The Jockey Club
The Jockey Club established in 1894 in the city of New York is a breed registry dedicated to thoroughbred horses throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The organization is responsible for the American Stud Book and plays a large role in the improvement of thoroughbred racing and breeding. Today, the Jockey Club has offices in New York, Kentucky and Lexington.
The Jockey Club was created by a group of thoroughbred breeders and owners on 9 February 1894 so as to ensure that the sport was well-organized, and has continued to play a major role in horse racing industry initiatives. Two years after its establishment, The Jockey Club took over maintenance of the American Stud Book. This stud book registers the pedigree and identification of all thoroughbreds in the racing circuit. About 37,000 thoroughbreds are registered by breeders and owners every year. The Jockey Club now has an Interactive Registration so that such individuals can make use of the Internet to register. This makes the naming of foals and submission of registrations that much easier and convenient. A feature of this Internet facility is the Online Names Book which is a database of over 400,000 names currently in use. This makes selecting a name much simpler.
Over the years since its start, The Jockey Club has created and incorporated a number of other companies, partnerships and charitable foundations, all in its efforts to improve the racing industry. Following is a list with brief descriptions of these partners. The Jockey Information Systems provides technology services to professionals in the industry as well as access to information for decision-making. Equibase Company LLC is an industry database of racing information. The Jockey Club Technology Services was formed in 2002 for advances in communications as well as data management. The Jockey Club Foundation has been set-up as a charitable trust to assist needy members with financial relief. Equineline.com is an Internet based marketplace which offers equine management programs and reports. Track Master is a subsidiary of Equibase and provides handicapping products. Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation provides funding for equine research into health and safety. Finally, InCompass centralizes software applications and systems used by racetracks and simulcast facilities to make them more efficient and cost effective.
The Jockey Club has been operating for over a century in pursuit of its mission to advance the thoroughbred racing and breeding industry and has certainly gained extensive recognition for its great expertise.
