aftercare

Tomorrow's Front Runners is a TDN series spotlighting young people who got involved with horse racing through Amplify Horse Racing and are now pursuing careers in the industry. Amplify is a 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to amplifying education, mentorship and career opportunities for young people in the Thoroughbred industry.   At just 15 years old, Ashton Brooks has always known that her life was destined to revolve around horses. The only question was how she could translate her passion into a profession. Brooks has been riding horses since almost before she...

Horse racing can pat itself on its back for the progress that has been made concerning horses sent to slaughter. Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, horses are an amenable species, which means that horse meat cannot be shipped or sold for human consumption without inspection. With the government declining to foot the bill for inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration, every slaughter facility in the U.S. was forced to close. Tremendous strides have also been made when it comes to aftercare. There are dozens of wonderful charities out...

Chris Heyde, an animal welfare lobbyist, joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the state of aftercare and what the industry can do to pass the SAFE Act, which which would place a ban on the slaughter trade within the United States.

After a record number of applications in 2025, Thoroughbred Charities of America grants to 98 organizations totaling over $1.1-million were recently awarded, according to a press release from the non-profit on Thursday afternoon. The TCA said that 63 aftercare organizations, 24 backstretch and farm worker programs, seven equine-assisted therapy organizations, three Thoroughbred incentive programs, and one research organization comprised this year's tally. The TCA release added that their grant committee established clear funding priorities with emphasis placed on approved organizations working to serve the backstretch and farm employee communities as...

Thoroughbreds are the very fiber and backbone of the industry and there is no racing or breeding program without them. Horse racing in the United States had a $36.4-billion impact on the national economy in 2023 and supported nearly 500,000 jobs. Racing and breeding alone contributed an estimated $16 billion in direct value to the economy. Thoroughbreds are bred deliberately, intentionally, and with careful planning. They are "created" with the goal of winning, with the goal of earning, with the goal of making money. Why are so many Thoroughbreds ending...

The California Retirement Management Account (CARMA), which offers assistance to over 20 aftercare charities, raised more than $200,000 during the sixth annual CARMAthon fundraiser Saturday. FanDuel TV hosted the event in addition to donating $25,000. "It is important to us to continue to give back to the horse racing industry through numerous charitable initiatives each year," said Andrew Moore, FanDuel TV's General Manager. "CARMA does tremendous work to help retired racehorses thrive in their second careers off of the track and we are thrilled to be able to support them...

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation will host its final fundraiser of the year, the Backyard BBQ, at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday, August 19, the organization announced Thursday. The event, held from 5:30-8:30pm, includes a full BBQ dinner, a drink ticket, live music, a silent auction and an opportunity to hear from graduates of the TRF Second Chances Program. All proceeds from the event benefit the TRF's herd of nearly 400 retired race horses and the Second Chances Program which pairs incarcerated individuals with horses to...

Eleven months after her retirement from racing, Mel's Baby Sister made a return to Saratoga to collect her Down Broadway Award as New York's Retired Racehorse of the Year as decided by the voting public via an online poll. The prize is named in honor of the first horse to retire though the Take The Lead program back in 2013. Mel's Baby Sister race in the colors of August Dawn Farm and was trained by Melanie Giddings to a lone career victory before ultimately retiring after two unplaced efforts during...

New Years Eve (Night Conqueror), believed to be the second-oldest American Thoroughbred on record, has passed away in Pennsylvania. He was 39 and reported to be the oldest living Thoroughbred at the time of his death. We shared his story in March, shortly after his official birthday. Called 'Axl' by those closest to him, the beloved dark bay was foaled the same year as Sunday Silence and Easy Goer. History's oldest-known American Thoroughbred, a gelding named Dead Solid Perfect, died in 2022 at 39 years and 188 days. New Years...

When it came time for United (Giant's Causeway) to retire from the racetrack, there was never any doubt that he would remain with LNJ Foxwoods, the parents-and-daughter team of Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth who had campaigned him throughout his four-year career. A seven-time graded stakes winner, the towering chestnut had become the family's all-time leading earner and they were committed to giving him a forever home. What they didn't expect, however, was just how much the competitive gelding would take to a second career. Now flourishing in the show...

New Jersey-bred GSW Joey P (Close Up) was euthanized at Old Friends Monday after succumbing to complications from a respiratory illness at the age of 23, the farm announced via release. A frequent face in the black-type ranks his entire career, Joey P won the GIII Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup Stakes at Monmouth Park as a 3-year-old and was even given a shot at the GI Haskell Invitational Handicap. While it was not to be, the gelding visited the winner's enclosure 18 times in his career and retired in 2011...

In the horse world, value is too often measured in miles ridden, ribbons won, or jumps cleared. Success is frequently defined by performance, competition, or potential. But there's an entire population of horses--older, injured, sensitive, or simply different--who remind us that value has nothing to do with being under saddle. These are the horses who work in-hand. They don't need to be ridden to be remarkable. They don't perform in the arena, but they show up in ways that are often quieter, more profound, and more enduring. And yet, too...