Wilson takes over at Equibase

Jason Wilson, a Jockey Club management official since 2010, has been hired to head up Equibase, the data company that The Jockey Club owns in partnership with a racetrack trade group, Equibase announced on Monday.

Wilson, who was first hired by The Jockey Club in 2010 as the company’s vice president of business development, succeeds Hank Zeitlin, the longtime president and chief operating officer of Equibase who announced his resignation last year. Wilson’s appointment is effective immediately, Equibase said.

Equibase is a for-profit partnership between The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, a group of racetracks with 44 members. The company collects, packages, and sells racing and breeding data. Daily Racing Form is a client of the company.

Wilson has a law degree from UCLA and a master’s in finance and management from Columbia University.

“Jason brings to this position an exceptional mix of industry knowledge, business acumen, and strong relationships with track managers throughout the country, and the Equibase Management Committee believes that he is well suited to bring the entity to even greater heights as it serves the industry in the months and years ahead,” Ian Highet, the chairman of Equibase, said in a statement.

For the past three years, Wilson has been the president of TJC Media Ventures, a subsidiary of The Jockey Club that was formed to market racing through television and social-media channels, largely through the brand “America’s Best Racing.” Bob Curran, a spokesman for The Jockey Club, said that Jim Gagliano, the company’s president and COO, would “assume direct responsibility” for TJC Media Ventures while working closely with the subsidiary’s vice president, Stephen Panus.

“The Jockey Club remains highly committed to TJC Media Ventures and its multiplatform America’s Best Racing fan-development program,” Curran said.