Arcadia, Calif. – The Board of Directors of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) unanimously named Stephanie Hronis to fill the board vacancy created by the recent resignation of Allen Aldrich. Hronis will be required to run in the 2021 board election.
Ms. Hronis has spent more than 20 years in education as a school counselor, faculty member at the graduate and community college levels, and Family Resource Center Director for the Lindsay Unified School District. Much of her career brought her in contact with the migrant farmworker communities of Central California, working with kindergarten through adult-aged students to access educational resources and plan for college and careers.
With her husband Kosta and his brother, Pete, Hronis Racing won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs with Accelerate, subsequently named Eclipse Award Older Male Dirt Champion. Their filly Stellar Wind was champion 3-year-old filly of 2015. Hronis Racing was named Leading California Owner by Money Won in 2017, 2018, and 2019, as well as Leading California Owner by Number of Wins and Leading Owner by Number of Stakes Wins in 2018 and 2019. Their runners earned nearly $4 million in California last year with 48 wins from 219 starts, including 13 stakes wins. Their top stakes runners include Higher Power, Gift Box, Catalina Cruiser, Cistron, St. Joe Bay, Encoder, Jasikan, and Edwards Going Left.
Ms. Hronis currently serves as a member of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) Board of Trustees and the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation board of directors.
“We are very fortunate that Stephanie has agreed to join the TOC Board as a Northern California representative,” said Chairman Nick Alexander. “She not only has vast experience in Thoroughbred racing, but she has a proven record of hard work serving the constituents she represents, whether it be migrant farmworkers or the owners, breeders, and workers in thoroughbred racing.”
Aldrich, who served on the board since 2015, retired his seat this month to represent Northern California as a member of the Board of the Alameda County Fair.
“It has been a great honor to serve on the TOC board,” said Aldrich. “Grappling with the multiplicity of complex issues affecting thoroughbred owners in the state has provided me with greater insight and appreciation for the hard work that goes on behind the scenes for the benefit of our community of owners. However,” he added, “I recognize my contributions to our industry would be most valuable in perpetuating the viability of the Alameda County Fair, the oldest one mile track in California, in the neighborhood where I grew up, as a shining example of how a racing fair can encourage and foster interest in ownership within our state.”
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