TOC Elects Five Incumbents, One New Board Member
Arcadia, Calif. (6/30/2009) – TOC’s membership elected David Bloom, and re-elected Madeline Auerbach, Martin Bach, Pete Parrella, and Arnold Zetcher, in the “owner” member category. Also re-elected was Bob Baffert as an “owner-trainer” member representative. The new Board took office on July 1st.
Auerbach currently serves as Vice Chair, Southern California and Chair of the Racing Affairs committee. In her first term, she spearheaded the adoption of a Code of Ethics for Thoroughbred owners and helped launch CARMA, a separate entity dedicated to raising funds for retired racehorses. She has owned Thoroughbreds for more than 30 years, including many from the successful line of her horse Unusual Heat.
Bach, who joined the Board in 2003, currently serves as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance committee. He is a Senior Vice President of Investments at Morgan Stanley, where he has been for 44 years. He has been a horse owner since 1970 and currently races, breeds, and sells Thoroughbreds.
Baffert is continually a leading trainer by earnings in the nation, holds multiple Southern California training titles, and is a three-time Eclipse Award winner. He is a native of Nogales, Arizona, where he grew up on his family’s cattle ranch. A graduate of the University of Arizona’s racetrack industry program, Baffert began training his father’s quarter horses before moving his own stable to California in 1982. He has been training Thoroughbreds since 1991.
Bloom is a native of Los Angeles and an attorney. He credits his grandfather with introducing him to Thoroughbred horse racing at the age of five years old, when he attended the races with him on weekends. He became an owner in 1997, when he purchased a 25% interest in two broodmares and a one-third interest in a horse racing partnership. From the first planned breeding came Grade 1 winning millionaire Taste of Paradise. He currently owns 16 broodmares, eight two-year-olds, ten yearlings, two weanlings, and three horses at the track.
Parrella first joined the TOC Board in November 2008. An owner and breeder, he and his wife own Legacy Ranch Inc., a 145-acre facility with approximately 400 horses, about 100 of which they own. He also currently serves as Treasurer for the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association (CTBA) board. He founded Parr Lumber Co., Inc., which has a 10-acre lumber and plywood distribution facility in Chino, CA. He resides in Corona del Mar, Calif., with his wife, Evelyn.
Zetcher, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, chose Southern California when he decided to become a horse owner because he felt that the best year round racing in the world was here. He currently owns 25 horses, including 15 in training, five broodmares, and five young horses, as well as participating in several racing partnerships. He is the retired President, CEO and Chairman of Talbots and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Ellen.
TOC bylaws require that at least three owner and one owner-trainer representative board members be from Northern California. Representing Northern California on the Board are owner member representatives Marty Bach, Tom Bachman, and Kim Kuhlmann; and owner-trainer member representative Oviedo.
The newly elected Directors join Tom Bachman, Brian Boudreau, Ron Ellis, Billy Koch, Kim Kuhlmann, Marsha Naify, Philip Oviedo, Pablo Suarez, and Donald Valpredo in comprising TOC’s 2009-10 Board.