From Lone Star Park
Dan Leary has been named director of communications for Lone Star Park in Texas. Leary has nearly three decades of sports public relations experience, including 14 years in the Thoroughbred racing industry at six different racetracks.
Leary most recently served as director of communications for Arlington Park in Illinois.
“We are extremely pleased to add someone with Dan’s extensive background in media, community, and legislative relations to our team,” Lone Star vice president and assistant general manager G.W. Hail said in a statement. “His diverse experience in racing, as well as several other sports in major markets, will make him a great asset to Lone Star Park.”
For the past eight years, Leary supervised media relations campaigns at Arlington, including the reopening of the track in 2000 and the Breeders’ Cup in 2002. Leary crafted and conducted Arlington’s Thoroughbred Racing Information Program for state legislators and public officials that assisted in the passage of favorable legislation for the racing industry in Illinois.
Leary spent the first seven years of his career at the National Hockey League office in New York, where he was responsible for all aspects of media relations and press functions at the Stanley Cup Finals, All-Star Games, entry drafts, and Hall of Fame inductions. Following stints at the Major Indoor Soccer League, the New York Knights Arena Football team, and the Connecticut sports marketing agency Capital Sports, Leary obtained his first racing position in 1991 with the New York Racing Association.
At NYRA, he served as assistant director of public relations, broadcast media liaison, and media guide editor. In addition, he spent one race meet at Gulfstream Park and Hialeah Park in Florida during 1997.
Live racing at Lone Star will be offered every Thursday through Sunday, April 10-July 27.
