The Jockey Club Chairman Ogden Mills Phipps announced on Thursday that the
officers of The Jockey Club have commissioned a seven-member Thoroughbred Safety
Committee.
Phipps said that the committee would be asked to review every facet of equine
health — including breeding practices, medication, the rules of racing and
track surfaces — and to recommend actions to be taken by the industry to
improve the health and safety of Thoroughbreds.
“The Thoroughbred Safety Committee is a major step that will provide the
examination of the horse welfare and safety issues so badly needed in the wake
of recent catastrophic injuries,” NTRA President and CEO Alex Waldrop said in a
statement. “The NTRA supports the committee’s work and plans to work closely
with it to build support for the committee’s recommendations with the many
constituencies we represent. At the same time, we will redouble our efforts to
promote Thoroughbred racing to core and target fans as the safe, responsible
sport that it is. Now more than ever, no practice, policy or tradition is more
important than those that best protect and promote the health of the
Thoroughbred athlete.”
The recommendations emanating from the two Welfare and Safety of the
Racehorse Summits will serve as starting points for the committee. Three of the
seven members of the newly formed committee were participants in both summits.
The seven members of the committee are Stuart S. Janney III, John Barr, Jimmy G.
Bell, Dr. Larry Bramlage, Donald R. Dizney, Dell Hancock and Dr. Hiram C. Polk
Jr. Each is a member of The Jockey Club.
“All seven of these individuals have dedicated a major part of their lives to
Thoroughbred breeding and racing and have shown a consistent and unwavering
concern for the welfare of Thoroughbreds,” Phipps said. “We will reach out to
involve others in the industry and we will do everything in our power to
encourage changes that will benefit the breed in any way. We will do this in a
timely manner.”
Janney will serve as chairman of the new committee, and has plenty experience
in that role as chairman of Bessemer Trust Company and of Bessemer Securities
Corporation as well as chairman of the board of Blood-Horse Publications. A
longtime owner/breeder, Janney sits on the boards of several other industry
organizations, including the New York Racing Association, Keeneland Association
and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, where he also served as
chairman.
Barr races under the Oakcrest Stable banner and serves on the board of
directors and is past president of the California Thoroughbred Breeders
Association. He also serves on the board of directors of the Oak Tree Racing
Association. Bell is president of Darley USA near Lexington, Kentucky, and
serves on the boards of Keeneland Association, the Thoroughbred Owners and
Breeders Association and Thoroughbred Charities of America. He also serves as
vice president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders and is a member
of the Sales Integrity Task Force.
Bramlage is a partner in Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington and is
past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners. He serves on
the board of directors of Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and was
awarded The Jockey Club Medal for his dedication and contributions to
Thoroughbred racing in 1994. Dizney, who owns Double Diamond Farm near Ocala,
Florida, is a past president of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners
Association and serves on the board of directors of Breeders’ Cup Ltd.
Hancock is co-owner of historic Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky, and is
the chairman of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. She serves on the
American Graded Stakes Committee and has also been actively involved with the
Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association,
the Kentucky Horse Park and other organizations through the years. Polk is a
prominent professor of surgery at the University of Louisville School of
Medicine, as well as the emeritus editor in chief of The American Journal of
Surgery. A Thoroughbred owner and breeder, Polk served on the steering
committee for the second Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, held in
March 2008, and also serves on the board of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research
Foundation.