Industry Voices: Trackside With The Jockey Club Chair

To our racing community, This letter is the first in a new, regular series of updates from The Jockey Club, a commitment from the Board of Stewards to speak openly, consistently, and with specificity. I also want to announce our inaugural industry newsletter, and I encourage you to read it in full. Each issue will share the progress we have made, the work that is underway, and candid assessments of what is working and what is not. For more, read the TJC Spring 2026 Newsletter This is not meant to be a one-way broadcast. We want your feedback, your ideas, and your involvement. Please reach out to me directly at everett@jockeyclub.com. I promise every message will receive a response. I see a sport with extraordinary people, extraordinary resilience, and an extraordinarily bright future. I also see real challenges, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Our ambition, our commitment to one another, and our work ethic have to be bigger than those challenges. The good news is that we have already built real assets together, and they are working. Looking at the evidence from this spring, the Kentucky Derby (G1) averaged 19.6 million viewers across TV and streaming, the largest ever for the race, and it was the second year in a row that a record was set. America's Best Racing, the platform we built to reach fans beyond the physical track, generated more than 150 million video views around the Derby, nearly double the year before, with engagement up 191%. These results sit on top of work that has been building for years. We had over 3,000 unique data requests from Equibase's data pilot project, demonstrating strong demand. Additionally, our government relations push on the SAFE Act continues to make progress, and we will continue to support the WAGER Act to restore the 100% deduction for wagering losses against gambling winnings. The truth is, we do not have an awareness problem; we have a retention problem. Millions of people will watch the Derby, and most will not come back the following weekend, at least not yet. Closing that gap, every weekend of the year, is the work that needs to happen. None of this is new, and neither is the diagnosis. What has been missing is a response built to the scale of the opportunity, delivered consistently, and measured in the open. Our Strategic Framework Five pillars guide our work. They are not just aspirational talking points; they are commitments with measurable outcomes attached, and how we hold ourselves accountable and close the gap I just described. Pillar 1: Transparency Every initiative will carry measurable outcomes, and we will report them honestly: the ones that work and the ones that do not. You will hear from us on a more regular cadence, with specifics about what we are doing, why, and what the data shows. We pilot many initiatives internally and are committed to sharing those results with you. Pillar 2: Customer Service & Shared Services Our mandate is to be a service-oriented institution that raises outcomes for every constituent in horse racing. We are focusing on what shared services we could provide to improve our community. The test is straightforward: does a track, a trainer, bettor, breeder, owner, or fan have a better day because of something we did? Pillar 3: Maximizing the Value of Our Data Data is everywhere and data is everything. We will leverage our assets to make evidence-based decisions and report on industry trends regularly—think of it like labor market or inflation reporting: timely, transparent, and available to everyone who needs it. Pillar 4: Product Modernization The product a fan or a bettor actually touches (how they watch, wager, and follow the sport) has to feel modern, because that is the standard every other form of entertainment now sets. You will see investment in our technology, in measuring satisfaction directly through NPS, and in partnerships with providers like AWS. Pillar 5: Sustainable Growth Growth in this sport will not be a single number on a chart. It means two things at once: businesses built to last, and a fan base that keeps getting bigger. Our competitors are not one another; they are the thousands of other ways people can spend their time every day. We will win together through collaboration, shared investment, and a relentless focus on building the best product we possibly can. Key Initiatives: Serving Our Industry The two flagship efforts I want to highlight here show the framework already in motion. The Jockey Club's focus is to help remove barriers, fuel innovation, and bring new energy into the sport. Thoroughbred Data Hub Project We are launching an innovation incubator to modernize how The Jockey Club works, partnering with startups to solve key challenges the sport faces. Alongside it, we are building a centralized data lake with a working group of racetracks, designed to power analytics that can strengthen business models, grow the fan base, and increase field size. We have partnered with AWS and other technology experts to scope what is possible, and what we are seeing is encouraging. The horses, the traditions, and the people at the heart of this sport deserve nothing less than our full commitment to growth. Please read the newsletter, send me your honest reaction to what is in here, and hold us to it. National Marketing Program One of the most important lessons from my time with the NBA and other major sports is that fan development is not a side conversation; it is the center of the business. It is also the direct answer to our retention problem. It is early days, but we have engaged world-class marketing professionals who are working alongside us to create a sustainable proposal for our sport. This will require collaboration and partnership across the entire industry. Thank you! Several more of these initiatives will be featured at the Aug. 6, 2026, Round Table Conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. I hope to see you there. I am honored to lead The Jockey Club through this moment, and I am personally committed to building an organization that earns its place at the center of this sport and serves our constituents. We have the assets, the people, and the resolve. Now we do the work. With confidence in what lies ahead, Everett Dobson Chair, The Jockey Club