Yesterday's headline, “Jockey Club Seeks to Remove Marshall Gramm from Membership,” appeared just weeks after The Jockey Club's annual Round Table, where its new leadership team pledged transparency.The Jockey Club's recent pledge of greater transparency presents an opportunity. For generations, many in the Thoroughbred industry have had little understanding of how one becomes a member of The Jockey Club. With their recent announcement that they are going to “remove Marshall Gramm,” The Jockey Club now has industry participants asking about the process that exists for removing a member. If transparency is to be more than a talking point, now is the time to answer those questions.What criteria are used to select new members? Who makes those decisions? What standards govern the suspension or removal of a member, and what due process protections exist? These are not unreasonable questions, particularly when membership in The Jockey Club remains one of the most influential positions in our industry.The Jockey Club occupies a unique position within North American racing. Through its control of the breed registry and its significant role in the commercialization and monetization of Thoroughbred data, its decisions affect owners, breeders, consignors, racetracks, and countless others who make their living in this business.With that influence comes a responsibility to be accountable not only to its members, but also to the broader industry. Greater transparency regarding its membership and governance processes would be a meaningful step toward demonstrating the openness that The Jockey Club now advocates.Transparency is most meaningful when it begins with the institutions asking others to embrace it.Respectfully, Max HodgeMax Hodge is Vice President of Client Services at Fasig-TiptonThe post Letter to the Editor: Jockey Club Transparency appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.