Women's Summit, Fashionable Fillies at Santa Anita Park

Women helping women will be a big component of the inaugural Horse Racing Women's Summit, scheduled for Sept. 28-30 at Santa Anita Park, and they will also be helping racing employees through a connection with the Fashionable Fillies Goes West luncheon. The Jockey Club is one of the summit's sponsors, and the next Fashionable Fillies luncheon, which benefits The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, will be held in conjunction with the summit. The summit opened Sept. 28 with a welcome reception in Santa Anita's 100-1 Club, followed by the summit's panels and a host of female executive speakers Sept. 29. It will end Sept. 30, with Christina Blacker of FanDuel TV giving a handicapping seminar that morning, which is the opening day of the Santa Anita fall meeting. The Fashionable Fillies luncheon will follow that same day in Santa Anita's Chandelier Room, and summit attendees will receive a $50 discount if they want to attend. Shannon Kelly, executive director and secretary of the Safety Net Foundation, explained how the two events developed together. "Originally, Fashionable Fillies has been at Saratoga for something like 30 years," Kelly said. "In 2019 we switched it to the Monday of the Fasig-Tipton sale (in Saratoga) and had a banner year for the event. Stephanie Hronis attended, along with Jodie Vella-Gregory and a couple of other people. They said, 'Why don't we do this in California?' So that's how Fashionable Fillies Goes West was created." The first California version of Fashionable Fillies was held in March 2020, just before the pandemic shut down the world. Since then, another was held in conjunction with the 2021 Breeders' Cup at Del Mar. As plans for the summit came together, with Hronis and Vella-Gregory as two of the organizers, it naturally evolved into the Safety Net Foundation holding another Fashionable Fillies Goes West luncheon at the same time. The Safety Net Foundation benefits employees in the racing industry. As Kelly explained, it works hand in hand with other organizations to help people in need. For example, in California the Winners Foundation helps people with substance-abuse issues, and the California Thoroughbred Horsemen's Foundation runs the medical clinic on the Santa Anita backside. If someone availing themselves of those services has other difficulties beyond the scope of those organizations, the Safety Net Foundation could step in. The summit and the luncheon will be honoring Jane Goldstein and Samantha Siegel, respectively. Both women have made major contributions to racing, both nationally and in California. Goldstein is the retired director of publicity at Santa Anita and was the first woman to head a track publicity department in this country. In 1984, she was named the venue press chief for the equestrian sports of the Olympic Games at Santa Anita and Fairbanks Ranch. Goldstein is a former editor of the Oak Tree Racing Association's Paddock magazine and is a trustee of the California Thoroughbred Foundation. Siegel is a major Thoroughbred owner/breeder who races in the name of Jay Em Ess Stable. Horses she has campaigned herself or in partnership with her parents, the late Mace and Jan Siegel, include champion Declan's Moon; millionaires Rail Trip, Suave, Arson Squad, and By the Moon; and grade 1 winner Include Me Out. Siegel sits on the boards of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, Edwin J. Gregson Foundation, and California Retirement Management Account (CARMA). Kelly not only is organizing the Fashionable Fillies luncheon, but she will also participate in the summit as a panelist. "We have women in roles all over the industry who are doing powerful, amazing things," Kelly said. "But we want to make it more common to see women in those roles. I think this is the first step; here are women who have succeeded at this. This is what they're passionate about. You can take what you're passionate about and speak confidently about it. If you feel that you have an idea, speak up. Be confident in what you see. Use your experience and speak to it." Further information on the inaugural Horse Racing's Women's Summit can be found at www.womeninracingsummit.com and on the Fashionable Fillies Goes West luncheon at www.tjcfoundation.org.