Jockey Club

jockey club, organization involved with or regulating horse-racing activities, often on a national level.

The Jockey Club of Britain is the oldest such club. It reigned as the supreme authority in control of horse racing and breeding in Britain from 1750 until 2006, when regulatory power shifted to the Horseracing Regulatory Authority; it transferred to the British Horseracing Association in 2007. Today the Jockey Club is Britain’s foremost commercial investor in the sport. It owns 14 horse tracks and operates the National Stud breeding facility (with accommodations for eight stallions and up to 200 mares) and the registered charity Racing Welfare. It also manages the Jockey Club Estates, the club’s property- and land-management company, which oversees the organization’s facilities and 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) of land.

Scores of national-oriented jockey clubs now exist around the world. The Hong Kong Jockey Club (1884) is the oldest organization in that special administrative region of China and today holds a legal monopoly on sports betting there.

The American Jockey Club was founded in 1894. As the breed registry for Thoroughbred horses in North America, it maintains the American Stud Book, which includes all Thoroughbreds foaled in or imported into the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also serves as the major registry of stable names and racing silks (colours and patterns) in the United States.

Most of the national-oriented jockey clubs around the world are members of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. They meet annually in Paris to review racing developments and to discuss issues related to breeding, racing, and betting. The annual conference is hosted by the Jockey-Club de Paris. Founded in 1834, the club became famous as the meeting place of France’s cultural elite. It also hosts Europe’s premier race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, the Prix du Jockey Club. Inaugurated in 1836 and held annually in June, the race is often called the French Derby (after the English Derby and American Kentucky Derby).