Jockey Club Steps Up To The Plate

Do you remember the Domino's Pizza video's of employees committing food violations that went viral on Youtube? It was a crisis for the pizza chain, and although slow to respond initially, their management strategy was very sound after that. They immediately issued arrest warrants for the offenders, they took responsibility, offered no denials or excuses and they worked hard to get their customers back. Marketing 101.

All week in horse racing we've been reading from industry pundits seemingly the exact opposite strategy after the Times article came out.

But tonight that changed.

The Jockey Club issued a statement as a direct response to the Times article.

They are proposing two main initiatives:

• Raceday med ban
• Lifetime Bans for Repeat Medication Offenders

The interesting thing, this time these have a shot.

Jim Gagliano has shown leadership on this and is really the first to do so. After the McKinsey Report, the Jockey Club has become, in my opinion, this sports de-facto commissioners office.  The way they handled things this evening, by not making excuses and by extolling leadership and vision, it shows they might not be a bad choice.