The open forum of the 56th International Conference of Horseracing Authorities, organized by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), will be available on the IFHA’s website (ifhaonline.org) beginning at approximately 10:30 CEST (GMT+1) on Monday 3 October via live stream. Additionally, a replay of the Conference will be posted in the days following the event.

The Conference will aim to reunite members, highlight the work of the Federation, and orient the industry on key current and future issues. Topics to be covered include the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) in the United States, broadening horse racing’s appeal globally, addressing climate change through sport, and learnings from the pandemic.

IFHA Chair Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges will deliver the Conference’s opening and closing remarks. The first session will feature Stuart S. Janney III, Chairman of the U.S. Jockey Club, and Lisa Lazarus, CEO of HISA. Later, a pre-recorded interview by Rishi Persad of Tony Parker will focus on fan engagement. Emmanuel Vacher, the Chief Marketing Officer of the PMU, and Julien Levilain, Manager Director of Buzzman, the ad agency responsible for a number of PMU campaigns, will also discuss the topic.

Clarisse Magnin-Mallez, Senior Partner at McKinsey, and Brant Dunshea, the British Horseracing Authority’s Chief Regulatory Officer and Project Executive Sponsor for the report on Environmental and Sustainability in British Horseracing, are scheduled to present on climate change.  Additionally, the impacts of Covid-19 will be discussed by Masayuki Goto, President and CEO of the Japan Racing Association; Vee Moodley, Chief Executive Officer, The National Horseracing Authority of Southern Africa; and Daniel Krüger, Managing Director, Deutscher Galopp e.V. (Germany). Carly Dixon, Executive General Manager, Stakeholder, Customer & Corporate Affairs, Racing Victoria, will then present on the upcoming 39^th Asian Racing Conference (ARC), which will be held in Melbourne in February 2023.

A live video stream of the Open Forum of the International Conference of Horseracing Authorities will be available on the IFHA’s website.  A replay of the live video stream and presentations will be available in the days following the event.

The first International Conference of Horseracing Authorities was organized and hosted by the Société d'Encouragement in Paris, France, on October 9, 1967. Since 1994, the annual conference has been organized by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities at France Galop. In 2019, the last year the Conference was held in-person, delegates from more than 50 different countries convened along with a number of other racing executives and media members. The Japan Racing Association (JRA) became the official partner of the Conference beginning in 2021.