Second Pan American Conference Scheduled

The Jockey Club and the Latin American Racing Channel will host the second Pan American Conference from May 17-20, 2017, in Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

The Jockey Club is the breed registry for Thoroughbreds in North America and the Latin American Racing Channel is a distribution company that consolidates horse racing simulcasts in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Latin America.

The announcement was made jointly March 11 at the Longines Gran Premio Latinomericano in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by JamesGagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club, and Horacio Esposito and Pablo Kavulakian, president and director, respectively, of the Latin American Racing Channel.

The organization and agenda for the conference will fall under the same team of the first Pan American Conference at the direction of Esposito, Kavulakian, and Gagliano. The Stronach Group will also play a major role in support of the conference, especially on Preakness day, the organizers said in a March 11 release.

Among the prospective topics are simulcasting, illegal betting, medication, harmonization of rules, international ratings and classifications, marketing, stud book issues, the importing and exporting of bloodstock, and Thoroughbred ownership.

The conference will also include social events at prominent landmarks around the Washington, D.C., area, concluding with a trip to Baltimore May 20, for the Preakness. Attendees at the 2015 Pan American Conference in New York City witnessed American Pharoah  's Belmont Stakes victory when he became Thoroughbred racing's 12th Triple Crown winner.

"The Jockey Club continues to be an active member of the international community, and we take pride in welcoming international guests," Gagliano said. "Those who attended the Pan Am Conference in New York found it to be an informative, first-class experience in every regard, and we are confident they will feel the same way when this one is over."

"Thoroughbreds from South American countries continue to enhance their reputation in the breeding shed and on the racetrack and they compete successfully throughout the world," Esposito said. "This conference will be educational not only for our various Latin and South American constituents but also for the numerous delegates who attend from other parts of the world."

"Collaboration of racing and breeding for the American continents has been our main goal since the inception of our company 10 years ago. We foresee this second conference as an active forum to exchange knowledge, experience, and a vision for the future of racing," Kavulakian said.

"The Stronach Group realizes the importance of industry collaboration, domestically and internationally, and we are proud to lend our support to yet another industry conference," said Mike Rogers, president of The Stronach Group's racing and gaming division. "We are equally excited to have these delegates experience the second leg of Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown."

Information about the 2017 Pan American Conference is available at panamdc2017.com and additional details will be announced in the coming months.