aftercare

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC), and LRF Cares, a 501(c)(3) sponsored charity and arm of Little Red Feather Racing, will host a live money on-track or online contest at Del Mar Saturday, Sept. 4. Benefitting Thoroughbred aftercare, the contest will allow a maximum of 150 players, each receiving a $250 live bankroll with the "takeout" going to guaranteed prizes and LRF Cares. Guaranteed prizes include 2021 $4,000--plus $1,000 travel--Del Mar Summer Handicapping Challenge entries and two 2022 National Horseplayer Championship (NHC) entries. Click here for more information and here...

Edited Press Release The 69th Annual The Jockey Club Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing will be held virtually for the second consecutive year Sunday, Aug. 15, at 10 a.m. ET. It will be streamed on The Jockey Club's website at jockeyclub.com on and will also air be aired on NYRA's YouTube channel, the FOX Sports app, and Racetrack Television Network's respective platforms. The Jockey Club Chairman Stuart S. Janney III will preside over the conference. Kristin Werner, senior counsel for The Jockey Club and administrator of The...

   Ashleyluvssugar (Game Plan), a five-time Grade II-winning 10-year-old gelding, made a splash- quite literally- on social media this week in a post from After the Finish Line, where he was seen taking an enthusiastic wade through a stream in the North Carolina mountains. The fan-favorite California-bred is now owned by Allie Conrad, who has worked with hundreds of ex-racehorses over the years, but said this one is truly one of a kind. "This was his first off-the-farm trip where we took him camping up in the mountains," Conrad shared....

Registration remains open for the fifth International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR), to be held virtually in a series of live webinars each Tuesday, beginning Apr. 6 through Apr. 27. Each session begins at 12 p.m. GMT (8 a.m. Eastern time) and lasts approximately one hour. "With nearly 300 registrants already, we are excited by the enthusiasm demonstrated by the Thoroughbred industry for what will truly be a global event," said Di Arbuthnot, chair of IFAR. "Between educating on aftercare best practices, offering case studies on aftercare programs...

Edited press release Continuing to demonstrate its commitment to the health and welfare of Thoroughbreds, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) announced its endorsement of the John Stringer Rainey Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act. The SAFE Act, named for the late South Carolina philanthropist and former director of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF), is legislation that would permanently end the slaughter of American horses for human consumption in the United States and abroad. It also amends Title 18 of the U.S. Code by making it illegal to "possess, ship,...

Retired Thoroughbreds Tizrobertcharles (Bwana Charlie) and Guidoinaspeedo (Meadow Monster), both members of the Davie Police Department's Mounted Patrol Unit, and Rockaway, a member of the City of Coral Gables mounted unit, will help present the colors before the playing of the National Anthem on Pegasus World Cup Day Saturday. "Gulfstream Park focuses on racehorse aftercare to provide one time competitors a meaningful second career," said Mike Lakow, Vice President of Racing at Gulfstream Park. "We welcome these athletes back to the track alongside local equestrian law enforcement. The Stronach Group...

Edited Press Release The 2021 application for accreditation by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is now available on OpenWater and can be accessed through ThoroughbredAftercare.org/Accreditation. Thoroughbred aftercare nonprofits interested in applying must complete the application by Apr. 1 at 6 p.m. ET. Since TAA accreditation is only granted for a specific period of time, organizations with accreditation status ending in 2021 that want to remain accredited need to re-apply. Accreditation status is determined after a complete review of five areas of an aftercare organization: operations, education, horse health care management, facility...

For the first time since opening their doors in 2004, the Secretariat Center at the Kentucky Horse Park will keep its reschooling operation up and running throughout the winter months. Shelley Mann, who stepped on as the program's executive director this September, spoke on their plans for the upcoming season. "Typically in the past, we have fostered horses out or decreased our numbers for two or three months out of the winter," she said. "This is the first year that we really want to stay open. We have an entirely...

As soon as Bev Passerello retired as a riding instructor, she and her husband John sold their home in California, bought an RV and traveled the country. At some point along the way, they ended up in Louisville on the first Saturday in May. "After I saw the Kentucky Derby for the first time, every trip back and forth across the United States went through Kentucky," Bev said. "John finally said, 'I give up, it looks like we're going to move to Kentucky.'" So they parked their motor home in...

Evergreen Stables was a claiming partnership of individuals, friends, family and connections--not all of whom knew each other--with trainer Jordan Blair. On May 23, 2019, Blair claimed Portal (Arch), a late foal of 2014, at Churchill Downs for $40,000. "Portal was a super cool horse and he was being trained by a good friend Ian Wilkes," said Blair. "We had been watching him and he was running well. Plus, he is a beautiful, striking almost black horse and had a neat personality." Portal won the next two times out in...

Considering his age and all he accomplished in his career, Green Gratto (Here's Zealous) would have seemed to have earned a cushy retirement. Instead, he is scheduled to run in a an optional claimer--in for the $20,000 tag--for New Jersey breds Sunday at Monmouth, his first start since Apr. 19, 2018. It's the latest twist in a controversial story that began when he returned to the racetrack in November, which caused an uproar on social media from critics who felt it was improper and too risky to run the horse...

While most organizations, racing or otherwise, experienced a stagnation in business during the midst of the Coronavirus shut-down, Thoroughbred aftercare programs confronted quite the opposite. When racing in most states was a giant question mark for months on end, for many horses that would have otherwise stayed in training throughout the spring season, the decision was made to enter them into retirement. Since the first of the year, New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program has brought in 240 horses to their rehabilitation and rehoming program, a 23% increase from last year's...