Mark Casse appointed chairman of the board of directors of OBS

Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse has been named the sixth chairman of the board of directors in the history of Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company, Inc., succeeding Francis Vanlangendonck, who is stepping down after 35 years on the OBS board.

Vanlangendonck has held the position of chairman since 2022 and succeeded Mike O’Farrell, who was elected chairman in 2007 and was a board member of the OBS for almost 40 years. George Onett was the first chairman in 1975, followed by Harry T. Mangurian, Jr., Norman E. Casse, O’Farrell and Vanlangendonck.

OBS is very grateful to Vanlangendonck and treasurer Nick de Meric, who is also stepping down from the board, for their leadership and important contributions to the success of OBS.

Mark Casse and his wife Tina manage the massive Casse Racing operations from their base in Ocala. His father Norman was a founding member of OBS and chairman of the OBS board of directors for more than twenty years, and Mark became an OBS board member in 2001 and secretary-treasurer in 2022. Casse has won more than 4,100 races to date with career earnings of more than $274 million. He has been inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Barry Eisaman will continue as vice chairman of the OBS board. Dr. Eisaman, a veterinarian, was first elected to the OBS board in 1996 and served as secretary-treasurer from 2010-2021. Together with his wife Shari, Eisaman operates Eisaman Equine. Many of the country’s elite racing stables rely on Eisaman Equine to lay the foundation for their young horses for their racing careers and to rehabilitate older horses for their return to racing.

David O’Farrell will serve as secretary of OBS. He was elected to the OBS board in 2022 and is chairman of the TOBA Board of Trustees, a steward at The Jockey Club and a member of Breeders’ Cup Limited. The O’Farrell family’s Ocala Stud is celebrating their 70th anniversary and is synonymous with the Florida breeding industry and OBS. David and his brother Joe now run the operations, taking over from their father, Mike O’Farrell. Another generation back, Joe O’Farrell, was a breeding promoter in Florida and a pioneer of the sales concept for two-year-olds in training. He was one of the founders of Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company, Inc. in 1974 and the first vice president of OBS.

James L. (Jimbo) Gladwell, IV was elected treasurer of OBS. He joined the OBS board in 2021. Gladwell is a third-generation rider with deep roots in Ocala and, along with his wife Torie, runs Top Line Sales, one of the leading two-year-old OBS sales outlets. Grade 1 winners who graduated from Top Line Sales include Princess Noor, Arabian Knight, Saudi Crown and Muth.

Tristan de Meric of Meric Sales and William B. Russell, DVM Peterson Smith Equine Hospital, join the OBS board for the first time. The rest of the board consists of Tom Ventura; Jonathan I Groen (DJ Stables); John Penn (Pennston farm); Bryan Rice (Woodside Ranch); George Russell (Rustlewood Farm), Paul Sharp and Eddie Woods.

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