Janney elected Jockey Club chairman
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Stuart Janney III, The Jockey Club’s vice chairman since 2010, was elected the chairman of the organization at a board meeting Saturday, filling the spot vacated by Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps, who announced his resignation earlier this year, effective with the Saturday meeting.
Janney, an owner and breeder whose family has bred numerous horses in partnership with the Phipps family, has served on The Jockey Club’s board since 1992 and was widely expected to be elected chairman. He is also a board member of the New York Racing Association, which operates Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga; Keeneland, the Lexington, Ky., racetrack and sales company; and King Ranch Inc. He has been the chairman of The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee since 2008.
Phipps, the head of one of the most influential owning and breeding families in the sport, has been the longest-serving chairman in Jockey Club history, taking the helm 32 years ago in 1983. He has suffered from a variety of health problems over the past several years.
Upon Janney’s election, Phipps was named chairman emeritus of The Jockey Club and will continue to serve on the organization’s board of stewards, The Jockey Club said.
William Lear was elected vice chairman to succeed Janney. Lear has been a member of The Jockey Club since 2010 and is the managing director of Stoll Keenon Ogden, a law firm based in Lexington. Lear is a trustee of Keeneland.
Also at Saturday’s meeting, William Farish Jr., whose family owns Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky., was elected to the board of stewards, replacing Craig Fravel, the chief executive of Breeders’ Cup, whose term expired, according to The Jockey Club. Farish is chairman of the Breeders’ Cup and, like Janney, is a board member of Keeneland.
The elections were announced one day before The Jockey Club’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, an annual conclave held in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in which the organization outlines its priorities and provides progress updates on its own initiatives and those it supports.