TOBA Committees

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee oversees the regular business and management of the organization between meetings of the Board of Trustees. The 2023-24 Executive Committee is composed of five officers and three at-large seats. The five officers are: David O’Farrell, (chairman), Everett Dobson (vice chairman), Dan Metzger (president), Doug Cauthen (secretary) and Garrett O’Rourke (treasurer). The at-large seats currently include Stephanie Hronis, Billy Koch, Brant Laue, and Jason Loutsch.

Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee is responsible for selecting the new candidates for possible election to the Board of Trustees. Also, this committee’s work includes the evaluation of incumbent trustees as to their possible candidacy for additional terms on the board.

The committee handles the actual invitations to new candidates, incumbent candidates, and the preparation of the election ballot which is mailed to the full membership each year in July. The three members are Doug Cauthen (chair), Billy Koch and Garrett O’Rourke.

American Graded Stakes Committee

The American Graded Stakes Committee (AGSC) began in 1973 as an official working committee of TOBA. For the last 50 years, TOBA has been the custodian of the process of grading approximately 450 races meriting that status. The committee’s purpose is to maintain the integrity of the sales catalogue page when various graded races are listed. The buyers and sellers of Thoroughbreds need to make sure that Grade I, Grade II, Grade III and Listed races consistently represent the competitive field quality their grade indicates. The AGSC meets annually to review the five-year data on all eligible races. Each of the last five runnings of eligible races are viewed equally, but trends of improvement or decreasing quality are duly noted. The current members of the AGSC committee include six TOBA members: Brant Laue (chairman), Barbara Banke, Walker Hancock, Billy Koch, David O’Farrell, Alex Solis II, and five Racing Official members: Gatewood Bell, Dan Bork, Martin Panza, Rick Hammerle and Tora Yamaguchi. Andrew Schweigardt serves as secretary to the committee.

TOBA provides owners and breeders with representation on the following international committees:

North American International Cataloguing Standards Committee

The North American International Cataloguing Standards Committee (NAICSC) establishes the requirements for non-listed black type races in sales catalogues produced in North America that are compliant with guidelines required by the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers. J. Michael O’Farrell, Jr. and Dan Metzger represent TOBA on this committee.

International Thoroughbred Breeders Federation

The Federation holds a meeting at rotating sites with different countries serving as host every 18 months. Twenty one countries are represented as Members. The agenda of the meeting centers on health, disease concerns, and breeding trends and techniques. Representatives from each country are assigned appropriate topics to research and prepare a written report in advance of the annual meeting. TOBA’s representatives are Dan Metzger and Dr. Peter Timoney.

International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee

The International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee (IRPAC) is comprised of representatives from the grading committees in Europe, United States, Canada, Asia and South America, breeders, International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers. The primary mission of IRPAC is to control enforcement of international criteria for grading races and implement quality control on existing Pattern or Grading systems. Dan Metzger and David O’Farrell represent TOBA on IRPAC.