Gralla announced as keynote speaker for Jockey Club Round Table Conference

Todd Gralla, a principal at Populous, the architectural design company that worked on the re-design of Belmont Park in New York, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Jockey Club Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, The Jockey Club announced on Wednesday.

Gralla is scheduled to discuss “cutting-edge racetrack projects around the globe” during his keynote address at the Aug. 1 conference, which will be held in Saratoga Springs. He will also give a presentation on the company’s design for Belmont Park, which was torn down earlier this year and is scheduled to re-open in the fall of 2026.

Populous is an international company with a long résumé of projects in the sporting world, including the 2006 rebuild of Ascot Racecourse in England and the recent $120 million paddock renovation project at Churchill Downs that debuted this year.

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In addition to Belmont Park, Pimlico Race Course, the home of the Preakness Stakes in Maryland, is also being torn down and re-built, in an effort with goals similar to that of Belmont Park’s reconstruction – a track with a much smaller physical footprint and modern amenities. Pimlico is expected to reopen in 2027.

Other speakers on the Round Table agenda this year include Joe Asher, the former chief executive officer of William Hill US, the betting firm, who will give a presentation on the “intersection of horse racing and sports betting,” The Jockey Club said. Over the past five years, many racetrack operating companies have signed agreements with sports-betting operators to reach out to new customers.

Meghan Rodgers, the senior vice president of public affairs for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, will give a presentation on the NTRA’s new “Safety Runs First” campaign, which was launched earlier this year. The multi-media campaign is designed to spotlight efforts in the racing industry to improve the safety of horses.

The agenda also includes two presentations on the beleaguered California racing industry, where Golden Gate Fields shut down earlier this year and the circuit’s remaining tracks have been cutting purses to address a litany of longstanding problems with declining revenues and growing expenses.

Gary Fenton, the managing partner of Little Feather Racing, will “cover the present and future of California racing,” according to The Jockey Club. In addition, Dr. Dione Benson, the chief veterinary officer of 1/ST Racing, which owns Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields, will “share how California has improved the safety of its athletes.”

The Round Table has been held annually since 1953. This year’s event will be livestreamed on The Jockey Club’s website.

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