaration of Independence were not given a lifetime seat in Congress. Representatives of farms like Coolmore, Darley and Three Chimneys, among many others that have been major financial contributors to the Breeders’ Cup, are forced to actively run for a board seat while those farms associated with founding members get an automatic seat. Furthermore, at least two of the founding Breeders’ Cup members are no longer actively engaged in the business. Doesn’t seem right.
It also seems downright scandalous to allow paid staff, including CEO Avioli, to vote for who their bosses will be on the operating board of directors. Human nature suggests they will always favor those who butter their bread.
Blum also takes issue with how votes are allocated to those farms with stallions (stallion owners are entitled to one vote for each $500 of a stallion’s stud fee).
“It appears that large farms standing stallions may control the outcome of the election of inner and outer board members,” Blum said. “For example, if Gainesway stands a syndicated stallion like Tapit or Mr. Greeley, the farm is given all of the votes, not the actual owners or shareholders of the stallion. If this is true, won’t this inequity come as a surprise to most breeders?” (Editor’s note: It is believed that some stallion syndicate agreements may convey Breeders’ Cup votes to majority shareholders.)
As a result of the inequities he sees in the bylaws, Blum calls for widespread change in the election process.
“In view of the existing controversy, will management agree to submit to membership the right to hold a new election for board members under a more democratic process sooner rather than later?” he asked. “When will the BC provide an accounting of all the nomination fees paid in, and why have we not received them to date?”
Breeders’ Cup board member Satish Sanan wrote a rebuttal to Blum’s commentary that was published in the Thoroughbred Times of Jan. 24. Sanan later spoke with the Paulick Report about some of the issues raised by Blum, along with his own role as chairman of a Breeders’ Cup strategic planning committee.
“Mr. Sanan appears to be a constructive voice at the Breeders’ Cup and I hope his efforts bring much needed changes in transparency and benefits to breeders,” said Blum.
Blum said he hopes his decision to speak out on the management and direction of the Breeders’ Cup is not misinterpreted
“My remarks were intended as constructive criticism of Breeders’ Cup management and recommendations for change,” he said. “In no way were they made to be personal in nature or an attack on the Breeders’ Cup concept or festival of racing. On the contrary, my remarks were intended to encourage needed change and redirection of management.”
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: airdrie stud, barack obama, blue grass airport, blue grass airport scandal, Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, brereton jones, brownell combs, Claiborne Farm, coolmore, D.G. Van Clief, darley, gainesway, Greg Avioli, James E. Bassett, james philpoptt, jim friess, John T.L. Jones Jr., Lane's End, Paulick Report, peter blum, Ray Paulick, satish sanan, Seth Hancock, spendthrift farm, Ted Bassett, Three Chimneys, walmac farm, Will Farish, William S. Farish Posted in Breeders' Cup, Industry Organizations | 21 Comments »
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Satish Sanan has never been afraid to speak his mind, whether he’s at a Thoroughbred auction, the racetrack or a corporate boardroom. Still a relative newcomer to this industry (he and wife Anne bought their first yearlings at Keeneland in 1997 for his family’s Padua Stables), Sanan has been a proponent of greater transparency and disclosure in many facets of racing and breeding.
A native of India who was educated in England and is now a U.S. citizen and successful businessman, Sanan was first asked to join the Breeders’ Cup board in 2003. He was elected to the 13-member board of directors when the organization restructured its governance in January 2006. “I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the Breeders’ Cup,” Sanan told the Paulick Report, “but I’ve seen a lot of progress lately.”
If there is progress in the future, Sanan might deserve a large share of the credit. He is head of a strategic planning committee that’s hired a world-class consulting firm to examine virtually every aspect of the Breeders’ Cup and present a strategic plan to the board of directors in July. The committee was his idea, after he criticized the organization for not having a five- or 10-year strategic plan, instead operating tactically on a year-to-year basis and making decisions on what Sanan called “knee jerk reactions” to events.
But while Sanan has been critical of some aspects of the Breeders’ Cup, he strenuously objected to the tone and content of an editorial written by owner-breeder Peter Blum that appeared in the Thoroughbred Times of Jan. 10, 2009, and was referenced here in the Paulick Report. Sanan wrote a rebuttal to Blum that was published in the Jan. 24 edition of the Thoroughbred Times, citing a series of changes and improvements to the Breeders’ Cup since the new board was elected three years ago. (Neither Thoroughbred Times commentary is available online.)
“I felt the (Blum) article was all negative and non-factual,” Sanan told the Paulick Report. “He is objecting to a number of things, but doesn’t back it up with anything, and I tried to go through it step by step and back it up with a lot of data.”
Sanan said there are some who will criticize “whatever the Breeders’ Cup board and its management do. The perception is that it’s still the ‘old guard,’” he added, “that (board chairman) Bill Farish runs it and his dad (William S. Farish of Lane’s End) tells him what to do. But the reality is a lot of people on that board are pretty damned vocal and will say what they want to say. From operations to communications to financial management to the whole structure, I tell you it is so much better than it was five years ago.”
The younger Farish and chief executive officer Greg Avioli worked closely with Sanan in the early stages of the strategic planning process, beginning in August and September. “We asked for volunteers (among the 48 individuals on the Breeders’ Cup board of members and trustees) and got a very positive response, with more than 15 committee members,” Sanan said.
During a personal trip to London, Sanan scheduled an appointment with Spectrum Value Partners, a global consulting firm that was referred to him by Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League and majority owner of the English Premier League football giant Manchester United. Spectrum Value Partners offers strategic advice to a number of telecom and media clients worldwide, and also has a roster of sports clients, including several teams in the English Premier League. They also have had some horse racing clients, according to Sanan, including At the Races television, the Melbourne Cup and Victoria Cup. Click here to learn more about some of the sports consulting done by Spectrum Value Partners.
“We needed a firm that can take a 500,000-mile view and help us put together a five-year plan,” Sanan said. “The Breeders’ Cup needs to put a plan in place, like NASCAR did 10 years ago, something that says, ‘Here is where we want to be in five years, or 10 years.’
“They did a terrific presentation to the board, and the process has started,” Sanan said.
The first step was development of a lengthy questionnaire distributed to the 48 Breeders’ Cup members and trustees. The nearly 70 questions cover considerable ground, including sections on governance, nominations, perceptions about the Breeders’ Cup, comparisons with other sporting events, international issues, external challenges, and expectations about the future. The consulting team from Spectrum Value Partners, led by partner William Field and assisted by Janice Hughes, Richard Mooney and Sam Evans, will then conduct one-on-one interviews with roughly 50 major industry stakeholders from around the world. It will also gather information from racetracks and horseplayers, Sanan said.
In the midst of this, a two-day retreat for the strategic planning committee will be held in South Florida in February.
“One of the things I’ve been critical of is that we rely on one-day of revenue (now two days) with the championship races and on stallion and foal nominations,” Sanan said. “Breeders’ Cup needs to find alternative forms of revenue and not be dependent on foal nominations from breeders, but to somehow do more for breeders. Should we consider multiple cities for the event, like the World Cup does in soccer? We are in the baking stage, but I believe something good is going to come out of this.
“Whether or not it will be implemented remains to be seen.”
Putting together strategic plans is something Sanan has done in all of his businesses. “If you can put together a five-year plan and execute it, it’s very helpful,” he said. “You may have to adapt the plan each year, tweak it a little because of external events, but we’ve always executed these plans in my businesses. For some reason, a lot of people don’t do it in this (the Thoroughbred) industry.
“There is a big difference between running a business and building a business,” he added. “It’s in building and growing and transforming that you learn a great deal. The Breeders’ Cup is a great entity with a good brand name. We should be able to generate a couple hundred million dollars worth of revenue. This can be transformed into a huge, international, highly successful organization. Whether we can get there or not, I don’t know. But as part of the process, I’m going to give it a go.”
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: at the races, Bill Farish, Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup board of directors, Breeders' Cup World Championships, english premier league, Greg Avioli, Horse Racing, malcolm glazer, manchester united, melbourne cup, nascar, padua stables, Paulick Report, peter blum, Ray Paulick, satish sanan, spectrum value partners, tampa bay buccaneers, Will Farish, William S. Farish Posted in Breeders' Cup | 10 Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
By Ray Paulick
One of the first projects that landed on my desk when I joined the Thoroughbred Times as managing editor in 1988 was a feature story on the Jockey Club, the organization historically entrusted with registering Thoroughbreds and being the keeper of the Stud Book. The article was accompanied by a lengthy mail-in survey of Thoroughbred Times readers. The story and the survey results were of great interest, for at the time I had no idea how broadly the Jockey Club reached across the entire industry and how unhappy rank and file breeders then were with the organization’s service, pricing and activities.
It should be noted that there was an agenda to the article. The Thoroughbred Times was then owned by Richard F. Broadbent, whose Bloodstock Research Information Services was facing new competition from a subsidiary of the Jockey Club. There were questions about whether a tax-exempt breed registry like the Jockey Club should create a subsidiary to compete with a private enterprise company like BRIS, which supplied statistical data to breeders, owners and various publications. A few years later, the Jockey Club helped form another for-profit company, Equibase, which competed with the Daily Racing Form to collect racing results (the Form eventually closed its track and field operations and became Equibase’s biggest customer). The Jockey Club has since started other for-profit businesses.
One of the things that struck me was the comparison between how the Jockey Club and the American Quarter Horse Association conduct their business. The Jockey Club is clearly a breed apart from its Quarter Horse counterpart. The AQHA, then and now, is a relatively transparent organization, one whose membership is open and whose leadership is democratically elected through regional and national elections. There is a board of directors, from which comes an executive committee and elected officers. The AQHA has term limits that prevent individuals from maintaining longstanding control of the organization. The AQHA web site publishes a great deal of information about its governance and membership rules, which can be read here.
By comparison, membership in the Jockey Club has always been by invitation only. Click here for an explanation about membership. It is "governed" by a rotating board of stewards, though that term is used loosely since the Jockey Club has been under the firm control of just two men since 1982, when Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps was named chairman and William S. Farish became vice chairman (pictured left). Click here to see the current list of Jockey Club members, stewards, and officers.
The AQHA is a huge organization that maintains the registration of more than five million Quarter Horses, with 135,000 registered in 2007 alone. There are nearly 350,000 AQHA members. According to Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for tax exempt organizations, the AQHA generated $54.4 million in revenue in the 2005-06 fiscal year, the most recent year available. At that time it had $73 million in total assets, including nearly $49 million in investment securities. Click here for the AQHA Form 990.
The AQHA, like the Jockey Club, maintains pedigree records, but also promotes the Quarter Horse breed through horse shows and publishes three magazines (the Quarter Horse Journal, the Quarter Horse Racing Journal, and America’s Horse) that had total circulation of over 400,000 in 2006.
The AQHA charges as little as $25 to register a Quarter Horse foal if done within seven months of birth. The organization is based in Amarillo, Texas, and its highest-paid officer, longtime executive vice president Billie G. Brewer, earned an annual salary of $424,928; treasurer Lee Callaway was paid $221,965 (both figures are from the IRS Form 990.) The two executive salaries represented 5.5% of the AQHA’s total payroll of $11,725,124.
The Jockey Club is also a rich organization, one that is exempt from federal taxes but also has several wholly owned for-profit subsidiaries. The Jockey Club’s 2006 IRS Form 990 states that it registered 37,300 foals that year. The Jockey Club generated $13.2 million in revenue in 2006, the most recent year the figures are available. It claimed $32 million in total assets, including $21.6 million in investment securities. Click here for the Jockey Club Form 990.
In addition, the Jockey Club claimed that its subsidiaries generated over $25.7 million in income for 2006 ($13.7 million by TJC Holdings Inc. & Subsidiaries, which is engaged in information services and software solutions; $4.9 million by The Jockey Club Racing Services, for the collection of Thoroughbred racing data; and $7.1 million by The Jockey Club Technology Services, Inc., for its technology services). Click here for more information on those subsidiaries, which include shared ownership in the data collection company Equibase, and full ownership of TJCIS (The Jockey Club Information Systems and data supplier Equineline), and InCompass Solutions, which provides software systems for racetracks.
The Jockey Club’s IRS Form 990 lists its annual Round Table Conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., publication of its Fact Book, and providing financial support to other industry organizations among reasons for its tax-exempt status, in addition to its breed-registry responsibilities.
The Jockey Club charges $200 to register a Thoroughbred foal, considerably higher than the AQHA’s fee. Its last increase was in 2000, when it was upped from $175. The Jockey Club, which for many years was known as the “New York Jockey Club,” relocated its registration department from New York to Kentucky in 1988.
Its highest-paid officer is president Alan Marzelli (pictured, left), who earned $672,796 in 2006, 58% more than the AQHA’s top executive. The Jockey Club has three executive vice presidents: James Gagliano, with a salary of $256,885; Daniel Fick, $243,546; and Laura Banllaro, $243,804. IRS Form 990 also lists but does not itemize another $542,776 in 2006 pension plan contributions for those officers. The salaries represented 39.1% of the Jockey Club’s total payroll of $3,626,092 (exclusive of its subsidiaries, each of which have its own executive staff and employees).
The Jockey Club’s 2006 tax return came to light recently when an entity called “CTBA Boardwatch” (which generally concerns itself with the inner workings of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association) distributed IRS Form 990 to numerous individuals. A number of those people contacted the Paulick Report and were outraged over the salaries paid to Marzelli and his three executive vice presidents.
I don’t know the going rate of executive compensation for a tax-exempt company in New York, where three of the four Jockey Club officers are based (only Dan Fick, a former AQHA executive, is located in the Lexington offices of the Jockey Club). Perhaps those numbers are perfectly in line with other non-profits. I would imagine, though, that the going rate for an executive staff is higher in New York than it would be in Kentucky.
It does seem strange to me that the Jockey Club continues to maintain a nicely appointed office in the high-rent district of midtown Manhattan, on 52nd Street just off Park Avenue. I doubt that it’s gotten many walk-in customers seeking to register their foals since the registration department was moved to Lexington more than 20 years ago. It is conveniently located near the headquarters of Bessemer Trust, the Phipps family-run wealth management firm whose offices are just a few blocks away on Fifth Avenue.
I asked Jockey Club communications officer Bob Curran why the Jockey Club continues to have a New York office 20 years after the organization’s primary function was relocated to Lexington. A few days later I received the following statement from Jockey Club president Marzelli: “Beginning in 1989, when the first of our commercial subsidiaries was incorporated, The Jockey Club has created and developed a group of for-profit subsidiaries and strategic partnerships, each designed to serve specific segments within the industry by utilizing highly efficient, state-of-the-art technology platforms. We have built and managed this growing list of technology-based companies with a corporate office based in New York and operations centers in Lexington, Ky., and Mountain View, Calif.”
That didn’t really answer the question “why a New York office is necessary” although it did tell me something I didn’t know; namely, that the Jockey Club now has a division in California’s high-tech Silicon Valley town of Mountain View.
The bigger question is who is the Jockey Club accountable to. Is it simply Phipps and Farish and their hand-picked stewards? Is the breeders who have paid registration fees over the 100-plus years of its existence? Is the Thoroughbred industry at large? If there is accountability to the industry, why isn’t there more transparency in the operational and financial activities of the Jockey Club and its various subsidiaries? Why is its membership so restrictive and its governance so secretive?
James Gagliano, one of the aforementioned executive vice presidents, touched on some of these questions, during the Jockey Club Round Table in August in which he discussed some of the activities of the Jockey Club and its affiliate for-profit companies. Click here to read Gagliano’s remarks.
Are you satisfied that the Jockey Club is properly and responsibly representing the best interests of the Thoroughbred industry? Let us know in the comment section below, or take the Daily Paulick Poll about the Jockey Club and its activities, located on the left-hand column of the Paulick Report home page.
Copyright © 2008, 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: Alan Marzelli, american quarter horse association, aqha, bessemer, bessemer trust, billie brewer, billie g. brewer, bloodstock research information services, bob curran, breed registry, bris, california thoroughbred breeders association, ctba, ctba boardwatch, daily racing form, dan fick, Dinny Phipps, equibase, Horse Racing, incompass, james gagliano, Jockey Club, jockey club racing services, jockey club round table, jockey club steward, jockey club survey, jockey club technology services, laura banllaro, Ogden Mills Phipps, Paulick Report, phipps family, quarter horse, Ray Paulick, richard f. broadbent, the jockey club information systems, thoroughbred, Thoroughbred breeding, thoroughbred times, tjc, tjc holdings, tjcis, Will Farish, William S. Farish Posted in Breeding, Industry Organizations, Jockey Club, daily racing form | 27 Comments »
|
|