For more than half a century, the University of Arizona's Global Symposium on Racing has operated on a relatively simple premise: Horse racing works better when the people shaping its future talk to one another.
That may sound obvious. In practice though, it's not always easy in an industry with as many moving parts and micro-economies as Thoroughbred racing.
Owners and trainers have their priorities. Racetrack executives have theirs. Regulators face another set of challenges. Technology companies are trying to build what comes next, while horseplayers, the customers whose wagering dollars help fuel the entire ecosystem, increasingly demand a voice in conversations about the product they support.
For three days in Tucson, Ariz., the Race Track Industry Program's Global Symposium on Racing attempts to bring them all into the same room.
"The Global Symposium on Racing has been held here in connection with the University of Arizona since 1974," said RTIP chair Robert Hartman. "It really connects the industry together by bringing key issues and opportunities that are facing the racing industry to the forefront for discussion."
The mission will continue Dec. 7-9, when the Symposium returns with an agenda stretching beyond the traditional boundaries of an industry conference. Artificial intelligence, wagering, racing surfaces, equine technology, the on-track product, fan development, ownership, and the future direction of the sport are among the subjects expected to drive conversations near Tucson.
Hartman said the event typically attracts more than 600 attendees, giving the Symposium the depth of discussion that is increasingly difficult to replicate in the industry. Regulators mingle with racetrack operators, trainers interact with executives, and students meet the people running the businesses they hope to someday enter.
Horseplayers are part of that equation, too.
"One of the unique aspects of this event is that it brings industry stakeholders from different aspects of the industry that may not communicate on a daily basis," Hartman said.
For racing fans and bettors, that access can help shape meaningful conversations.
Industry conferences can easily drift toward regulatory policy, governance, and administrative issues that matter greatly to racing's infrastructure but may feel distant from the person studying past performances and putting money through the windows. The Global Symposium on Racing has increasingly made a deliberate effort to ensure the horseplayer is not an afterthought.
"Without bettors, we don't have racetracks. Without racetracks, we don't have a symposium," Hartman said. "So, bettors are key to everything we do."
Hartman speaks from experience. Before taking over RTIP, he worked as a racetrack executive, including six years at Golden Gate Fields. He said the importance of the customer remains central to how the Symposium develops its programming.
That process does not happen in a vacuum. Hartman and his team solicit input from trainers, racetrack operators, legislators, technology companies, and bettors while developing the agenda, looking for issues that are current rather than simply recycling familiar industry debates.
Hartman said organizers have been developing a session examining the evolution of horse betting and the modern player, with potential discussion ranging from traditional pari-mutuel betting and computer-assisted wagering to fixed odds and prediction markets. The central question is bigger than any single wagering format: What should racing's betting product look like for the next generation of customers? There is precedent for those discussions producing more than conference-room conversation.
At the 2025 Symposium, New York Racing Association President and CEO David O'Rourke used the stage to discuss NYRA's decision to restrict computer-assisted wagering activity in certain pools. Hartman remembers the moment as legitimate breaking news, and a clear example of an idea announced in Tucson that directly affected everyday horseplayers. That is precisely the kind of exchange the Symposium wants to foster.
Horseplayers have their rightful seat at the table, but the breadth of the 2026 agenda illustrates why an owner, trainer, or racetrack executive can experience a very different conference while sitting in the same rooms.
A session titled "Putting AI to Work in Racing" will move beyond the buzz surrounding artificial intelligence and examine practical applications ranging from marketing and customer service to analyzing handle, field size, and website data. The discussion is designed around a question racing businesses are already confronting: Where can AI improve an operation, and where can it introduce unnecessary risk?
Technology will also reach directly into the equine side of the sport. Sessions will examine real-time racing surface mapping and the expanding use of wearable technologies to measure movement, workload, cardiovascular recovery, and other indicators in equine athletes.
On Day 2, the discussion expands beyond racing itself. TMRW Sports founder and CEO Mike McCarley and United Football League CEO Russ Brandon will examine what racing can learn from sports organizations willing to rethink the fan experience, technology, media, venues, and customer engagement. That session gets at another underlying theme of the Symposium: Racing does not have to find every solution from within racing.
The agenda also puts some of the sport's most recognizable horsemen on stage. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning trainers Cherie DeVaux and Doug O'Neill, and former jockey and NBC Sports reporter Donna Barton Brothers are scheduled for "The 99%: The Work Behind the Winner's Circle," a conversation about setbacks, long hours, and decisions behind careers that most fans see only through their biggest victories.
Meanwhile, senior racing officials including Ben Huffman, Martin Panza, Mike Lakow, Patrick Pope, Tom Robbins, and Rick Hammerle will tackle the on-track racing product, from condition books and declining foal crops to interstate coordination and the challenges facing racing offices.
The program even borrows leadership lessons from outside the sport, with University of Arizona men's basketball coach Tommy Lloyd and Hall of Fame softball coach Mike Candrea joining a discussion about building teams and making decisions under pressure.
Yet Hartman believes one of the Symposium's most valuable features occurs after the prepared discussion ends. Organizers reserve roughly 10 to 15 minutes at the end of panels for audience questions and Hartman is willing to let those conversations run long.
"It's not just folks on the stage speaking at you," he said. "It really becomes collaborative."
A bettor can challenge an executive. A trainer can question a regulator. A racetrack operator can hear directly from someone experiencing the product as a customer.
"That, to me, is the magic of the Symposium," Hartman said.
It also helps explain the event's longevity.
The University of Arizona connection adds another dimension. RTIP students attend alongside established industry professionals, creating a pipeline between racing's current decision-makers and the people preparing to become its next generation of executive. For Hartman, that mixture of perspectives is what makes Tucson valuable.
Racing has no shortage of challenges, or opinions about how to solve them. What it often lacks is an opportunity to put owners, trainers, executives, regulators, technology leaders, and horseplayers in the same room to have those conversations together.
For three days in December, the Global Symposium on Racing provides exactly that.
