Driving sustainable growth for Thoroughbred racing and breeding: Next Steps
James L. Gagliano James L. Gagliano: Thank you very much, Dan and Mike, for that report and for all the work you and your dedicated and talented team of colleagues have conducted over the past few months. It's exceptional.

So where do we go from here?

The Jockey Club went into this exercise knowing full well that merely compiling a set of recommendations, without a strategic plan of action and the commitment to implement, would be a gigantic waste of time and money.

So the 2011 industry study doesn't really conclude today; rather, it begins.

The Jockey Club board of stewards has authorized funding over the next five years to help implement these recommendations, in some cases with industry partners.

We will devote considerable financial, technological and human resources to this effort.

We have extended our relationship with McKinsey & Company, with Dan and Mike still at the helm, and will leverage their immense network of contacts and resources.

We are determined to create a televised racing series and are presently in discussion with several networks, television producers, racetrack representatives and sports marketing agencies.

We will build a social game to reach and attract a new audience.

We will create a free-to-play site and have retained an experienced developer of sports fantasy games to guide design, development and promotion.

And we have already started building, through our InCompass subsidiary and with input from McKinsey's quantitative specialists, a predictive tool that will help racetracks schedule more lucrative dates and times for their respective races.

These are all growth strategies that McKinsey has recommended and The Jockey Club is moving ahead now.

We said last year that this was a time of change for this industry, but it can be change for the better.

As the McKinsey team has discovered and documented, racing still maintains a tremendous appeal and an enormous potential. The core values of this sport are still strong.

Our premier events are immensely popular and we know that our best racing is still highly compelling.

We now have in our possession a comprehensive and clearly defined strategy for growth, a road map. This marks the beginning of a new effort to reach out to new audiences and retain the loyal customers horse racing already has.

When the initiatives you heard about today have progressed from "recommendation" to "reality," you will see sustainable growth for Thoroughbred racing and breeding.

Thank you for your time.


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