The Jockey Club on Monday announced the election of four new members: W.B.
Rogers Beasley, John Magnier, Rosendo (Ro) Parra, and Thomas S. Robbins.
Beasley has served as Keeneland director of racing since 2001 and was the
track’s sales director for 19 years prior to his current post. He currently
serves on the boards of the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council, the Kentucky
Horse Park, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, and the Racing
Officials Accreditation Program. He served on the American Graded Stakes
Committee for nine years and is a past board member of the Thoroughbred Club of
America.
John Magnier, generally acknowledged to be one of the most influential people
in world racing and breeding, presides over Coolmore Stud, which has branches in
Ireland, Kentucky (Ashford Stud), and the Hunter Valley (Coolmore Australia).
The Magnier family has been associated with a long sequence of top-class
stallions since the 1850s, originally in Co. Cork, Ireland, where stallions
still stand as part of Coolmore today. Magnier has part-owned or -bred four of
the last five Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) winners.
Parra is the owner of Millennium Farms in Lexington, Kentucky. His first
involvement in racing came as a fan in South America. He bought his first horse
in 1995 and has campaigned approximately 40 stakes winners, including multiple
Grade 1 winner Student Council. He also bred Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner
Wilko. Parra retired from Dell Inc. in 2007 where he served as senior vice
president and general manager of Dell Americas. Today, Parra serves on several
boards and is involved in venture capital.
Robbins is Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s executive vice president for racing
and industry relations. He previously served as racing secretary, director of
racing, and executive vice president from 1981 until 2014. He is also the
chairman of the North American Ratings Committee and the Racing
Secretaries/Directors Breeders’ Cup Selection Panel and a member of the American
Graded Stakes Committee, as well as an advisor to the North American
International Catalogue Standards Committee and the U.S. representative to the
World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Committee.
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