Dollars & Sense: The Jockey Club's Commitment to Racing

When it comes to investing in the future of horse racing and promoting Thoroughbred racing and breeding, The Jockey Club has stepped to the fore on many of the most important issues in today's sport.

That message becomes clear by perusing its inaugural annual report published Feb. 20: The Jockey Club 2024 Industry Impact Report. Since 2010, The Jockey Club has invested more than $100 million in the Thoroughbred industry. This year, it will invest at least $7 million to support initiatives ranging from equine safety and aftercare to industry promotion and national and international collaboration.  

As an industry publication, BloodHorse, of course, is not neutral on the topic—The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association are co-owners—but I think most who review the eight-page report will see the breadth of TJC's commitment.

"The initiatives supported by The Jockey Club, together with others or wholly backed by The Jockey Club, have increased substantially in the last decade and a half," said Jim Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club. "They reflect the commitment by the board of stewards to invest our profits into a wide array of projects and activities that may serve as catalysts for growth of the sport and for ensuring the safety and welfare of its participants."  

That $100 million has been committed to improving the health, safety, and welfare of Thoroughbreds in addition to consumer research, marketing, television, workforce development, and efforts to harmonize rules of racing and breeding with international jurisdictions.

Those marketing efforts catch the eye. More than ever, there's a real need for marketing of horse racing. Not all, but too many track owners seem more interested in promoting their casino-type properties than advancing racing. As part of this trend, there's been a reduction of marketing dollars to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, ending most of that group's efforts to promote the sport nationally. The report clarifies how much The Jockey Club has tried to step in to fill that void or at least some of that void.

• America's Best Racing, which has some of its stories and videos appear at BloodHorse.com, is the only national, continuous marketing campaign sustained in the sport. ABR has a large presence on social media (400,000 followers, with 80% of that group under the age of 44), and through efforts such as embedded videos with prominent owners, has allowed fans behind-the-scenes access to our unique sport.
• The Jockey Club has been a driving force in increasing the amount of television coverage of horse racing on national television networks by some 2,400%, from just 40 hours a year in 2011 to more than 1,000 hours. ABR's sponsorship with the New York Racing Association and Breeders' Cup will yield 1,000 hours of televised racing on NBC and FOX sports networks.
• The Jockey Club also offered financial grants to racetracks to fund upgrades to their video systems to high-definition signals that meet the standards set by other sports.
• Beyond bringing fans to the sport, The Jockey Club and TOBA in 2012 developed OwnerView, which hosts conferences and provides a website for information for current and prospective owners. In 2023, OwnerView offered 11 conferences on topics such as accounting and tax issues, claiming horses, business planning, purchasing horses at auction, and many others.

While The Jockey Club traditionally has shared information about its initiatives at its Round Table Conference each August, there have been calls in recent months on social media and beyond for an accounting of the many organizations involved in the sport. Beginning with this 2024 report, The Jockey Club plans to publish an annual report early each year. This one certainly is worth a read.