New stewards and members elected for the Jockey Club

The Jockey Club announced its newly elected stewards and members on August 29.

The new trustees are Gary Fenton, David O’Farrell, Everrett R. Dobson and Vincent Viola. William S. Farish Jr. (vice chair) was re-elected. The remaining trustees are Stuart S. Janney III (chairman), Ian D. Highet (treasurer), William M. Lear (secretary), Barbara Banke, Louis A. Cella, Terry Finley and R. Alex Rankin.

The new members are Joseph Appelbaum, John Ballantyne PhD, Rick Gold, Marshall Gramm PhD, MV Magnier, Jon Miller, Garrett O’Rourke and Jessica Steinbrenner.

• In 2002, Appelbaum co-founded Off The Hook LLC, a racing, sales and breeding company that has produced numerous stakes winners, including Breeders’ Cup and Eclipse Award winners Informed Decision and Spun To Run. Appelbaum was the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge champion.

Appelbaum recently completed two terms (six years) as president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, while also serving as president of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. Appelbaum has served on the boards of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders of America. As chairman of the New York Jockey Injury Compensation Fund, he has been instrumental in improving safety conditions for horses and personnel on the home stretch.

In addition to his horse racing success, Appelbaum played football at Yale University and was a college football coach. Appelbaum was president of Kids Interest Development Services Inc. and co-founder of Oasis Children’s Services LLC, which provided educational programs for children.

• Originally from New Zealand, Ballantyne now divides his time between Fargo, North Dakota and Key West, Florida. He is the owner of NBS Stable. His passion for horse racing began with a lucky bet on the 1986 Melbourne Cup. Ballantyne’s ownership career began with Standardbreds and later expanded to Thoroughbreds through NBS Stable and partnerships with West Point Thoroughbreds, Centennial Farms and others.

Ballantyne supports important research at the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and other equine charities including the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, Old Friends and Bison Strides (hippotherapy). Ballantyne is co-founder of the successful Fargo-based biotechnology company Aldevron.

• Gold is a semi-retired Silicon Valley entrepreneur who was the founder and/or CEO of five semiconductor start-ups. He races and breeds Thoroughbreds in California, Australia and New Zealand and has backed more than 20 stakes winners. Gold has served on the boards of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (where he chaired the Integrity and Safety Committee), the California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and the HISA Horsemen’s Advisory Group. His commitment to promoting the integrity of the sport has been recognized with the 2024 TOC Chairman’s Award.
• In 2016, Gramm co-founded Ten Strike Racing, a racing partnership with more than 530 wins, including 35 stakes races. He is a professor in the Department of Economics at Rhodes College and has published more than a dozen academic papers on horse racing. As a horse racing gambler, Gramm won the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and has qualified for the National Horseplayers Championship every year for the past decade. Gramm is a member of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and the Thoroughbred Charities of America. He holds a BA from Rice University and a Ph.D. in economics from Texas A&M University.
• Magnier represents his family’s interests at Coolmore Stud, a leading international breeder and owner of Thoroughbreds with farms in Ireland, Australia and the United States (Ashford Stud). Ashford’s champion stallions include Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify. MV Magnier is actively involved in the acquisition of quality breeding stock and the care of racehorses, contributing to Coolmore’s continued success and influence on the global horse racing scene.
• Miller, president of acquisitions and partnerships for NBC Sports, has been instrumental in the company’s role in televising and streaming top Thoroughbred races such as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Breeders’ Cup and Royal Ascot.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Miller is actively involved in the community around him. Miller serves on the advisory boards of the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund and the NYC Chapter of the March Dimes Sports Division, and previously served on the board of the NY/NJ Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

• O’Rourke is the General Manager of Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms USA in Lexington, Kentucky, and has overseen the development of numerous champion horses, including Arrogate. O’Rourke was awarded Farm Manager of the Year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers’ Club in 2001, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and is a Director Emeritus of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association/Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. O’Rourke was born in Ireland, moved to the United States in 1986, and has been with Juddmonte Farms since November 1992. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin, Ireland.
• Steinbrenner has been president of Kinsman Farm since 2007. She also breeds and races horses under Bach Stables. Kinsman Farm in Ocala, Florida, has been owned by the Steinbrenner family since 1969. Kinsman’s history has produced many Grade 1 winners, including Dream Supreme, Majestic Warrior, Bellamy Road and Sweet Symphony.

Steinbrenner began riding at age 5, which led to a lifelong love of horses. She attended Sweet Briar College, where she competed on the equestrian team. She was a member of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association from 2006 to 2016. Over time, Jessica has supported many Thoroughbred causes, such as Thoroughbred retirement and aftercare, and mentoring jockeys and rear horse grooms.

Steinbrenner is a general partner/vice chairman of the New York Yankees. She is the author of two children’s books: “My Messy Room” and “My Sleepy Room.” She served as executive producer on the 2018 live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” and the 2021 film “Fear of Rain.”

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