Round Table to be Held Week Later This Year

The Jockey Club has taken a break with tradition, and that could lead other industry organizations to do the same.

The Jockey Club announced Thursday that this year's Round Table Conference is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 19, a week later than usual. It will be held at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"Between racing, the yearling sales, and all the meetings scheduled during that second week of August, there's a lot going on," Jockey Club chairman Ogden Mills Phipps said in a prepared statement. "And we have been asked by the New York Racing Association to help everyone involved and move the Round Table one week later."

Among the organizations that normally meet the second week of August in Saratoga are the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and the Association of Racing Commissioners International.

"There was general congestion with sales and racing," Jockey Club spokesman Jim Peden said of the reason for the change.

As to whether other organizations will move their meetings back a week, Peden said: "That remains to be seen. I would guess that of all those many meetings, some may be tied to the sale."

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearlings sale is scheduled for Aug. 7-9. The company's stallion access sale is set for Aug. 10, and its preferred yearlings sale for Aug. 12.

On the racing side, the featured race the weekend of the Round Table is the Alabama Stakes (gr. I) on Saturday, Aug. 18.