Farish Returns as Chairman of Breeders' Cup
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Bill Farish was elected chairman of the Breeders' Cup board of directors for a two-year term during a board of meeting Aug. 7 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Farish served five years as chairman from 2006-11 before he stepped down. Tom Ludt was then elected chairman and served for two years.
Ludt, however, took a job with The Stronach Group in April of this year. He remains a Breeders' Cup board member but said he would resign as chairman.
The Stronach Group owns Santa Anita Park, which will serve as host of the Breeders' Cup World Championship for an unprecedented third consecutive year in 2014.
Antony Beck was elected to a two-year term as vice chairman, according to a Breeders' Cup release.
Industry sources said Farish won by a comfortable margin over fellow board of directors member Barry Weisbord. They were the only two in the running for the chairmanship.
"I am honored with the privilege to serve our nominators and our participating horsemen again as Breeders' Cup chairman," Farish said in a statement released by Breeders' Cup. "I look forward to working with our members and directors to strengthen our organization and to continue our mission of growth and enhancement of the Breeders' Cup World Championships as the leading international Thoroughbred racing event year after year."
Breeders' Cup has a larger board of members and a smaller board of directors.
Weisbord through Twitter congratulated Farish and said he is "looking forward to supporting his leadership."
Said Ludt: "I have enjoyed my term as chairman overseeing the continued growth and popularity of the Breeders' Cup program on a worldwide scale. It has been an honor to serve our nominators, whose continued funding and support have been invaluable to our organization and our industry."
It has been a somewhat tumultuous year for Breeders' Cup as two board members resigned for different reasons. Oliver Tait of Darley did so because Breeders' Cup backed away from its planned policy on banning race-day furosemide in all races, while Satish Sanan resigned over what he called a lack of transparency in the organization.