The Jockey Club and Equibase Company LLC announced today that monetary race data elements from Canada, which have historically been treated on par with American dollars, will be converted to their equivalent amount in U.S. funds for display in the United States starting on January 1, 2005.

The announcement was made by Alan Marzelli, the president of The Jockey Club and the chairman of Equibase Company.

“We have closely examined the Canadian conversion issue for several years and while it would have been preferable to have industry consensus on the matter before moving forward, we realize that is not an achievable goal,” he said. “Providing a consistent method of conversion for all monetary values is undoubtedly the best way to serve the industry. This is the right way to go.”

The costs associated with complex software changes that will enable the conversion for The Jockey Club and its entire “family of companies” will be absorbed by The Jockey Club Information Systems, Inc., Equibase Company LLC and InCompass Solutions, Inc.

The software development for the Canadian conversion project will be spearheaded by The Jockey Club Technology Services, Inc.

In the mid-1960s, when racing and pedigree data were first stored electronically, the databases of both The Jockey Club and the Daily Racing Form were designed to manage all U.S. and Canadian race results under the heading of “North America.”

This design was consistent with the manner in which the entire industry viewed the Thoroughbred industries of the U.S. and Canada: as one entity.

Racing data that is obtained by The Jockey Club from all other countries (and there are more than 40 of them) is stored as received in the native currency and is also converted and stored in U.S. dollars, using the Wall Street Journal’s daily currency conversion rates, for dissemination and display as per product requirements.