The Jockey Club and The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) will host a state breeder organization workshop to share current programs to help identify best practices and areas of growth. The workshop will be held at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, November 12.

“We are honored to cohost this workshop to help grow our sport by encouraging collaboration among the state breeding programs and sharing best practices from around the country,” said James L. Gagliano, president and COO of The Jockey Club. “I believe it is vital for us to unify our industry at every level to ensure it thrives.”

The workshop will begin at 9 a.m. ET in the Oaks Room at Churchill Downs and will end at the first post. An overview of national trends will be followed by a presentation from Douglas Reed, former University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program director and longtime racing executive, now principal of Racing, Gaming & Entertainment LLC, on his work in Iowa and New Mexico. Other topics include a perspective from Maryland and Virginia tracks and discussions of various breeder programs, such as mare reimbursement programs in California, Maryland, and Indiana, and other breeder incentives.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for dialogue and cooperation between state-bred programs,” said Dan Metzger, president of TOBA. “We hope this evolves into programs and initiatives that can benefit the state breeders and racing programs across the country.”

Materials summarizing the state-bred programs will be provided by BloodHorse and are available to anyone interested.