In recognition of his innovations to improve the safety of horse racing, the  has named Dickinson the 33^rd recipient of the John W. Galbreath Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship in the Equine Industry.

“The safety of the horse has always been a long-term goal of mine ever since I was a child when on small ponies I had to keep up with my mother who was on a Grade A International Showjumper. We used to jump post and rail fences, some with ditches and drops, and stone walls. Since then, I’ve always felt very grateful and indebted to all the horses I rode,” Dickinson said. “I am honored and flattered to receive the Galbreath Award.”

A native of Yorkshire, England, Dickinson was a champion steeplechase jockey and trainer prior to becoming a successful Thoroughbred trainer in the United Kingdom. Since coming to the U.S. in 1987, he has won more than 80 stakes races in the U.S. and Canada. In 2000, he led all New York-based trainers with a win percentage of 35% from starters. One of his greatest achievements in training was conditioning 1996 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Da Hoss to a repeat win in that race’s 1998 renewal at Churchill Downs after a two-year layoff.

Dickinson is a member of the Steeplechasing Hall of Fame and has four listings in the Guinness Book of World Records, including the record for the most racing wins in one day – 12.

In 1996, Dickinson began building his own Thoroughbred training facility, , in Maryland, employing the most innovative technology in equine care and horse husbandry. Unsatisfied with available track footings, he began developing , now recognized as a safe, consistent all-weather synthetic surface for racing and training Thoroughbred horses.

“The focus on safety for its equine and human athletes is paramount in horse racing today,” said Michele Fischer, president of horse racing and gaming consulting firm Darting Star LLC in his nomination. “Michael has demonstrated a willingness to take personal and career risks in the development of a new racing surface. In the beginning, he was met with great reluctance by an industry resistant to change. He has continued to refine the science and today the Tapeta surface has been installed at racetracks and training centers across the world.”

Tapeta 10, the latest version of Tapeta Footings, has substantially reduced equine fatalities and outperformed conventional dirt and turf surfaces. Tapeta surface has been installed at Turfway Park in Kentucky and at Gulfstream Park in Florida, Golden Gate Fields in California and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania as well as facilities in Canada, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

“We are excited to present the 2022 Galbreath Award to Michael Dickinson for his contribution to the sport of racing through the creation of Tapeta and synthetic track surfaces,” said K. Amy Lawyer, assistant professor and chair of UofL’s Department of Equine Administration. “The nature of the Galbreath Award is to recognize innovation and business efforts that move the equine industry forward. Mr. Dickinson’s business achievements added a new element to a sport that had been largely unchanged for centuries.”

Recipients of the Galbreath Award are selected by a committee of faculty in the in the UofL College of Business.

The award is named for the late John W. Galbreath, a self-made man who distinguished himself in both business and as a horseman. The 32^nd Galbreath Award recipient was Tom Aronson, an original business architect of two of the most successful companies the history of horse racing, the Television Games Network (TVG) and Exacta Systems, both of which became billion-dollar wagering companies. A list of all Galbreath Award laureates and nomination information is available at the website.

For information on the award presentation dinner to honor Dickinson to be held March 30, contact Kimberly Spear at kimberly.spear@louisville.edu or 502-852-7727. A video of the presentation of the Galbreath Award will be available on the  after the event.

Aronson is an original business architect of two of the most successful companies the history of horse racing, the Television Games Network (TVG) and Exacta Systems, both of which have become billion-dollar wagering companies since their creation. 

“Tom Aronson is a true ‘horse enterprise architect,’ as defined by the criteria governing this award,” said Ted Nicholson, senior vice president of Kentucky Downs, in nominating him. “He turned a youthful fascination with horses and horse racing into what has been a remarkable career highlighted by repeated innovation, business building and cutting-edge thinking for the industry.”

TVG is the pioneering national television network and groundbreaking account wagering platform. As the company’s chief business development officer in the 1990s, Aronson secured the live racing content from America’s most prominent racetracks needed to fuel the network. He also devised a national revenue-sharing scheme to properly compensate all of racing’s stakeholders as the new company moved horse racing into legal home wagering coupled with daily national broadcasting. 

More recently, Aronson helped launch Exacta Systems into the world of Historic Horse Racing (HHR), the electronic entertainment that has fueled the rapid growth of racetrack revenues and prize monies (purses) over the past decade. Since 2015, Exacta has generated over $14 billion in bets on races and more than $1.2 billion in revenue for racing, including allocations to purses paid to horse owners and breeders that helped revitalize the sport in Kentucky, Wyoming and Virginia.

“Horseracing in Kentucky is only as strong as the health of the game. Many of Tom’s initiatives have been significant in building the industry and helping it become more mainstream and available to people,” said Karl Schmitt, president and CEO of the Louisville Sports Commission. “He is passionate about horseracing. He also is very analytical – he understands how to analyze an issue from a theoretical perspective, and he has practical experience, so that is the best of both worlds.”

Upon graduating from Harvard in 1977, Aronson chose a career with horses as his personal and professional path, serving first as an executive assistant at Harness Tracks of America and then as director of legislative affairs for the American Horse Council in Washington, DC. In 1989, Aronson started his own marketing, development and analytics company, ., from which he stepped periodically to build other companies. The first of these was AXCIS Information Network, subsequently AXCIS TrackMaster, now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Jockey Club.

Aronson also served as corporate vice president of programming and product development at Churchill Downs, Inc., and as a faculty member at UofL in the Equine Industry Program, where he instructed students in entrepreneurship, networking, business capitalization and enterprise building.

“I am privileged to have had the opportunity to help build two of the horse industry’s greatest start-ups from the ground up,” Aronson said of his TVG and Exacta experiences. “Helping to make horse sports more economically viable in a challenging world has been an exciting and rewarding career for me, and the honor accorded to me here by the University of Louisville is truly gratifying. The list of previous winners is breathtaking, and I am deeply appreciative of the inclusion and recognition.”

The award is named for the late John W. Galbreath, a self-made man who distinguished himself in both business and as a horseman. Previous Galbreath Award recipients include John A. Bell III, Cothran “Cot” Campbell, Tom Meeker and B. Wayne Hughes. Last year, the award was presented to Elizabeth James, Ph.D., an educator and equine career coach and co-founder of the Liberty Horse Association, the first organization supporting the discipline of liberty training.

“Horses and horse sports are not naturally inclined toward change,” Aronson said. “Horses in America have survived and prospered despite momentous changes around them over the past 125 years. They have earned and deserve the tireless efforts of all of us to keep their many uses viable, safe, proactively recognized and participated in by the public. My career has been all about doing that, and the acknowledgment the John Galbreath Award represents is a genuinely great reward.”

Recipients of the  are selected by a committee of faculty in the Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship in the UofL College of Business.

NOTE: The presentation of the Galbreath Award to Tom Aronson will be streamed live on the on Wednesday, April 20, from 7:30-8:15 p.m.

One of UofL’s students will have a unique perspective of – and access to – those athletes from behind the lens of an “official” event camera. Brianna Vitt is set to graduate on May 11 with a degree in Marketing and another in Equine Business. She’ll spend the weekend prior to commencement working the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby as part of the track’s official photography company, Coady Photography.

Vitt initially discovered photography during her junior year of high school, which quickly led her toward horse photography specifically.

“I had a wonderful high school photography teacher named Mrs. Drexler and she taught me dark room and film photography. I got into horse photography after meeting one of her closest friends at the track – Holly Smith – who is a freelance photographer, and she inspired me to start taking photos of the horses at the track,” Vitt said.

Smith introduced her to Kurtis Coady, one of the third-generation photographers who leads the family-owned company.

“He has given me many great opportunities to sharpen my horse racing photography skills,” Vitt said.

This will mark her second Derby shooting for Coady Photography, but she expects her experience will be much different this time around.

“Last year, I was involved in shooting ‘scenic’ photos, but this year I’m shooting the finish of the races and the celebration,” Vitt said. “I’ll be in the heart of all the action, which will be really exciting.”

Vitt will use this experience to her advantage as she pursues her post-graduate career goals, which include working in thoroughbred training and sales.

“I am very passionate about the thoroughbred industry and have really enjoyed meeting all of the great people in the business,” she said. “Networking and passion have allowed me to land this gig.”

Prior to chasing her post-graduate dreams, however, Vitt is looking forward to soaking in the opportunity in front of her. 

“The Kentucky Derby is my state’s trademark and I am a total Kentucky girl by heart,” Vitt said. “Horse racing is in my blood and it’s really an amazing opportunity to capture the history that goes with the historical Churchill Downs.”