promotion

Horse racing frequently talks about the importance of fan building, ownership development and growing our workforce. But imagine if the leading organizations in Thoroughbred racing truly joined forces to invest in tomorrow's fans, workforce, and owners. That's exactly what the golf industry did in 1997. The USGA, LPGA, Masters Tournament, PGA of America, and PGA TOUR collaborated to launch First Tee, a youth development non-profit with a mission to make golf accessible and affordable for all children. The USGA alone committed $3 million in the program's first three years--an amount...

I am writing this letter in response to the article on the New York Times opinion piece, "In a Lengthy Guest Essay, the New York Times Advocates Ending Subsidies to Racing," published in the March 1 edition of the TDN. The Times article has caused me and our industry pain from the untruths that are spoken within it. But I'm going to take a slightly different view here--let's see what is true in the article and what we need to do about it as an industry. Light Up Racing is...

The Jockey Club will invest more than $6 million to support initiatives such as equine safety and aftercare, industry growth, promotion of the sport, education, and national and international collaboration as part of its Industry Impact Report released Wednesday. "We are proud of the many initiatives we support and that The Jockey Club's mission has not wavered in more than 130 years," said The Jockey Club's President and COO James L. Gagliano. "It is so encouraging to see how many other organizations are committed to improving and growing Thoroughbred racing,...

Coolmore's Ashford Stud will enter breeders who have booked mares to Corniche, Epicenter, Jack Christopher, or Tiz the Law into drawings to award four no-guarantee nominations to Justify in a promotion called "THE JUSTIFY 4." There will be a separate drawing for each of the four stallions, with one no-guarantee nomination awarded among each pool, for a total of four. The drawing will be held on Apr. 26. The farm said that the event was being held "to celebrate Justify's phenomenal year in 2023." Justify is the cumulative leading third-crop...

Premier Racedays, an undertaking by British Racing to market and promote racing's best racedays, will launch with the New Year's Day fixture at Cheltenham, the first of some 170 such programs to be staged in 2024. Premier Racedays is part of a two-year series of changes with the aim of growing British racing by 'increasing engagement among new and existing customers, improving revenues across all areas of the industry, promoting investment in the sport through the recruitment and retention of owners, and encouraging the best horses to be bred, trained...

Woodbine Entertainment has made some changes to its senior leadership team, promoting Michael Copeland to President, Commercial and Tom Via to President, Operations. Both will report to CEO Jim Lawson. "We have a tremendous amount of opportunity before us to grow our business and the horse racing industry in Ontario," said Lawson. "I strongly believe we have the right leadership and people in place--and now we have the right structure that will enable us to maximize and fully leverage those opportunities." Copeland, who joined Woodbine Entertainment in 2021 as Chief...

Orla McKenna, who has been a member of the Tattersalls Ireland bloodstock team for 16 years, has been promoted to the position of Head of Bloodstock. Previously McKenna was the Tattersalls Ireland Bloodstock Manager. A keen pony racing competitor when she was young, McKenna also rode as an amateur for the late Dessie Hughes for a couple of years prior to joining Tattersalls Ireland in 2006. She returned to the saddle in 2018 to ride out for Gavin Cromwell in preparation for participating in the Corinthian Challenge. Tattersalls Ireland CEO...