The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has added two new members to its Board of Directors, it has been announced.
They are Bill Strauss, a business executive and horse owner who considers Del Mar home, and Bret Jones, head of Airdrie Stud, a massive 2,500-acre breeding facility in Midway, Ky.
The pair are the first additions to the Del Mar board since three new members were added to the board in 2018. The current board consists of nine members headed by chairman David Batchelder. The two additions raised that number to 11 when they were voted on during a board meeting in Del Mar on Saturday, July 22.
Joe Harper, board member and CEO of Del Mar, said: “We’ve made ourselves better and stronger with the addition of these two good gentlemen. “When you can pick a pair of individuals who love racing and have as rich a history in the game as they are, it’s easy to get a unanimous vote to put them in.”
Strauss, 65, is originally a New Yorker who enjoyed a successful financial career in Manhattan before moving from coast to coast to Del Mar in 1992. There he helped found Provide Commerce, which has become one of the nation’s top e-commerce companies, including ProFlowers.com and the popular Shari’s Berries.
Bill Strauss
He and his brother Jeffrey, a master chef, team up on a hugely popular restaurant they call Pamplemousse Grille right across from the Del Mar racetrack. They named their first horse Pamplemousse and it turned out to be the winner of the bet. Since then, Bill has been a partner on top horses such as Mizdirection, Double Breeders’ Cup winner and $5.6 million Hot Rod Charlie. His wife is Margie and he has a son and a daughter.
“As a longtime Del Mar resident with my wife Margie and a longtime horse owner, I am honored to be chosen to serve on the Board of Directors of the prestigious Del Mar Thoroughbred Club,” says Strauss. “I look forward to working with my board members to create a successful future for horse racing in California.”
Jones, 43, is the president of Airdrie Stud in Midway, KY. One of the premier ranches in Bluegrass, Airdrie is home to 12 stallions, among them Collected, a signed Class 1 Pacific Classic winner from Del Mar. In addition to his new role at Del Mar, Bret has served on the Breeders’ Cup Board of Trustees since 2011 and is on the Keeneland Cancer Foundation Advisory Board of Kentucky College of Trustees. He lives in Lexington, KY with his wife, Tyler, and their four young children.
“I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity to work with the incredible leadership team at Del Mar,” said Jones. “Anyone who has ever walked through its gates knows how special that track truly is, and anyone interested in the future of our sport recognizes the vital importance of its continued success to our industry. Racing in California is a real factor to our sport and its well-being must be helped by all of us from Wood County, from San Diego County, or from all of us; KY; I can and am honored to work with an organization that I greatly respect.”
Del Mar’s 84th summer is underway and will run until Sunday, September 10.
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