Champions Retreat

Thirty-nine Thoroughbred aftercare organizations have been awarded accreditation for 2024, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance announced Thursday. The 39 organizations include 38 organizations who are continuing their accreditation and one that earned accreditation this year. Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance now has a network of 84 organizations with approximately 172 facilities in North America. The new organization earning accreditation this year is Champions Retreat. "We are excited to announce the accreditation of 84 organizations this year," said Janice Towles, Director of Accreditation and Grants, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. "Their unwavering dedication to meeting the highest...

A good 10 years ago in the Santa Anita paddock garden, former trainer Matt Chew was leading a stately old schoolmaster named Fred through and around an afternoon gathering of children with developmental issues when a diminutive figure from the crowd locked eyes with the horse. "I walked over and handed him the shank and said, 'here, take him. He's yours,'" says Chew about the curious soul, a 10-year-old named Austin, onto whom he foisted the docile Fred. "He starts walking around with the horse and he starts talking to...