The ceremony was the official opening of the SMRC facility, offering a preview of the Cosequin Equine Exerciser and remodeled barn on the university’s North Farm in Lexington. The facility will be a hub for advancing education and research on musculoskeletal disease and injury — a major welfare concern for horses and their owners, and the leading source of economic loss in the equine industry.

“This facility will provide novel research opportunities that focus on the improvement of equine welfare and safety and provide an unparalleled learning experience for graduate and undergraduate students,” said Bruno Menarim, DVM, Ph.D., Bill Gatton Foundation Endowed Chair in Veterinary Physiology and SMRC head. “The facility will enable translational, federally funded research opportunities that focus on improving human well-being, including leveraging proven translational equine models of orthopedic conditions in humans.”

The facility’s proposal was spearheaded by UK researchers Menarim; Allen Page, DVM, Ph.D., Bill Gatton Foundation Early-Career Professor at the Gluck Center; Austin Stone, MD, Ph.D., a knee and shoulder specialist at UK HealthCare’s Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine group; and Emma Adam, DVM, Ph.D., DACVIM, DACVS, assistant professor and equine industry liaison at the Gluck Center.

The facility was funded through equine industry partnerships with Nutramax Laboratories Veterinary Sciences, Inc., Keeneland, Spy Coast Farm, and Town and Country Farm. A gift from Nutramax Laboratories funded building the new eight-horse exerciser at the facility.

“Nutramax is delighted to support the Gluck Equine Research Center in the development of the Sports Medicine Research Center. This facility will advance high-quality equine and translational research while creating meaningful opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to gain hands-on experience working with horses in a research setting,” said Todd Henderson, DVM, and president of Nutramax Laboratories. “We are excited to partner with the Gluck Equine Research Center on this important initiative, united by our shared commitment to evidence-based medicine, scientific advancement and the highest standards of welfare for both horses and humans.”

Orthopaedic conditions are a major welfare concern for horses and their owners, as well as the main cause of economic loss in the equine industry. Among such conditions, degenerative joint disease, also known as osteoarthritis, represents more than 60 percent of the cases.

According to the team of researchers, musculoskeletal conditions are also a major concern for humans, and osteoarthritis is the second most costly condition to the U.S. public health system after cancer. Additionally, post-traumatic osteoarthritis is the most common cause of early retirement and long-term disability of American soldiers. Thus, there exists significant motivation to leverage research addressing musculoskeletal conditions, especially those affecting horses and humans.

According to the team, UK is uniquely positioned within the equine industry to address these issues collectively through expertise, stakeholder support, and collaborative relationships. The horse is not only the Gluck Center’s primary patient population but is also an established model for the study of musculoskeletal conditions in humans, including osteoarthritis and therapy development.

The researchers who proposed the center planned a type of facility to meet the industry’s needs. The demand has been evident, particularly in Central Kentucky. Construction began in late 2025, and the facility has already supported several research projects within the Gluck Center and is currently reserved through 2028.

An existing 12-stall barn was renovated at UK’s North Farm. It is surrounded by 26 acres, which includes an additional 16-stall barn the team is already planning to expand to house additional exercisers, a surgical suite, and laboratory spaces. UK’s North Farm makes up 1,900 acres and is part of the Martin-Gatton CAFE Agricultural Experiment Station.

According to the research team, these resources make UK uniquely positioned to offer hands-on graduate and undergraduate educational opportunities for multiple departments within Martin-Gatton CAFE.

“This center reflects what is possible when our researchers and industry partners come together around a shared goal,” said Laura Stephenson, vice president for land-grant engagement and dean of Martin-Gatton CAFE. “We are grateful to Nutramax and the other partners whose support has created new opportunities to advance equine health and welfare, prepare students and pursue research that may benefit both horses and people.”

A grand opening and open house will be held at the facility in April 2027 to showcase the research and impact of this industry-supported facility.

“The Sports Medicine Research Center will enable the faculty at the Gluck Equine Research Center to leverage their talent for the benefit of the horse and human by supporting translational musculoskeletal research,” said Brett Sponseller, DVM, Ph.D., chair of UK’s Department of Veterinary Science and director of the Gluck Center. “We are deeply appreciative of the support of the Gluck Equine Research Foundation and our donors.”

The Claiming Crown celebrates the contributions and accomplishments of claiming horses and the horsemen behind them, making the event a fitting platform to support opportunities for these horses beyond the racetrack. 

As part of the partnership, RRP is launching the Claiming Crown Pledge, which invites owners and trainers with horses in this year’s races to pledge a percentage of their Claiming Crown earnings to support Thoroughbreds in their careers after racing.

Funds raised through the initiative will support the RRP’s mission to increase demand for Thoroughbreds after racing through education, promotion, and programs such as the Thoroughbred Makeover, which showcases the breed’s versatility and potential in second careers.

“The Claiming Crown has always been about recognizing the horses and horsemen who are the backbone of our industry,” said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA. “These horses give us so much throughout their racing careers, and we have a responsibility to ensure they have opportunities beyond the racetrack. Our partnership with the Retired Racehorse Project gives owners and trainers a meaningful way to invest in that next chapter and give back to the horses that make our sport possible.”

Owners and trainers can pledge 1 percent, 2 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent, or another percentage of their horse’s Claiming Crown earnings. Pledges can be submitted online using this form.

“Claiming horses are the backbone of our industry, and many of them go on to excel in second careers after racing,” said Brittney Atras, Individual Giving Manager for the Retired Racehorse Project. “We’re grateful to the National HBPA for this partnership and to every owner and trainer who chooses to invest in what comes next for these horses.”

RRP representatives will be on site at Churchill Downs on Claiming Crown Day to connect with owners, trainers, and racing fans and share more about the organization’s programs and mission. Owners and trainers interested in participating in the Claiming Crown Pledge can learn more and submit their pledges here.

University of Guelph MSc student Alessia Masini collaborated on a study that examined whether rider laterality, including hand dominance, leg dominance, and leg length, is associated with differences in riding position. The researchers found several consistent posture differences between left- and right-side dominant riders, suggesting that our asymmetries may influence how we sit in the saddle and ultimately affect how a horse compensates for our laterality in their own muscle use.

Masini comments, “I believe this study is important because, to our knowledge, it is the first to directly examine how rider laterality influences their position in the saddle. Previous work has focused on how handedness affects rein tension or how experience and athletic ability shape posture, but it has remained unclear what specifically drives asymmetry in rider position.”

Left-Handed Riders Showed More Symmetrical Positions

One of the clearest findings was that left-handed riders generally rode in positions that were closer to symmetrical than right-handed riders.

The study found that right-handed riders tended to lean their torso farther forward when viewed from the left side. They also showed a greater tendency to carry the right leg forward and tilt their head to the right when viewed from behind.

By comparison, left-handed riders showed fewer of these side-to-side differences. However, they were not perfectly symmetrical. Left-handed riders tended to ride with the left heel lower than the right, which the researchers hypothesized was because the left leg was positioned slightly longer or because the heel was pushed farther down.

The researchers noted that previous studies have found left-handed people often display greater functional symmetry between the two sides of the body. While this study did not directly measure whole-body laterality, the riding position results were consistent with that idea.

Hand and Leg Dominance Usually Matched

The study also found a strong relationship between hand and leg dominance. Riders who were right-handed were usually right-leg dominant, while left-handed riders were typically left-leg dominant.

Right-leg dominant riders tended to lean their torso farther forward and, from the rear view, carried their shoulders farther to the left. They also rode with the left leg positioned farther forward.

In contrast, left-leg dominant riders maintained a more upright torso, kept their legs positioned more underneath their body, and rode with a lower left heel.

“What stood out to us was that rider posture changed depending on whether it was viewed from the right or left side,” says Masini. “For example, right-handed riders leaned farther forward when viewed from the left, suggesting that there might be some twisting of the torso to the right, or even what many riders might recognize as a ‘collapsed hip’. This raises new questions about how laterality shapes weight distribution in the saddle and stirrups, highlighting the value of future three-dimensional analyses of rider asymmetry.”

Leg Length Also Influenced Position

The longer-legged riders were more likely to tilt their head to the left at the halt, walk, and trot. Longer legs were also associated with the hips leaning left at several gaits, while at the canter the shoulders tended to lean farther to the right.

These findings suggest that some posture tendencies are influenced by the rider’s natural anatomy.

Why Does This Matter?

The practical value of the research is that it may help riders and coaches recognize predictable posture patterns. For example, a right-handed rider who consistently leans forward through the torso, carries the right leg ahead of the left, or tips the head slightly right may not simply be developing a random riding habit. Those tendencies could be related to natural side dominance. Likewise, left-handed riders may want to monitor whether they consistently push the left heel down more than the right.

The study does not suggest that left-handed riders are inherently better riders. In fact, riders in both groups showed measurable asymmetries. However, the results indicate that handedness and leg dominance are factors worth considering when assessing rider position and developing individualized coaching strategies.  

Striving for Symmetry

“These findings could have meaningful implications for the horse, including potential effects on musculoskeletal health and horse-rider communication,” says Masini. “They also demonstrate the importance of individualized rider training, including off-horse exercises to help improve symmetry.”

This study showed that rider laterality influences riding position. Right-handed and right-leg dominant riders were more likely to adopt forward-leaning postures and show side-to-side differences in leg and head position, while left-handed riders generally rode more symmetrically. Leg length also contributed to subtle alignment differences.

Rather than expecting every rider to have the same positional challenges, coaches can consider a rider’s handedness, leg dominance, and body structure when assessing posture and balance.  Understanding these natural tendencies may help riders and coaches identify asymmetries earlier and tailor exercises to improve balance, consistency, and communication with the horse. 

For riders striving for better balance and clearer communication with their horse, understanding personal tendencies could be the first step toward a more effective position in the saddle. Modern tools such as slow-motion video and motion analysis apps, similar to those used in the study, may make it easier than ever to spot these subtle asymmetries and work toward greater symmetry.

Masini, A., Faouen, A., MacGregor, H., Beaudoin, V., & Merkies, K. (2025). The impact of horseback rider laterality on riding position. Comparative Exercise Physiology, 21(5), 435-447. https://doi.org/10.1163/17552559-bja10060

Yosra Helmy, Ph.D., an associate professor of veterinary science at the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE), has received funding from the American Quarter Horse Foundation (AQHF) to investigate whether specially developed chemical compounds, known as small molecules, can control bacteria responsible for abortions in mares. 

The project, titled “Development of Novel Small-Molecule Therapeutics to Control Pathogens Causing Abortion in Mares,” will focus on finding alternatives to conventional antibiotics, which do not always successfully treat these infections. 

“In many cases, losing a pregnancy represents the loss of an entire breeding season, substantial veterinary and management expenses, and uncertainty about a mare’s future reproductive performance,” Helmy said. “Our research is driven by the need to develop new therapeutic approaches that could help veterinarians protect both the mare and her developing foal.” 

One of the project’s primary targets is Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus, commonly called Streptococcus zooepidemicus. The bacterium can normally be found in horses without causing illness, but under certain conditions, it can enter the reproductive tract and cause serious infections. Other bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, can cause similar reproductive problems. 

These bacteria can cause a serious infection called ascending placentitis. The infection happens when bacteria enter the mare’s reproductive tract and spread to the placenta, which provides oxygen and nutrients to the developing foal. When the placenta becomes infected and inflamed, the foal may not receive everything it needs to grow and stay healthy. This can lead to premature birth or cause the mare to lose her foal before it is born.  

“Veterinarians commonly rely on antibiotics to treat bacterial infections in pregnant mares,” Helmy said. “Although these treatments can be effective, they do not always eliminate infections, particularly when bacteria become resistant to the medications being used.” 

Antibiotics can also affect microbial communities, raising additional questions about their broader effects on reproductive health. Furthermore, bacterial biofilms that contribute to persistent infections and difficulties achieving effective drug concentrations at the site of infection can complicate treatment and contribute to persistent infections. 

“The goal is to find treatments that can control the infection and potentially reduce reliance on conventional antibiotics while limiting the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance,” Helmy said. 

Searching for the next generation of treatments 

The researchers aim to identify compounds that effectively target harmful bacteria while assessing their effects on host cells, their potential impact on beneficial microorganisms and their ability to reduce reliance on conventional antibiotics. 

The research will evaluate the most promising candidates for activity against antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, biofilm prevention or disruption and potential toxicity to mammalian cells. These studies are essential steps toward identifying compounds that may be suitable for future therapeutic development. 

The project will draw on the expertise and resources of the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) for Translational Chemical Biology to search for new ways to fight bacterial infections in horses. Researchers will work with Helmy’s laboratory to identify and test promising compounds, including those found in nature, that could stop harmful bacteria from growing or spreading. They will also study whether these compounds can prevent bacteria from forming biofilms. The goal is to find potential new treatments for bacterial infections that affect horses’ reproductive health. 

The work is still in its early stages, and researchers must evaluate the compounds before determining whether they could become safe, effective treatments for pregnant mares. If successful, the work could eventually give veterinarians another option for managing reproductive infections, help breeders reduce foal losses and support efforts to limit antibiotic resistance. 

“For the equine industry, even modest improvements in preventing infectious abortions could have meaningful benefits,” Helmy said. “Protecting a pregnancy means more than saving a potential foal; it can also help preserve a mare’s reproductive health and protect the investments breeders make in future generations of horses.” 

The research reported in this article was made possible in part by a grant from the American Quarter Horse Foundation. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Quarter Horse Foundation. 

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM130456. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. 

Learn more about the Martin-Gatton CAFE Department of Veterinary Science at  vetsci.mgcafe.uky.edu. 

Those questions brought veterinary professionals from across the United States and abroad to the fourth Davis-Thompson Foundation Racehorse Necropsy Workshop at the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (UKVDL) sponsored by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) with support from Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation. Pathologists, veterinary residents, diagnosticians, regulatory veterinarians, clinicians, researchers, and veterinary students gathered for three days of presentations, case discussions, and hands-on instruction. 

A necropsy is a postmortem examination (autopsy) performed on an animal. By examining bones and other tissues, veterinarians look for evidence of pre-existing conditions that can help explain an injury or death. But interpreting that evidence — and putting it to use — benefits from a conversation that extends far beyond the laboratory. 

That connection shaped the workshop. UKVDL associate professor and veterinary pathologist Laura Kennedy, DVM, and University of California-Davis’s professor and veterinary pathologist Francisco Uzal, DVM, MSc, Ph.D., helped bring expertise in pathology, musculoskeletal research, racing regulation, surgery and cardiology to examine racehorse health from several angles.  

Hosting a workshop of this scale also highlighted UK’s quest to improve equine veterinary medicine and racehorse safety. The event required nearly a year of planning and brought together leading specialists from across the country and abroad. For UKVDL, it was an opportunity not only to share its expertise but also to strengthen relationships among the professionals working to better understand and prevent racehorse injuries and deaths.

Reading the evidence in the tissues 

Understanding an injury begins with knowing what healthy anatomy looks like and how it works. Sue Stover, DVM, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, guided participants through anatomy, terminology and biomechanics, the study of how forces act on the body, before using preserved specimens to examine common skeletal injuries.

The sessions then connected those structures to injury diagnosis and treatment. Julie Engiles, DVM, DACVP, professor of pathology at the University of Pennsylvania, addressed diagnosing and documenting orthopedic injuries from the pathologist’s point of view, while Matthew Coleridge, DVM, BVMS, Diplomate ACVS-LA, MRCVS, from the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, offered a surgeon’s perspective on racehorse health and welfare. 

The workshop also examined tendons, ligaments and joints. Bruno Menarim, DVM,Ph.D., Bill Gatton Foundation Endowed Chair in Veterinary Physiology, explored the roles of these tissues, how joints develop and the processes that help maintain their healthy function. 

Since not every investigation centers on a broken bone or another obvious injury, the program addressed exercise-associated sudden death (EASD), pairing the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ Sian Durward-Akhurst, BVMS, Ph.D.’s instruction on clinical cardiology and risk mitigation with a session on approaching the postmortem examination in cases of EASD by Uzal.

The investigation of EASD is a high priority for HISA, with the formation of an EASD working group, funding opportunities through several organizations and an expert summit held at Keeneland Race Course in July of 2026. The range of topics reflected the workshop’s broader purpose: helping participants understand both their own work and the questions their colleagues bring to the same case. A clinician, regulatory veterinarian and pathologist may encounter a horse at different points, but their observations can contribute to a shared investigation. 

Making findings useful beyond the laboratory 

An optional morning visit to Keeneland connected the laboratory discussions with Kentucky’s racing industry. Stuart Brown DVM, Keeneland’s vice president of equine safety, gave participants an inside look at initiatives intended to protect horses and the people who work with them. 

The workshop also introduced the Davis-Thompson Foundation, HISA and the responsibilities of racing regulatory veterinarians. Karen Hassan, DVM, DACVS, provided an introduction to HISA while Michael Hardy, DVM, of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) provided the ground perspective of the regulatory veterinarian followed by the perspective of HIWU on advancements in drug testing. These sessions provided context for how postmortem examinations fit into the wider effort to safeguard racehorses. 

A case-based panel brought the regulatory and pathology perspectives together, featuring Will Farmer, DVM, equine medical director for Churchill Downs, Inc., Brown and Kennedy. By reviewing cases from both sides, participants explored the advantages of sharing information across specialties. 

That exchange depends partly on skills that receive less attention than the examination itself: writing a clear report and taking a useful photograph. Kennedy addressed both, focusing on how to document findings so others can understand them. 

An examination produces observations; a report and its photographs carry those observations beyond the dissection room. Including those practical skills alongside anatomy and pathology emphasized that communicating evidence is an important part of diagnostic work. 

On the final day, a limited number of participants moved into a hands-on laboratory session. Preserved specimens showed normal anatomy alongside common lesions — areas of damaged or abnormal tissue — giving attendees an opportunity to examine the differences directly.  UC Davis’ Carlos Schild, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVP provided a hands-on demonstration of the anatomy of the skeletal system to provide a solid base for the participants.

Instructors demonstrated limb and cardiac dissections before participants practiced independently. With experts nearby to answer questions and guide their work, attendees could connect what they heard in the presentations with what they saw in the tissues.

Previous studies have reported improvements in lameness lasting up to 24 months after PAAG treatment, but exactly how the substance works remains unclear. The gel was initially thought to improve joint lubrication, but it eventually becomes incorporated into the synovial membrane, the tissue lining the inside of the joint.

“Since PAAG incorporates into the synovial membrane rather than remaining free within the joint space, its mechanisms of action are more complex and may go beyond joint lubrication alone,” posited Dr. Bruno Menarim of the Gluck Equine Research Center.

Dr. Menarim, who has spent more than a decade studying the synovial membrane’s role in joint inflammation, also wondered whether PAAG incorporation into the synovial membrane might influence the joint’s ability to respond to inflammatory stimuli and its natural health balance (homeostasis).

“My suspicion was that there was something in the PAAG-remodeled synovial membrane that changes the inflammatory response of the joint,” he said. “I wanted to further investigate whether that was the case, and how that was happening.”

The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation funded a study into PAAG, and Dr. Bianca Ruspi of the Menarim Lab presented the findings at the 2026 American College of Veterinary Surgeons Surgery Summit, earning the award for highest clinical impact.

Using objectively measured pain responses, the authors found no difference between PAAG-treated and control joints. They also identified that the treatment doesn’t block the joint’s inflammatory response, but it may modulate inflammation resolution.

The team studied 19 Thoroughbreds, ages 3 to 7, whose carpal (knee) joints showed no evidence of joint injuries. Each horse received an injection of 2.5% PAAG in one joint and a control of sterile water in the other.

The horses were divided into three different groups, each ultimately evaluated at 7, 30, or 90 days following treatment. At each of these endpoints, researchers induced inflammation in both joints and compared the responses using specialized boots equipped with load sensors. The boots were placed on each horse for 50 minutes before PAAG treatment, before induction of inflammation, and 10 hours following induction of inflammation. The boots measure the weight horses placed on each limb and how often they shifted weight off it, providing an objective measure of pain-related behaviors. 

Researchers found no significant difference in weight-bearing or offloading frequency between PAAG-treated and control limbs. During the recording period, treated joints showed no impaired pain perception in response to induced inflammation, and examination of joint tissues found no abnormalities in the joints’ nerves.

Dr. Menarim’s group also found preliminary evidence that PAAG may influence how the joint resolves inflammation, rather than simply suppressing it. 

“Inflammation is a normal response to injury, and the body has built-in mechanisms to resolve it and restore joint health in a timely fashion,” Menarim explained. “However, when inflammation fails to resolve and becomes chronic, it can be damaging to tissues and lead to osteoarthritis.”

In PAAG-treated joints, researchers observed increased markers associated with recruitment and activation of macrophages, the main cells driving inflammation resolution. In addition, at 30 days following PAAG treatment, PAAG-treated joints had higher concentrations of 10-HDoHE, a substance derived from omega-3 fatty acids and associated with resolving inflammation. The findings raise the possibility that PAAG may influence how the joint resolves inflammation, potentially helping explain the long-lasting effects noted in some studies.

Both PAAG-treated and control joints responded similarly to the induction of inflammation, suggesting no blockage of the inflammatory response. 

When extrapolating these results to clinical cases, it is important to remember that the horses in this study were not in a training program, and only the 2.5% PAAG was investigated, meaning these findings may not be applicable to other formulations. In addition, healthy joints were used with an induced inflammation model, rather than studying the treatment effects on naturally occurring joint inflammation.

The team is finalizing the analysis of findings from another component of this Grayson-funded study examining PAAG in fetlock joints with naturally occurring osteoarthritis. Menarim also aims to further investigate how the treatment affects the joint’s inflammatory response and ability to maintain a healthy physiological balance. 

The preliminary findings are currently being prepared for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, and questions on the subject should be addressed to Dr. Menarim at bruno.menarim@uky.edu. 

Editor’s Note: The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) prohibits intra-articular PAAG injections within 180 days of a race. 

But for someone who has not put many off-track rides on a young Thoroughbred, the first ride on a newly retired racehorse can be nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing (vibes that are definitely NOT what any of us want to convey to the horse under us). 

By taking a mindful approach leading up to and during those first few rides, you’ll not only enjoy them more, but get more out of them, and so will your horse.  

Setting You AND Them Up for Success

When the average racehorse is ready to transition away from racing, they’ve already lived a whole lot of life, seen a lot of things, and been ridden by a variety of different people. So, while that first off-track ride is a significant milestone and much different than what they’re used to (different tack, different way of mounting, different style of riding, different environment…the list could go on and on), they aren’t exactly starting from ground zero. 

At the same time, that newly off-track Thoroughbred is going through a lot of change. New barn environment, new schedule, new feed, re-introduction to turnout and socialization, and more. When it comes to the first ride, that’s even more newness: a different type of saddle and likely bridle/bit, a new type of environment to be ridden in, a new way of being ridden (with more leg on their side and more rider contact on their back), and a new style of being ridden (rather than going fast and straight, they’re going to be asked to do more shapes, patterns, and changes of gait and direction). 

Taking things slow, especially in the beginning and especially if you’re navigating the restarting process for the first time, will get you farther faster in the long run. 

Before the First Ride

With a newly off-track Thoroughbred experiencing so much change, it’s important to teach him or her that “new” does not equal “bad.” The best way to do this is to do your best to set them up for success with new experiences. 

For example, take them to wherever you plan to have their first ride a few times before the actual day of the ride. Let them see and get comfortable in the environment. Maybe have them walk over some poles or investigate anything in or on the perimeter of the arena. You can have them walk a few circles around you at the walk in each direction, which is the first step in teaching them to lunge.

I prefer to do a few groundwork sessions with them and actually teach them to lunge before doing their first ride. You can read more about teaching them to lunge in the January 2024 “Learning to Lunge” edition of OTTB Training Toolkit. 

They may get excited or anxious the first time in that new arena environment, especially if there are other horses working around them. It’s up to you to stay calm and diffuse their nervous energy. Sometimes that might mean simple groundwork games, walking around and over poles, etc., to get their mind to focus on you rather than everything else, while other times it might mean letting them stand there and take it all in, hopefully with some quiet words and confidence-inducing pats or scratches from you. 

I take this approach with everything that’s new to a newly off-track horse, helping them to learn that “new” doesn’t have to be scary. This not only puts them in a mindset more open to learning, but also helps you to get to know the horse a bit better, and to build up a bit of trust between the two of you. 

When it’s the First Ride, for Both of You

Once you feel the horse can go to the arena and get into a calm, productive mindset (through lunging, groundwork, or whatever else), it’s time to do your first ride. Whether it’s your first time doing the first ride or you’ve done hundreds of them, it’s good to have someone around who can hold the horse as you mount. 

Most racehorses are used to a rider being “legged up” rather than mounting from a mounting block, and often they’re walking as this happens, so having to stand still as someone steps onto a mounting block, puts weight into the stirrup, and swings a leg over can be unsettling to some horses. If that’s the case, take your time to help them get comfortable with you there and what you’re doing.

There are a number of things I’ve learned over the years that not only help to keep the rider safe when mounting a newly retired racehorse (or any horse you’re unfamiliar with), but also help the horse learn to stand calmly while being mounted, which you can read about here.

Horses are sensitive animals. They can feel something as tiny as a fly landing on them, so they can definitely feel everything you convey through your hands, legs, and seat, whether you mean for them to or not. So, it’s important to be relaxed and confident, yet secure (not loose in the tack) during these first few rides. Be sure you’re not tense and tight through your seat and legs, and you’re not pulling or fussing with their mouth, as all of these things will make a relaxed horse tense, and a tense horse more anxious. 

Now, that doesn’t mean to ride with your leg off of them. I often describe to students having “wet towel legs” when riding anxious or green horses. You want your leg secure (like a ThunderShirt for a nervous dog) but not actively engaged or haphazardly swinging and rubbing them. Keeping your heel down, your calf on their side, and your core engaged plays a big role in this. This will keep you secure (and give you the ability to be light on their back).

While ideally I want to start with 5 or so minutes of walking and circling, if the horse is anxious or eager to go forward, I let them move into a trot, staying on the perimeter of the arena and doing large circles or figure 8s. Often, the best way to diffuse nervous energy in a horse is to keep their feet moving, and with Thoroughbreds especially, you can use their natural inclination to go forward to your advantage, as that is their comfort zone (and will serve them well in many off-track disciplines).

On the track, most Thoroughbreds are used to being ridden with contact, so in these first rides, I try to maintain quiet contact with their mouth through the reins, doing a lot of soft give and take (pressure and release) to help them relax into rather than brace against the contact. 

My mindset when I go into that first ride is to simply let the horse introduce him or herself to me, and me to them. I want to learn from them how they like to be ridden, if they prefer one direction over another, how well they turn and bend, and so on. From me, I want them to feel my legs against their side and how I engage them in coordination with my rein aids and seat when I ask them to turn or bend. 

There is no hard and fast rule that says one has to walk, trot, and canter in that first ride. Often I will do all three gaits and even a hack around the farm, but sometimes if I feel the horse has made good progress with just a few walk-trot sets, I’ll leave it at that so I can end in a good place and build on it next time. 

My goal for a first ride (really for the first few rides) isn’t ever “I want to accomplish X, Y and Z.” Instead it’s simply to end my session with the horse happy and relaxed, and hopefully thinking, “Wait, that’s it? That was easy!”

Taking this approach to the first ride (or rides) will help you to develop a good rapport and level of trust with a horse and put him or her in a curious, learning mindset. 

Troubleshooting Tips

If you are nervous – Horses can feel our energy, and they feed off of it, so if you’re nervous about getting on, there is no shame in asking a more experienced, confident rider to put the first few rides on your horse, or to coach you through it. If you don’t know of someone you can ask for help, the Retired Racehorse Project has a database of past Thoroughbred Makeover competitors and can try to help you connect with someone in your area that can offer guidance.

Have a ground person – Always coordinate having someone there with you when you get on a new horse for the first time. Not only can they hold the horse as you get on and walk the first few steps with you, but they can also take video, help from the ground (such as if your horse is hesitant to go over a pole or near something, the ground person can walk them from the ground to offer extra encouragement), and help if things go pear-shaped (hopefully not…but better safe than sorry!). 

Getting on safely – Every step of every ride is a conversation between you and the horse, so mounting is like your introduction. In addition to keeping yourself secure and with the horse by keeping your reins short and grabbing the mane with your left hand, make sure you don’t poke them with your toe as you put your foot in the stirrup, don’t catch them with your right foot as you swing your leg over, and don’t thud down on their back like a sack of potatoes. All of that not only sends the wrong message, but can startle the horse and cause them to go forward abruptly. You also don’t want to be too slow getting on, as that is often the most vulnerable point of your ride (since you’re only half on the horse). Instead, be soft and efficient as you swing your leg over and sit lightly into the saddle. 

Choose the right time – While it’s good to have someone there when doing your first rides, try to time it when the arena is going to be quiet. If there is another horse or two in the arena with you, let them know that it’s the horse’s first off-track ride and ask them to be mindful (not passing too closely, or slowing to a walk if they see your horse is getting overly excited). If you have a friend riding with you, simply walking next to them or following behind them at the walk or trot can be a good calming influence for your inexperienced horse. 

Be soft, but secure in the saddle – Racehorses are used to the rider riding much shorter in the stirrups and being off of their backs (or light on their backs if posting), so think about being light with your posting and using a half seat in the canter in those first few rides. Having a secure lower leg and engaged core are the key to this.

Don’t overdo it – Less is more in those first few rides. My goal isn’t to teach them any major concepts, but rather to get them used to a new way of being ridden and have positive experiences. If I can get them to be calm and curious about going over poles or passing/investigating things in the arena, even better!  Ending on a positive note is my main goal, but how I get there and what that positive note is depends on the horse.

Conducted by Boehringer Ingelheim, the nationwide survey garnered nearly 2,000 responses from horse owners in 49 states. It found that a large percentage of owners indicated a decrease in riding time after a PPID diagnosis, negatively impacting the important human/horse bond.

“A horse receiving a PPID diagnosis can feel overwhelming at first,” noted Steve Grubbs, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, Equine Technical Manager, Boehringer Ingelheim. “But as owners learn to manage the disease, many horses can potentially return to a normal life, whether that be competing or as a companion.”

Most promising is that the survey found that horse owners have an understanding of the disease, with 89 percent of respondents able to identify at least one clinical sign associated with PPID.¹ The findings reflect how awareness of the disease has evolved over the past decade-and-a-half.

“In the past, many horses with PPID weren’t diagnosed until the disease was advanced, because owners simply didn’t recognize the clinical signs,” said Dr. Grubbs. “Today, horse owners are much more aware of what to watch for, which creates opportunities for earlier conversations with their veterinarians, and better long-term outcomes for affected horses.”

Before PPID became a topic horse owners understood, they often attributed the early signs of PPID to the natural aging process. Those early clinical signs include change in attitude, lethargy, decreased performance, delayed shedding, loss of topline muscle, laminitis, and abnormal sweating.

The survey suggests that significant progress has been made in horse owner awareness of the disease and the resources available to manage it, including: 

•  61% of those surveyed specifically asked their veterinarian to test their horse for PPID.
•  75% of respondents’ horses are on PRASCEND® (pergolide tablets), with 98% treating daily year-round.
•  78% plan to continue treating for their horse’s lifetime. 

“The increased awareness reflected in this survey is encouraging, because early recognition remains one of the most important factors in successfully managing PPID,” Dr. Grubbs said. “When horse owners recognize subtle changes sooner, they’re more likely to involve their veterinarian earlier, which can make a meaningful difference in developing an appropriate long-term management plan.”

PPID is one of the most common endocrine disorders affecting older horses, although in rare cases, it has been identified in horses as young as 5 years old.² Veterinarians emphasize that successfully managing PPID requires a whole-horse approach that includes appropriate medical treatment, nutritional management, routine hoof and dental care, exercise when appropriate, and regular veterinary monitoring.

For Dr. Grubbs, the survey represents more than an encouraging statistic. “The biggest change over the past 15 years is that more horses with the disease have had the opportunity to be diagnosed and managed before the disease advances, significantly impacting their quality of life. That’s real progress,” he stressed.

Trainer and horse owner Keri Davidson, KTR Farms, Adairsville, Ga., knows firsthand about how to help horses diagnosed with PPID enjoy longevity. Her five horses on PRASCEND® (pergolide tablets) continue to thrive, providing lessons and competing on the show circuit. “I want other people to understand that a PPID diagnosis doesn’t mean the end of a horse’s career,” she said. “When their conditions are managed properly, these horses are able to continue doing their jobs and enjoy a great quality of life.”  

Horse owners who suspect their horse might have PPID should talk to their veterinarian about testing as catching PPID early can help with successful treatment. For additional information about PPID, visit PRASCEND.com.

PRASCEND® IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: PRASCEND has not been evaluated in breeding, pregnant or lactating horses. Treatment with PRASCEND may cause loss of appetite. Most cases are mild. PRASCEND tablets should not be crushed, due to the potential for increased human exposure. Keep PRASCEND in a secure location, out of reach of dogs, cats, and other animals to prevent accidental ingestion or overdose. Adverse reactions may occur if animals other than horses ingest PRASCEND tablets. Not for human use. Do not ingest the product. Refer to the package insert for complete information. 

References
1 Data on file at Boehringer Ingelheim.
2 Young A, Berryhill E. Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). UC Davis Weill Veterinary Medicine Center for Equine Health. 2020. Available at: https://ceh.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/health-topics/pituitary-pars-intermedia-dysfunction-ppid. Accessed July 15, 2026.  

Her primary veterinarian, Dr. Kristen Wallert, was in attendance for the premature birth and quickly noticed that something was wrong – Sierra was having a red bag delivery, which occurs when the placenta detaches too early from the uterus, trapping the foal inside and depriving it of oxygen. Dr. Wallert quickly intervened and was able to remove Banks successfully, saving his life.

But Banks did not respond normally after birth and was inappropriately quiet, unable to stand, and unable to nurse. Dr. Wallert knew an immediate referral to UC Davis was in order.

Aguilar quickly arrived at the clinic and loaded Sierra in the trailer and Banks in the back seat of his truck, secure in the arms of his son. They made the nearly three-hour drive to the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH), arriving within five hours of Banks’ birth.

Upon arrival at the VMTH’s Large Animal Hospital, Banks was admitted to the Lucy G. Whittier Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) by large animal resident Dr. Hillary Bunay and Dr. Emily Berryhill, a board-certified internist. Banks was quiet and small, with a silky hair coat and curled ears indicative of prematurity. X-rays of the bones in his knees and hocks showed incomplete mineralization, another sign of prematurity. In addition, Banks had signs of severe systemic bacterial infection (sepsis), a life-threatening situation in new foals.

Banks was treated aggressively with IV antibiotics and IV plasma to provide antibodies needed for a strong immune system. A feeding tube was placed since he was not strong enough to nurse on his own. His organ functions—including his brain, kidneys, and GI tract—were monitored closely, as these organs are easily injured during oxygen deprivation and can stop working normally until they heal from the damage caused by the deprivation. He received oxygen supplementation, and his ability to breathe was also monitored closely since premature foals can have trouble inflating their lungs fully and their respiratory muscles fatigue easily.

In addition to medical care, Banks had a member of the UC Davis Foal Team—students who volunteer to help in the NICU and gain experience in foal care—sit with him around the clock. The Foal Team members are critical in monitoring foals day and night, along with dedicated technicians and veterinarians, and have an important role in preventing premature foals from standing and crushing their underdeveloped bones until they are fully mature.

Banks remained critical for several days but responded well to treatment, transitioning from tube feeding to nursing from a pan, gaining energy and strength, and having normal organ function. He underwent intensive physical therapy to gradually help his bones and soft tissues get stronger without putting them under too much stress at any given time.

The NICU is equipped with dual mare/foal stalls, so Banks was closely monitored by Sierra in the adjoining stall. Throughout his hospitalization, she remained devoted, watching and talking to him, letting the team milk her regularly, and just being a great girl.

Banks was hospitalized in the NICU for 29 days and cared for by numerous technicians, students, residents training to be specialists in equine internal medicine and critical care, and faculty veterinarians within the Equine Internal Medicine Service. His veterinary team included large animal medicine resident Dr. Karen VanLier, along with Drs. Fiona Wensley and Gary Magdesian, both board-certified internists.

“Seeing the change from a foal barely able to lift his head and unable to stand to a bouncing, bucking, and nursing baby brings everyone so much joy,” said Dr. Berryhill, chief of service.

Now 6 months old, Banks is an active colt running laps in his corral as if nothing out of the ordinary ever happened.

Aguilar, whose small breeding operation has produced about a dozen foals in the past 15 years, plans to keep Banks.

“There was never a thought to selling him after what we’ve been through,” said Aguilar. “There’s just no way we’re letting him go.”

In a few years, Aguilar plans to prepare Banks for a career in barrel racing. There are big shoes to fill in his lineage.

Banks’ paternal grandfather is The Goodbye Lane (b. 2001), a sire of more than $20 million in earners. His paternal great-great-grandfather is Dash Ta Fame (b. 1989), the nation’s all-time leading sire of barrel racing horses, whose offspring have earned nearly $40 million, with 71 horses earning more than $100,000 each.

Banks’ maternal great-grandfather is Rocket Wrangler (1968–1992), a famous American Quarter Horse stallion and champion racehorse. He was the champion 2-year-old colt in 1970 and winner of the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity and Quarter Horse racing’s flagship event, the Grade 1 All American Futurity. Rocket Wrangler was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2010.

Aguilar looks forward to Banks’ potential and is grateful to UC Davis for giving him that opportunity.

“I can’t say enough about the care he received at UC Davis,” said Aguilar. “That team cared for him as if he were their own. I’ve never experienced better care in any other veterinary or human hospital.”

New York State Police stopped the trailer, driven by Pennsylvania resident Robert M. Seitz, shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sept. 2 on U.S. Highway 11 in DeKalb, about 25 miles from the Canadian border. Police told the Times Union that the horses had been purchased and tagged for slaughter at Rotz’s Livestock in Shippensburg, Pa., owned by Bruce Rotz. Rotz has not been charged.

Seitz was charged with violating New York Agriculture and Markets Law § 385, which prohibits transporting or otherwise transferring horses in the state when the person knows or should know they are intended for slaughter for human or animal consumption. Questions have since been raised about the law’s effectiveness.

After Seitz’s arrest, the horses were taken to a Saratoga County farm, where the New York State Humane Association has helped organize their care, with assistance from Dorset Equine Rescue and other volunteers. Although the law used to arrest Seitz does not explicitly provide for the forfeiture of horses seized during an investigation, the horses’ surrender allows them to be moved to placement homes.

💔SRF ASSISTING 25 SEIZED NYS HORSES, these horses need FOSTERS & DONATIONS DESPERATELY🙏
To offer a foster home, email SRF at SRFAdoption@gmail.com. Please DONATE $1, $5, $10 with your SHARE 🙏
at https://t.co/3kFwMg1PQQ
see pics for more info pic.twitter.com/i57v9u20yK

— Standardbred Retirement Foundation (@SRF_SOSS) October 30, 2026

We sadly said our goodbyes to the mighty Neville Bardos yesterday after 27 years of an amazing life.

Named after an infamous Australian gangster, Nev spent the last few years living out in the field with the young horses at our farm in Pennsylvania. He was very happy, but over the last year, he really started losing weight and muscle. I had Neville’s longtime vet and good mate, Dr. Kevin Keane, take a look at him, and we both agreed that the upcoming winter would be unfair for Neville to endure.

Neville had a good run. He was one of those horses that truly changed my career. I’m not sure I have ever ridden a horse as tough and brave as Nev. I bought him as a 3-year-old retired racehorse in Australia for $850 as a sales project. Nev had a feisty outlook on life, and I soon realized he wasn’t going to be a quick sell. After working away with him, I started to realize that he could seriously jump!

Nev gave me my first taste of victory at the FEI level, winning the Melbourne Three Day Event. I will never forget pulling out a clear round and receiving the trophy from Australian eventing legend Bill Roycroft. From that moment on, the fire was lit!

I soon relocated to America and brought Nev over to compete at the Kentucky 5 Star when he had just turned 8. I was very lucky to round up my first syndicate to own him. It was a daunting task finding 10 people to support him, and I sincerely want to thank the group that got behind him. At the time, I was an unknown rider with a wild Thoroughbred and big dreams. Those 10 people gave me the belief that there were supporters in this country who would stick by you through the good and bad and help you achieve your goals. The bulk of that group are still supporting horses for me 16 years later!

In 2010, I represented the US of A at my first-ever championship at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. I had come so close so many times to riding at a championship but had always fallen short. I honestly thought it might never happen. Nev and I finished on our dressage score and secured a top-10 finish. He really delivered! To this day, I can still remember every stride and every jump of that show jumping course. That event really gave me momentum for the rest of my journey.

In 2011, we had a terrible barn fire at True Prospect Farm. It was one of the most horrific events of my life. I managed to free a few of the horses, with the last one being Nev. I will never forget dragging him down the aisleway by his windsucking collar, with my good mate Phillip pushing him from behind as the roof was falling in.

Along with a number of other horses, Neville spent weeks in the intensive care unit at the New Bolton Center recovering. I truly got to see the heart of a champion when Neville came back into work and we completed our goal of competing at Burghley 5 Star. I have never felt a horse with so much grit and determination as Nev. I also believe he was the first event horse ever to make the front page of The New York Times through his amazing achievements.

So many people have helped me with Neville over the years. Firstly, his grooms and handlers throughout his career: Kate Chadderton, Shannon Kinsley, Lindsay Taylor, and Steph Simpson. They all equally loved him and cared for his every need during the prime of his competition career. I also want to thank his farriers, Bob Sim in Australia and Doug Neilson in America, for their care and dedication to Nev over the years.

Sarah Reese cared for him, rode him, and groomed him every day in the twilight of his life. Neville loved Sarah, and she really looked after him like the champion he was.

I had so many coaches who helped me with him across two countries. Obviously Silva (who rode him at his first-ever eventing competition at Scone Horse Trials!), Heath Ryan, Jamie Coman, and Leesa Robinson in Australia, and in the US, Phillip Dutton, Katie Prudent, Lauren Hough, Michael Barisone, Oded Shimoni, and Captain Mark Phillips.

Yesterday, I buried him at the top of our gallop track at the farm. Every time I zoom up that track, I will always think of him at the top of the hill.

It’s amazing how horses touch our lives. Never in my life would I have believed that a scruffy off-the-track Thoroughbred would have such an incredible impact on my life.

For the more than 200 horses participating in this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland, however, the veterinary examination process began weeks ago.

One of the most visible parts of that process has been taking place each morning at Keeneland’s seven-furlong chute, where every Breeders’ Cup entrant must jog past a team of veterinarians. Unlike the in-hand examinations performed at the barn, these mandatory jog-ups are conducted under saddle, with the horse’s exercise rider aboard. The examinations are videotaped, allowing veterinarians to review each horse’s movement and compare observations from one day to the next. The procedure, required every time a Breeders’ Cup or undercard runner enters the racing surface to train, began Oct. 25.

It’s one example of how Breeders’ Cup veterinary protocols go beyond those of an ordinary race meet.

The process begins weeks before the race

According to the Breeders’ Cup’s 2026 Veterinary Guide, a five-member review panel began evaluating potential starters following their final prep races earlier this month, reviewing previous veterinary examinations, treatment records, past performances, and training patterns. 

The panel includes Dr. George Mundy, equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation; Dr. Tim Grande, chief official veterinarian for the California Horse Racing Board; Breeders’ Cup veterinary team co-leaders Dr. William Farmer and Dr. Deborah Lamparter; and Dr. Stuart Brown, Keeneland’s vice president of equine safety.

After pre-entries closed Oct. 19, the panel conducted a second review using veterinary records requested from HISA for all domestic contenders. International connections were required to submit the previous 30 days of veterinary records.

Horses whose histories raise concerns may be referred for additional examinations or diagnostic imaging, sometimes before leaving their home stables. Breeders’ Cup covers the cost of advanced imaging requested by regulatory veterinarians.

Once horses arrive at Keeneland, more than 25 regulatory veterinarians from Kentucky and other racing jurisdictions participate in the examinations. Working in teams of two, veterinarians conduct at least two stall-side evaluations of each horse, including a physical examination and observation of the horse jogging in hand on a flat surface. The veterinarians also meet each morning after training to review their findings and videos, discuss horses of concern, and determine whether further evaluation is needed. 

The veterinary examinations are accompanied by an extensive out-of-competition drug testing program overseen by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU). Testing of potential Breeders’ Cup starters began in June, and HIWU reported Wednesday that it had overseen more than 343 out-of-competition tests involving contenders across seven countries. Horses may be tested multiple times leading up to the championships, in addition to pre- and post-race testing. Mandatory 24-hour surveillance will also be in place for all runners during the World Championships.

Technology adds another layer

Advanced diagnostic imaging, including positron emission tomography (PET), is available at Keeneland when veterinarians identify concerns warranting further investigation. At Wednesday’s Breeders’ Cup racing and operations briefing, veterinary team leader Dr. Will Farmer said PET imaging has been used again this year, though he could not yet say how frequently when compared with previous championships.

Breeders’ Cup has also expanded its use of Sleip, a video-based gait analysis system introduced at last year’s event. Trainers of potential starters were offered free 30-day access to the technology, allowing them to submit videos of their horses before shipping to Keeneland. Farmer said participation increased this year, particularly among international connections, giving veterinarians an opportunity to observe how horses move before traveling. 

The technology can help inform regulatory decisions, Farmer emphasized, but does not determine whether a horse is fit to race.

Keeneland also uses StrideSafe, a wearable sensor that collects data about a horse’s movement, and VetCam, which provides additional video footage of horses exercising on the racing surfaces.

Veterinarians are also evaluating cardiac health via pre-race auscultation, or a heart exam with a stethoscope. Although cardiac auscultation is part of Kentucky’s routine pre-race examinations, Breeders’ Cup added the procedure to its own protocols last year at Del Mar. This year, two veterinary cardiac specialists will be available for consultation as research continues into exercise-associated sudden death.

Who decides whether a horse is scratched?

Despite the additional veterinary personnel, Kentucky’s regulatory veterinarians retain the authority to recommend a scratch. Breeders’ Cup veterinarians serve as consultants and cannot independently recommend a scratch to the board of stewards.

When a concern arises, the combined veterinary team consults with the trainer and, when possible, the horse’s attending veterinarian. Additional examinations may be requested, but the ultimate determination of a horse’s suitability to race rests with the regulatory veterinarians.

Horses found to be unsound are placed on the veterinarians’ list, which carries additional requirements before they can return to competition. Depending on the circumstances, a horse may still be placed on the list even if its trainer elects to withdraw it.

Every horse must also undergo an official examination on race morning, regardless of how many times it has been examined during the preceding weeks.

The Breeders’ Cup guide emphasizes that the purpose of the race-day examination is to determine whether a horse is suitable to compete, not necessarily to diagnose a specific injury. A horse may have trained or raced successfully in the preceding days or weeks and still raise concerns on race morning.

The additional Breeders’ Cup examinations provide more opportunities to identify potential problems, but cannot eliminate every risk associated with racing. Ultimately, Kentucky’s regulatory veterinarians must make the same determination they make before every race: whether the horse is fit to compete that day.

Life’s Magic, the hard-working blue-collar filly who danced every dance to become a star, was a product of a small family operation from Paris, Kentucky. Prominent cattleman Julian Rogers originally owned the land, but it was purchased in 1971 by a group of partners headed by David C. Parrish, Jr., a decorated World War II fighter pilot and president of the Clay Ward Agency of Paris, Ky., then and now a leading equine insurance business. It was his brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Parrish, along with their son, Dr. David C. Parrish III, who bred Life’s Magic, foaled at Indian Creek on March 7, 1981. Life’s Magic was a member of the first crop of Cox’s Ridge, a late-maturing but extremely talented winner of the Metropolitan Handicap and 10 other stakes who stood at Claiborne Farm.

The dam of the new Cox’s Ridge filly was Fire Water, by the 1965 Preakness Stakes winner and champion three-year-old colt Tom Rolfe. Fire Water’s dam, Bourbon Mist, by Double Jay, joined the Parrish broodmare band courtesy of their son. David III, a veterinary student working with the sale yearlings at Claiborne in the summer of 1960, was smitten with the filly. He persuaded his parents to help him buy her for $9,000. Though Bourbon Mist only won once, she proved a good producer, her daughters Fire Water and Issues n’ Answers winning stakes. Hers was one of the best families in the American stud book, tracing back to the great 1800s matron Maggie B.B. From Misty Isle, the fifth dam of Life’s Magic, the female family included the good stakes winners Cosmic Missile, Bishop’s Ring, Mississippi Mud (later the dam of Dixieland Band), Islay Mist, Ole Liz, Kittiwake, and Beaconaire. Interestingly, Life’s Magic and her great rival on the track, Miss Oceana, were out of mares whose dams were full sisters.

Life’s Magic was consigned to the Keeneland September Sale as a yearling in 1982, although the premier Keeneland yearling sale was then held in July. There was nothing flashy about her, being a good, hard bay with no white markings. She was a substantial, robust individual and she caught the eye of Lukas, who bought her for $310,000 on behalf of his close friend Melvin Hatley, an Oklahoma-based oil entrepreneur and horse breeder. He and Lukas had successfully raced Quarter Horses before transitioning to Thoroughbreds in the late 1970s. In 1983, Lukas had an embarrassment of juvenile filly riches in his barn, for in addition to Life’s Magic, there was the blue-blooded Alydar filly Althea, and the capriciously tempered speedball Lucky Lucky Lucky. Each would be a contender for two-year-old filly honors.

With Life’s Magic, Lukas did something unusual for her first start. Recognizing her talent, she began her career on August 25 at Del Mar in a six-furlong allowance instead of a maiden race. In that race, Life’s Magic established the pattern for her career, starting slowly and then driving. She won this race by two lengths, and then was plunged into Grade 1 company for five of her next six races. Shipped to Arlington Park outside Chicago for the seven furlong Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes, Life’s Magic met up with near-relative Miss Oceana for the first time and finished second to her by 3¾ lengths. Life’s Magic then proceeded to come out on the losing end by a scant nose in her next two Grade 1 appearances, to Miss Oceana again in the Frizette and to the hard-knocking colt Fali Time in the Norfolk Stakes against males.

Finally, in her next start, the Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita at 1 1/16 miles on a dreary, drizzly day and a sloppy track on Nov. 12, Life’s Magic came out a winner. Partnered by Chris McCarron, Life’s Magic relished both the slop and the distance. In a field that included her more fancied stablemate Althea, the winner over boys in the Del Mar Futurity, Life’s Magic blew by her in deep stretch for a half-length victory, with both fillies 17 lengths clear of third-place finisher Percipient. Life’s Magic closed out her busy juvenile season when Althea turned the tables on her in the Hollywood Starlet and a strong third to Fali Time in the Hollywood Futurity. Lukas got his second juvenile filly champion in a row when the Eclipse Award went to Althea. All three of his young starlets would be back as major stars in their own right the next season.

Life’s Magic started her second racing season slowly. With only eight weeks off between the Hollywood Futurity and her next start in February, it took four months for her to get her first victory of the season. Not that she did not run well, for though she failed to win, she acquitted herself admirably, including a rallying third to Althea in the Grade 1 Santa Susana Stakes, a decent fifth in the Santa Anita Derby, and a strong closing eighth in Swale’s Kentucky Derby while Althea finished next to last in nineteenth place.

It wasn’t until she arrived at Belmont Park in New York in May that Life’s Magic finally rounded into her best form. Even so, she was behind the eight ball compared to her stablemates, as Althea also took the Arkansas Derby against males prior to her unfortunate run in Kentucky, and Lucky Lucky Lucky had taken down laurels in the Kentucky Oaks and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. It certainly seemed as if Life’s Magic was due for a big win of her own. She had to wait a bit longer when she came up a neck short of Miss Oceana in the Acorn Stakes. But the tables were about to turn in her favor in the 1⅛-mile Mother Goose Stakes on June 16. The Mother Goose was the start of a seven-race march to a championship for Life’s Magic. For the Mother Goose, under Jorge Velasquez, Life’s Magic sat back in last place as Wild Applause and Proud Clarioness dueled each other into defeat. This time, favored nemesis Miss Oceana, despite taking over the lead by over a length with an eighth of a mile to go, could not keep Life’s Magic at bay and finished second by 3 ¼ lengths, as Life’s Magic stamped herself the overwhelming favorite for the Coaching Club American Oaks in the 1:48 ⅘ it took her to win the Mother Goose.

The CCA Oaks proved a mild upset, as over a sloppy track, Life’s Magic was unusually positioned closer to the pace than she was accustomed, blunting her stretch run to the point she could not catch the winner, the Stage Door Johnny filly Class Play. The Alabama Stakes at Saratoga was then set as the prime target for Life’s Magic, and young Jeff Lukas, in charge of his father’s eastern string, decided to use the Monmouth Oaks as a prep. Despite the sloppy conditions, Life’s Magic completely overwhelmed her rivals, starting her charge at the half-mile pole and rolling to a 6½-length victory over Claiborne Farm’s nice stakes winner Flippers. Eugene Klein, who had purchased half of the filly earlier in the season, happily boasted to The Blood-Horse, “I have horses racing all over the country, including a stable at this lovely track, but I would only travel this far to see Life’s Magic run. She’s worth the trip anytime.”

The Alabama Stakes at 1¼ miles at Saratoga on August 11 was tailor-made for Life’s Magic. On the same day track and field phenom Carl Lewis earned his fourth gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics to equal Jesse Owens, Life’s Magic stamped herself as the leader of her division in the race for the three-year-old filly championship. In a field of just five, the two fillies who stood in her way were her stablemate Lucky Lucky Lucky and her vanquisher from the CCA Oaks, Class Play. As was her wont, speedy Lucky Lucky Lucky went right to the front and carved out fractions of :23 ⅘, :48, 1:11 ⅘, and 1:36 ⅗. Life’s Magic, partnered by Jorge Velasquez, was never farther back than three lengths in second place. At the turn into the straight, Life’s Magic drew even with her stablemate, who dug in stubbornly, refusing to yield as the two fillies raced in tandem down the stretch. The two pulled farther and farther away from the rest of the field, until at the wire, Life’s Magic wrestled a head victory over her obstinate stablemate, with Class Play over 15 lengths back in third.

Clearly at the top of her division, a third-place finish to Miss Oceana in the Gazelle Stakes three weeks later failed to dislodge her. To round out her sophomore campaign, Life’s Magic took down her third Grade 1 of the year in the Beldame Stakes and ran a strong second to Princess Rooney in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Hollywood Park. In the latter event, Life’s Magic ran a valiant race, passing the likes of Lucky Lucky Lucky, multiple Grade 1 winner Adored, and, of course, old foe Miss Oceana. Princess Rooney could not be caught that afternoon, but with her four stakes wins on the season and her brave effort in the Distaff, Life’s Magic truly earned her Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old filly.

It would seem that after nineteen starts over two seasons, four Grade 1 wins, and a championship, Life’s Magic had earned a well-deserved retirement. She had never been out of serious training since her career started; she had raced from California to Kentucky to New York and back. She had, as they say, never missed an oat, and was still hale and hearty. Thus, she was brought back for a four-year-old campaign, one so arduous that it would test her mental and physical stamina to the limit. Luckily, Life’s Magic was an individual who thrived on hard work. Though she was a good-sized mare, Jeff Lukas told The Blood-Horse, “She’s always been a filly on the light side, so we train her with gallops of various degrees. The key to her success is that she has such a solid foundation under her. Fitness is not a problem with her, just keeping her mentally sharp. We try to keep her happy.”

Life’s Magic went to the post 13 times at four. Though she won only twice, she made her presence felt, and she won when it counted most. Lukas brought her out exactly three months after her run in the Distaff in the Grade 1 La Canada Stakes, 1⅛ miles at Santa Anita. Not one to shy away from competition, Lukas was planning a run for her in the Santa Anita Handicap only three weeks later. In the La Canada, Life’s Magic finished third to Mitterand and went on to perform exceptionally well in the “Big ‘Cap” itself, coming in fourth to the best older males on the West Coast: Lord at War, Greinton, and Gate Dancer, respectively. An experiment on the turf in the Santa Ana Handicap did not go well and resulted in her first out-of-the-money finish since her run in the Kentucky Derby nearly a year previously. New York was where she ran her best, and there she was sent, with a stop at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas to pick up a third-place finish to Sefa’s Beauty in the Apple Blossom Handicap.

On the same day the elder Lukas saddled Tank’s Prospect to win the Preakness, the younger Lukas saddled Life’s Magic at Belmont Park for the 1 1/16-mile Shuvee Handicap. Back at her favorite track, Life’s Magic waltzed away with the Shuvee, defeating six other very good fillies, including four-time Grade 1 winner Heatherten. From June until the Breeders’ Cup in early November, Life’s Magic was kept busy, participating in seven Grade 1 races, including the Suburban, Brooklyn, and Whitney Handicaps against males. She ran creditable fourths in the Suburban and Whitney and got to within half a length of Bounding Basque in the Brooklyn, making her the first female to place in the historic handicap since Gallorette back in 1948.

The main goal was the second edition of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Aqueduct on Nov. 2. In the meantime, Life’s Magic ran second in the Hempstead Handicap and Spinster Stakes and third in the Delaware Handicap. In the Ruffian Handicap, Life’s Magic ran fourth to the brilliant gray up-and-comer of the Lukas stable, a gray daughter of Secretariat named Lady’s Secret.

As in the classic Hollywood film All About Eve, where the understudy Eve, played by Anne Baxter, meteorically rises to eclipse the aging star, Bette Davis’s Margo Channing, so, too, had the younger star Lady’s Secret eclipsed the older star Life’s Magic in the Lukas stable. She had won eight straight stakes, including three Grade 1s in a row. But like Bette Davis’s Margo, Life’s Magic proved, on that overcast, chilly afternoon at Aqueduct, that she was not quite ready to cede the limelight to a younger star.

She was partnered by Angel Cordero, because regular pilot Jorge Velasquez, also the regular partner for Lady’s Secret, opted for the younger ingenue. He and Lady’s Secret sprinted away from the gate and quickly opened a six-length lead around the backstretch. Where was Life’s Magic? As usual, taking her time in last place. Rounding the turn for home, Lady’s Secret’s lead began to dwindle after fractions of :46 ⅘, 1:11 ⅖, and 1:16 ⅘. Life’s Magic, finding her best stride, blew by her younger stablemate as Velasquez yelled at Cordero to go for it. At the finish, Life’s Magic was the winner by 6¼ lengths in 2:02 flat. Her devastating performance sealed the Eclipse Award for champion older female. Lukas, the proud father, gave the credit for Life’s Magic’s success to his son, telling The Blood-Horse, “Jeff stayed with her all summer. He kept telling me, ‘Dad, she’s never looked better.’ Here it is, November, and she has dapples on her, and I remarked to him all week long that I’d never seen this filly looking so good.”

The owners briefly considered racing Life’s Magic again at five, but retired her and sent her to the court of the nation’s premier stallion, Mr. Prospector. Life’s Magic left the track with a total of eight wins from 32 starts, 11 second-place finishes, eight third-place finishes, and $2,255,218, making her at the time the highest-earning female solely raced in the United States. Lukas told The Blood-Horse, “Consistency over a period of time is important in racing. Life’s Magic has been extremely sound and solid all of her career.” Twenty-seven Grade 1 appearances, winning five and running second or third in 16 others, is an astounding feat unlikely to be matched.

For a horse of her stature, Life’s Magic changed hands several times as a broodmare, selling for $5.4 million, $4.4 million, $310,000, and finally, at the age of twenty, she sold for $75,000 to Liberation Farms and partners. She produced her final foals at Trackside Farm near Versailles, Ky. Her last live foal was the stakes-placed Silver Deputy colt Simon Pure. It was a sad fact that despite being bred to some of the best stallions standing in the Bluegrass, none of her fourteen foals won a stakes and none of her daughters bred on. What made Life’s Magic the sturdy and courageous champion she was died along with her.

This author was fortunate enough to see Life’s Magic four years before her death at Trackside, where one of her paddock mates was the brilliant Lite Light. Despite being a great-granddaughter of the irascible Italian champion Ribot, Life’s Magic proved just the opposite, thoroughly enjoying the attention and letting it be known she wanted more pats and strokes with gentle nuzzling. Pam Clark, the co-owner of Trackside, told me recently that she remembers Life’s Magic as a quiet, kind and gentle mare.

Life’s Magic passed peacefully on Aug. 21, 2007. Tom Evans, co-owner of Trackside, told the Daily Racing Form that Life’s Magic was being walked from her paddock to the barn when she simply lay down and died. “She wasn’t in any distress. She had that look in her eye, and it was the look that said she didn’t want to go on anymore.” According to Ms. Clark, Life’s Magic was cremated and her ashes returned to her owners.

As the years passed following her scintillating Breeders’ Cup victory, Life’s Magic became like Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, a star who faded farther and farther into the past as new stars bathed in the limelight. William Holden’s Joe Gillis says to Norma, “You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be big.” “I AM big!” was Norma’s caustic reply. If Life’s Magic had words, she would wholeheartedly agree, for despite receding memories after a passage of forty years, for her peerless accomplishments, she was and still is, big.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott explained that the shoe is part of the ongoing management of a foot abscess that interrupted Sovereignty’s training in September. This Z-bar shoe leaves the outside heel open, redistributing the pressure of each stride away from the affected area.

“When he hits the ground, the impact goes on the frog and the inside heel,” Mott explained, referring to the triangular structure on the underside of the hoof. “It takes the load off of that corner.”

The Z-bar wasn’t the first approach Mott and blacksmith J. T. Bayes tried. Initially, Sovereignty wore a heart-bar shoe, which has a metal extension shaped roughly like a heart that covers the frog. The heart-bar is designed to provide additional support by redistributing weight through the frog, but does not relieve pressure from the heel.

“I think that actually made our situation worse,” Mott said.

Mott said the abscess developed into “a little quarter crack,” so the next steps were to apply an acrylic patch to support the hoof wall alongside the Z-bar shoe. It took time, and Sovereignty missed a planned start in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, but Mott has been especially pleased with the recent training of the 4-year-old son of Into Mischief.

Sovereignty put the finishing touches on his preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Classic with a sharp half-mile breeze in :48.20 on Oct. 25. With regular exercise rider Neil Poznansky aboard, the colt turned in a performance that left trainer Bill Mott confident heading into Saturday’s race.

“It could not have gone any better,” Mott said following Sunday’s breeze. “It was a very nice work. More importantly, when I got back to the barn and asked Neil about it, he said it was the best he’s worked in a long, long time. As I stand here six days before the race, I’m very happy.”

Heading into the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Mott said the acrylic patch will remain in place, but the Z-bar won’t be part of Sovereignty’s race-day equipment. Mott said the colt will switch to a three-quarter shoe for race day, either on Friday or early Saturday.

The 2025 Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes winner has not raced since his victory in the G1 Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8. That score at Saratoga was his first win of 2026, following a second-place effort in the G2 Oaklawn Handicap and a third-place finish in the G1 Stephen Foster.

The BHA wishes to remind racehorse trainers and veterinary surgeons about the total ban on the use of bisphosphonates, which comes into effect on Jan. 1, 2027. This follows agreement by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA).

We have since March 2025 advised trainers and vets against the use of bisphosphonates due to erratic excretion times and the welfare concerns associated with their use.

If for some reason this cannot be avoided and bisphosphonates are administered to a horse in your care before Jan. 1, 2027, in line with the current Rules, this should be carefully and accurately recorded in both the veterinary clinical records and your own medication records.

This record keeping is now particularly important as we approach the cut-off point.

While we continue to advise strongly against the use of bisphosphonates, the Rules currently state that they should not be administered to horses:

• at any time before the age of four years (as of 1 January of the horse’s birth year)
• on race day or any of the 30 clear days before in horses aged four or older.

This will remain the case until the new Rule comes into effect.

However, from Jan. 1, 2027, bisphosphonates – except those used for diagnostic nuclear imaging – will be prohibited at all times under the Rules of Racing.

Any horse administered a bisphosphonate on or after this date will be subject to a mandatory stand-down from racing:

• For horses aged four or over at the time of administration, this stand down will be six months from the date the positive sample was taken from the horse
• Horses administered BP before the age of four will be suspended from racing until they have reached four years of age and a minimum of six months has elapsed since the date the positive sample was returned.

Buyers of horses before and after Jan. 1, 2027 should also be mindful of the ban and seriously consider testing before finalizing any purchase.

Please also ensure that any administration between now and Dec. 31 has been recorded clearly in the horse’s veterinary records. This will be essential for verifying the details should a horse return a positive sample after Jan. 1, 2027.

Thank you for your attention to this. More information is available in this notice.

The event features silent auction of artwork, prints, racing memorabilia, and more. The live auction also includes several premiere collectible halters that are now open for absentee bidding.

For those unable to attend we will be taking proxy bids for the halters that will be in the Live Auction. Instructions are as explained below.

Bidding for Halters

Absentee bidding for the following halters to be auctioned off at Old Friends Breeders’ Cup Bash opens Monday, Oct. 26, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. (ET) and closes on Saturday October 31st at 12:00 p.m. (ET).

Each halter is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (unless otherwise noted).

To bid on a halter, email your name, address, phone number, and the halter(s) you are bidding on, along with your highest bid for each to horses@oldfriendsequine.org

Deadline for bidding on Halters: The final deadline to bid on halters is Saturday, Oct. 31, at 12 p.m. (ET).

Old Friends is extremely grateful to the Farms and private collectors who donated these halters to our auction.

On the block are halters worn by:

Alphabet Soup

• Alphabet Soup – Old Friends!!!
• Breeders Cup Classic Winner In 1996 [Celebrating His 30th Anniversary This Year!!!]
• Set New Track Record At Woodbine – And Defeated Cigar In That Race
• Nearly $3 Million In Earnings
• After The Death Of A P Indy In 2020, He Became The Oldest Living Classic Winner Until His Passing
• Halter Signed By His Jockey – Chris McCarron
• Minimum Bid $1,000

Beholder

• Beholder – Generously Donated By Spendthrift Farm
• Only Horse [Other Than Goldikova] To Win Three Breeders’ Cup Races – Filly Juvenile, Breeders’ Cup Distaff Twice!!!
• Multiple Eclipse Award Winner
• $6.1 Million
• Hall Of Fame Member
• Minimum Bid $1,500

Liam’s Map

• Liam’s Map – Generously Donated By Lane’s End Farm
• Winner Of 2015 Dirt Mile
• $1.3 Million In Earnings
• Sire of BC Turf Runner Burnham Square, BC Classic Hopeful Napoleon Solo, and BC Mile contender Deterministic
• Minimum Bid $750

Silver Charm

• Silver Charm – Old Friends
• Oldest Living Kentucky Derby And Preakness Winner – Dubai World Cup Winner
• $6.9 Million In Earnings
• Eclipse Champion 3-Year-Old
• Hall Of Fame Member
• Halter Signed By His Trainer – Bob Baffert
• Minimum Bid $1,000

Tiznow halter

• Tiznow-Generously Donated By Winstar Farm
• Only Two-Time Winner Of The Breeders’ Cup Classic!!!
• Celebrating His 25th Anniversary Of His Victory In 2001 – Winning For America!!!
• Over $6.4 Million In Earnings
• Multiple Eclipse Award Winner
• Hall Of Fame Member
• Halter Signed By His Jockey – Chris McCarron
• Minimum Bid $1,000

White Abarrio

• White Abarrio – Generously Donated By Gainesway Farm
• Breeders’ Cup Classic Winner In 2023
• Winner Of Over $8.5 Million
• Won 2022 Florida Derby, 2023 Whitney, 2025 Pegasus World Cup
• Most Recently Defeated Sovereignty [2025 Derby And Belmont Winner/Horse Of The Year] In Oaklawn Handicap
• Minimum Bid $750

At the event, you will be assigned a Proxy to bid on your behalf. They will begin low and bid up to your highest number.

Bidding on Silent Auction Items

Silent Auction bidding will be available to everyone on Old Friends’ eBay store beginning Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. (ET).

Important Note: All bidders, whether in attendance at the event on Sunday or not, must register, bid, and pay online if they win.

To see the items available in the silent auction and to register and bid on an item, copy/paste the following URL into your browser: https://www.ebay.com/sh/lst/active 

Deadline for Bidding on Silent Auction Items: The final deadline to bid on silent auction items is Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2:00 p.m. (ET).

Winning bidders can pick up their items at checkout if attending the event in person after the item has been paid for online. If you will not be in attendance, your item will be shipped to you. If you are picking up your item in person, you must select local pickup at checkout and provide the 6-digit pickup code emailed to you by eBay.

Designed to encourage greater participation and celebrate the versatility of the Thoroughbreds, the dedicated divisions will feature a range of benefits for owners and riders, including free entries in the 1.0-meter Thoroughbred division, reduced stall fees and a $2,000 monetary High Point prize each week of competition.

Contenders competing in any of the classes during the Santa Anita CSI3* and Santa Anita CSI5*-W weeks will have the opportunity to earn a High Point Award sponsored by the California Retirement Management Account (CARMA) and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), along with a High Point ribbon and a Santa Anita race day package.

Additionally, MyRacehorse will contribute $5,000 in prize money across the Thoroughbred classes.

The Thoroughbred incentives will be offered during both upcoming competition weeks, giving horses and riders multiple opportunities to participate and compete for awards and prize money.

The Thoroughbred class schedule is as follows:

 Santa Anita CSI3* Featuring California Crown

Friday, Nov. 13 – 1.0m Thoroughbred Jumpers II.1

Saturday, Nov. 14 – 1.0m Thoroughbred Jumpers II.2d

Sunday, Nov. 15 – 1.0m Thoroughbred Jumpers Final II.2b

Santa Anita CSI5*

Friday, Nov. 20 – 1.0m Thoroughbred Jumpers II.2c

Saturday, Nov. 21 – 1.0m Thoroughbred Jumpers II.1

Sunday, Nov. 22 – 1.0m Thoroughbred Jumpers Final II.2b

Entries for the Thoroughbred division will be accepted through Sunday, Nov. 8, for the CSI3* week and Sunday, Nov. 15, for the CSI5*-W week. No late entry fees will be charged for the Thoroughbred division.

For additional information on the Thoroughbred jumping divisions, incentives and entry details, visit Santaanitaequestrian.com. 

Marlo Matheny, 35, operator of Ohana Run Farm near Ashland, Ky., was arrested Oct. 22 and charged with second-degree cruelty to animals, a Class A misdemeanor. She was released the following day after posting a $1,500 cash bond, according to Boyd County Detention Center records.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) and Boyd County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest in a joint statement, saying Matheny is accused of intentionally failing to provide adequate food, water, and health care to two horses, whose identities have not been shared publicly. Both were described in the arrest affidavit as severely malnourished, with open wounds and body condition scores of 1 on the nine-point Henneke scale. One horse also reportedly had a severe lice infestation.

The agencies described the charge as the most serious available under Kentucky law for livestock abuse.

The KDA is leading the investigation with assistance from the sheriff’s office. Witnesses involved in the response estimate that approximately 50 horses were moved from Matheny’s property to the Boyd County Fairgrounds, where the Kentucky Horse Council is coordinating their care.

In an Oct. 20 statement, the KDA said livestock had been “surrendered” on Sunday, Oct. 18, though the agency has not clarified whether all the horses were voluntarily surrendered or seized. The department is also seeking information about the horses’ legal ownership.

The Kentucky Horse Council said it is providing veterinary assessments, individualized feeding plans, and ongoing care for the horses, whose recovery is expected to take time.

“The KHC is ensuring each horse receives dedicated veterinary evaluations and rehabilitation protocols, as well as targeted refeeding plans,” the organization shared in a social media post. “Veterinarians and KHC staff will continue to provide care and assistance throughout the lengthy process.”

Two mares not among the horses moved to the fairgrounds were An Indiana Night, known as Indy, and Willowamina, known as Willow. Both Thoroughbreds had been adopted through Mareworthy Charities, a Kentucky nonprofit that specializes in retired broodmares.

The organization filed suit against Matheny and two relatives, Kim and Keith Matheny, on Oct. 21, alleging breach of contract and seeking the return of the mares. Boyd Circuit Judge John F. Vincent issued a temporary restraining order the following day, prohibiting the defendants from selling, transferring, concealing, or relocating the horses and requiring them to provide Mareworthy access to the mares and information about their location.

According to the lawsuit, Indy was adopted by Matheny in June 2023 and Willow in February 2024. Under their adoption agreements, Mareworthy retained the right to reclaim the horses if certain conditions were not met. The lawsuit details that Mareworthy president Kyle Rothfus visited Matheny’s property Oct. 15 and found both mares in what he described as unsatisfactory condition and an unsafe environment.

The complaint states that Matheny initially agreed, in the presence of a sheriff’s deputy and KDA personnel, to release the mares to Mareworthy the following day. When representatives returned Oct. 16, however, Matheny refused to surrender the horses and directed further communication to her attorney, according to the lawsuit.

By the time other horses were removed from the property Oct. 18, Indy and Willow were no longer accounted for. Mareworthy posted appeals on social media seeking information about their whereabouts.

Both mares were back with Mareworthy on Oct. 23. In a public statement, the organization said Indy and Willow had been safe and receiving care during the week they were missing.

“They had been turned out on grass pasture, were being fed, and were being looked after,” Mareworthy said.

The organization thanked the people who cared for the mares during that time but said it could not share additional details about their return. Mareworthy said its attorneys helped navigate the legal process.

Westlake Racing Stables had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the mares’ recovery. The person who provided information that helped locate them declined the reward, instead asking that the money be donated to the Kentucky Horse Council to help care for the other horses removed from Matheny’s property.

Mareworthy said it had continued receiving updates on both mares since their adoptions and had begun looking into concerns about their welfare more than a month before the investigation became public. People familiar with the horses had contacted the organization, allowing it to begin reviewing the situation and its contractual rights before videos and reports from the property circulated on social media.

Now that Indy and Willow are back, Mareworthy said it is assessing their health and allowing them time to settle in. Follow Mareworthy on social media for more updates.

The KDA investigation remains ongoing. The department has asked anyone with information about the legal ownership of horses involved in the case to contact StateVet@ky.gov.

Editor’s Note: The Paulick Report previously featured Matheny and An Indiana Night in an aftercare feature. The story has been taken down.

But what if they’re not?

As equestrians become more educated about equine health and welfare, conditions such as kissing spines and equine complex vertebral malformation (ECVM) are receiving increased attention. Once rarely discussed outside veterinary circles, these diagnoses now frequently appear in pre-purchase exams, rehabilitation programs, and conversations among riders searching for answers to unexplained performance issues.

During a recent webinar hosted by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, equine experts Dr. Elizabeth Elzer, Dr. Steve Reed, and Dr. Kara Brown discussed what we currently know about these conditions — and what we still need to learn.

Their discussion underscored an important message: diagnosing pain in horses is rarely straightforward, and imaging findings alone never tell the entire story.

When Behavior Is Actually Communication

One of the most significant shifts in modern horsemanship has been recognizing that behavior often reflects discomfort rather than disobedience.

A horse that pins its ears during saddling, struggles to maintain impulsion, bucks during transitions, or refuses jumps may be communicating pain long before obvious lameness appears.

Kissing spines, formally known as overriding dorsal spinous processes, has become one of the most recognized explanations for these behaviors. The condition occurs when the bony projections extending upward from the vertebrae become abnormally close together or make contact.

The challenge is that many horses have radiographic evidence of kissing spines without showing any clinical signs. At the same time, some horses with relatively modest imaging changes may exhibit significant discomfort. This disconnect serves as an important reminder that horses cannot be diagnosed from an X-ray alone.

Treating the Horse, Not the Image

For many riders, receiving a diagnosis can feel like finally finding the answer they’ve been searching for. Yet the experts emphasized that diagnosis is only the beginning.

A complete evaluation includes:

• Clinical examination
• Performance history
• Imaging findings
• Response to diagnostic procedures
• Assessment of movement and behavior

A recurring theme throughout the webinar was the importance of “treating the horse, not the image.”

As diagnostic imaging continues to advance, veterinarians can identify abnormalities with remarkable precision. Determining whether those findings are actually causing pain, however, remains one of the profession’s greatest challenges.

For horse owners, this means avoiding the temptation to assume every abnormality seen on an image is responsible for a horse’s performance issues.

Understanding ECVM

ECVM, which is a developmental abnormality affecting the cervical vertebrae, is also gaining more attention.

Awareness of ECVM has expanded dramatically over the past decade, particularly among sporthorse owners. Horses diagnosed with ECVM may present with subtle signs that are often mistaken for training challenges or generalized performance limitations.

Common concerns include:

• Difficulty bending equally in both directions
• Resistance to contact
• Unexplained asymmetry
• Poor balance
• Behavioral changes under saddle
• Persistent performance limitations

Because the neck plays a critical role in balance, coordination, and movement, abnormalities in this region can influence the entire horse.

Yet, much like kissing spines, anatomical abnormalities do not always translate into clinical disease. Researchers and clinicians continue working to better understand which findings are most likely to affect performance and welfare.

Looking Beyond the Symptoms

One encouraging takeaway from the discussion was the growing willingness among horse owners to investigate potential sources of discomfort before problems become severe.

Historically, horses displaying resistance or behavioral changes were often subjected to increased training pressure. Today, many riders are asking a different question:

“What is my horse trying to tell me?”

This shift represents a significant advancement in equine welfare.

By considering pain as a possible contributor to unwanted behaviors, owners and trainers can pursue earlier diagnostics, targeted rehabilitation, and more effective treatment plans.

Rehabilitation Matters

For horses diagnosed with kissing spines or cervical abnormalities, rehabilitation often plays a central role in recovery. The experts highlighted the importance of building strength, improving posture, and developing the musculature necessary to support the horse’s back and neck.

Modern rehabilitation programs include:

• Groundwork 
• Core strengthening
• Dynamic mobilization exercises
• Physical therapy
• Therapeutic modalities
• Saddle-fit evaluation
• Structured return-to-work programs

While surgical options are available for some horses with kissing spines, surgery is rarely viewed as a standalone solution. Long-term success depends upon addressing biomechanics, strength, and overall musculoskeletal health.

The Questions Research Still Needs to Answer

Despite increased awareness, many important questions remain. Why do some horses with significant radiographic changes remain completely comfortable while others struggle? Are there genetic factors contributing to ECVM? Which treatment approaches provide the best long-term outcomes? How can veterinarians more accurately distinguish incidental findings from clinically significant disease?

These are precisely the kinds of questions that ongoing equine research seeks to answer. Research supported by organizations such as the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation continues to advance our understanding of musculoskeletal health, pain, performance, and equine welfare. As knowledge grows, veterinarians will be better equipped to diagnose these conditions earlier and develop more effective treatment strategies.

A Better Future for Horses

Perhaps the most important lesson from the webinar is that equestrian sport is entering an era where welfare, science, and performance increasingly work hand in hand.

The goal is no longer simply identifying abnormalities. It is understanding which abnormalities matter, how they affect individual horses, and how we can best support their long-term health and comfort.

For riders, owners, and trainers, that means listening carefully when horses communicate discomfort, pursuing thoughtful veterinary evaluation, and recognizing that every horse’s story is more complex than an image on a screen.

Because sometimes the most important diagnostic tool isn’t advanced imaging — it’s paying attention to the horse.

For six years, Flash had been her partner in the show ring, helping her build confidence and achieve more than she had imagined. Losing him left a void that couldn’t easily be filled.

But sometimes, a new beginning arrives when you least expect it.

The idea of welcoming another horse into her life so soon brought a myriad of mixed emotions and unanswered questions, something her mother, Katie, understood.

“Flash meant so much to her for the time they were together,” said Katie. “He gave her so much confidence and they accomplished so much together. It was heartbreaking when we lost him.”

After much contemplation and countless conversations with family and friends, Nicola opened her laptop and began browsing the internet, unsure of what she would find.

During one of her searches, she came across the Instagram page of the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society.

That was where Nicola, then 17, first spotted a handsome bay gelding named Treason. Following his retirement from racing, he had been donated to LongRun by his owners, LNJ Foxwoods and MSK Racing Ventures, and trainer Josie Carroll.

Something clicked.

“I started looking for a new horse that I could train and bring along, and then I saw a photo of Treason. I couldn’t stop looking at it.”

Soon after, she submitted an application to LongRun and waited anxiously for a reply.

“We were hoping we got matched up with Treason, which we did,” said Nicola. “We were also matched with another LongRun horse, so we went to see them soon after.”

Nicola was about to meet a horse with a brief but successful racing career.

An 8-year-old son of Constitution out of the Speightstown mare Cougarstown, Treason made 10 starts, winning three, including the 2023 Grade 3 Eclipse Stakes.

Bred in Kentucky by Ramspring Farm, Treason made his final start on Oct. 7, 2023, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Autumn Stakes.

In April, Nicola and Treason met in person.

She wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it didn’t take long for her to find her answer.

“I just instantly felt connected to him. The people at LongRun said he was putting his best foot forward to meet us. He was so sweet. They said he had a lot of energy, but he was very calm when I met him. I also got to ride him that day.

“All the photos and stories on the LongRun page are great, but he stood out to me. Meeting him was the cherry on top of the ice cream.”

Days later, Nicola received an email confirming that her application had been accepted.

“When we found out the news, she was so thrilled,” recalled Katie.

On Apr. 17, Treason was on a trailer and headed to his new home just north of Glen Williams, a hamlet in Halton Hills, Ont.

“He was quite nervous when he got to our farm,” recalled Nicola. “We have two other OTTBs and one pony. We walked him around a bit and after a short time, he fit right in with our herd.”

Treason, now known as Toby, quickly formed a connection with Nicola, too.

He also helped her heal.

“When I brought him home, it was exciting, but it was hard,” said Nicola. “I had just lost my other horse, and we made such an amazing team. But once Toby and I got to know one another – maybe, a few days or so – we started training and that bond between us came naturally.”

Katie had a front-row seat to their growing connection.

“Nicola has a very calm, quiet confidence, which I have seen horses like. Toby is no exception. He loves her and it is so sweet. They are so great together. They are the picture of happiness.”

Over the past six months, Nicola and Toby have steadily built their mutual trust, taking on new challenges and learning more about one another along the way.

Nicola, who is working towards her Bachelor of Science in nursing at Conestoga College, has discovered many things about her beloved gelding, including his inquisitive nature.

“He’s got a very curious personality. He likes to look at everything around him. He’s not scared of new things — he’s just very curious about it all.

“He’s been so amazing. My riding coach, Holly Jacks, just loves him. Toby and I started training and doing some small jumping. We took him off the property a few times to a small cross-country school. He got introduced to the water. He’s so brave. He also did a couple of logs as well.”

Toby has also revealed another defining characteristic: an enthusiastic appetite.

“He gets very excited for breakfast and dinner. He likes the Stud Muffins with the little mint on top. He always has his ears pricked when you bring him his food. He’s so cute.”

The horse who sold for $150,000 at the 2021 Keeneland Association Breeding Stock Sale is also something of a head-turner.

Nicola, now 18, recalled the day one of her sister’s friends visited the family farm and immediately took notice of Toby.

“We love the way he looks. He’s so handsome. My sister’s friend – she also does Eventing – came to our place one day and she saw him in the field. She said, ‘He is so gorgeous.’ And he is.”

For Nicola, finding Toby has been an added blessing: a chance to offer a deserving Thoroughbred a soft landing after his racing career, and understanding that moving forward doesn’t mean leaving the past behind.

Flash will always hold an irreplaceable place in her life, but with Toby, a new partnership has already begun to write its own story.

“I love what LongRun does for these horses and how they find them their forever homes,” said Nicola. “My experience with LongRun was great. I got matched with Toby, so I will always be grateful to them.”

As for the future, Nicola is content to take things one canter and one jump at a time.

“Next year, I’m hoping to do some entry-level events or maybe some Kindergarten events to start out. If all goes well next season, I was hoping to go to the Eastern Canadian Championships for low-level competition. But whatever we do, we will always believe in one another and be there for each other.”

For a second year, Blue Grass Farms Charities is pleased to highlight sterling silver bracelets and now necklaces woven with greatness.  This year’s horses selected are Cavorting, Clairiere, Curlin, Golden Tempo, Seize the Grey, Songbird, Thorpedo Anna, and White Abarrio.  They are a ‘must see’ for their uniqueness and craftsmanship by local jeweler Beth Johnson of Paris, Ky, exclusively for the charity.  All pieces are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

“We appreciate the Heider Family Stable for being this year’s Presenting Sponsor for the auction,” states Julie Kwasniewski, Executive Director.  “Every year this auction continues to generate items from the Bluegrass thanks to our friends like Beth Johnson and so many others in the Thoroughbred industry.”  

Please visit OneCause auction page https://onecau.se/_mhk6v1 to register for notifications and pick your favorites.

Blue Grass Farms Charities’ mission is to provide health and human services to those who work in Central Kentucky’s Thoroughbred Industry.  Visit www.bgfcky.org; email info@bgfcky.org or call 859.219.0910 for more information, or check out on www.facebook.com/bgfcky or X at  https://twitter.com/BGFCharities and https://twitter.com/BGFCharities. 

Of the 45 organizations, 39 were previously accredited, and six earned accreditation for the first time this year. Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the gold standard and only accrediting body in Thoroughbred aftercare, now has a network of 91 organizations with approximately 170 facilities across North America.

The six organizations earning accreditation for the first time this year are: Alberta Thoroughbred Aftercare Society, California Thoroughbred Retirement Farm, Heart Bar Foundation, Kingfisher Equine Rehab & Rehome, Operation Second Stride, and Wild Hearts Thoroughbred Adoption Society.

The 39 organizations that earned accreditation for 2026 and were previously accredited are: After the Homestretch Arizona, After the Races, CANTER KY, CANTER MI, Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, Center for Racehorse Retraining, Central Kentucky Riding for Hope, Champions Retreat, Circle A Home for Horses, Inc., Days End Farm Horse Rescue, Down The Stretch Ranch, Equestrian Inc., Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary, Equine Rescue and Adoption Foundation Inc, Final Furlong LLC, Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program, Inc., Friends of Ferdinand Inc, Galloping Out, Harmony and Hope Horse Haven, Inc, Healing Arenas, Inc., Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, Hidden Acres Rescue for Thoroughbreds, Hope’s Legacy Equine Rescue, Inc, Illinois Equine Humane Center, NFP, Lollypop Farm (Humane Society of Greater Rochester), New England Equine Rescue (NEER) North, Our Mims Retirement Haven, Out Side In, Remember Me Rescue, Sandia Creek Ranch Auxiliary Foundation, Second Call Thoroughbred Adoption & Placement, Inc., Second Chance Thoroughbreds, Inc., Second Stride, Inc, Square Peg Foundation, The Foxie G Foundation, The Susan S. Donaldson Foundation, Inc., This Old Horse, Inc., Thoroughbred Athletes, Inc., Thoroughbred Retirement, Rehabilitation, and Careers (TRRAC).

Accreditation from Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is an important recognition for organizations that provide care and support for retired racehorses. It signifies that these organizations meet certain standards and criteria in terms of horse welfare, facilities, and management.

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance accredited organizations undergo a thorough application and inspection process prior to accreditation being awarded to ensure they meet the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Code of Standards, which covers five key areas: operations, education, horse health care management, facility standards and services, and adoption policies and protocols. Facility inspections are conducted at all facilities housing Thoroughbreds for each organization. Ongoing updates and re-inspections are required for all organizations as a condition of accreditation.

“Accreditation plays an essential role in advancing the quality and consistency of Thoroughbred aftercare,” said Janice Towles, director of accreditation and grants, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. “Through a rigorous evaluation process, accreditation reinforces the standards of care, accountability, and professionalism that Thoroughbreds deserve throughout their lives beyond racing. We commend these organizations for their continued dedication to meeting these standards and helping strengthen the network of trusted aftercare providers serving Thoroughbreds across the industry.”

All organizations that hold Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance accreditation are eligible to receive financial grants to support the care of their Thoroughbreds. Grant applications are currently being reviewed and the total grant amount awarded by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will be announced next month. Since 2012, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance has awarded $40.74 million to accredited organizations.

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance accreditation applications will open again in January of 2027.

For more resources about accreditation through Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, visit the links below:

To learn more about accreditation: thoroughbredaftercare.org/accreditation 

To learn more about the Code of Standards: thoroughbredaftercare.org/code-of-standards 

The Santa Anita Park Thoroughbred High Point Award will be presented to the highest placing Thoroughbred each week. With the goal of showcasing the diversity of the Thoroughbred talent, this award is open to all participants—no matter the division competing during the Santa Anita CSI3* & Santa Anita CSIS*-W. Winners will receive a monetary prize of $2,000, a Santa Anita Park race day package, and high point ribbon.

“Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is honored to continue supporting the Thoroughbred High Point Award at Santa Anita,” said Stacie Clark Rogers, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Operations Consultant. “Thoroughbreds bring remarkable athleticism, adaptability, and heart to their second careers, and this award celebrates the opportunities for these horses to shine beyond the racetrack. We’re proud to support programs that recognize their versatility and help raise awareness of the importance of aftercare for Thoroughbreds.”

“CARMA is proud to support the Thoroughbred High Point Award at Santa Anita and celebrate the California Thoroughbreds making their mark in new disciplines,” said Lucinda Lovitt, Executive Director of CARMA. “As a California-based organization dedicated to supporting Thoroughbreds after racing, we’re especially pleased to see these horses thriving in second careers across our state. This award shines a spotlight on their versatility and athleticism while reinforcing the importance of lifelong opportunities for Thoroughbreds beyond the racetrack.”

Entries are only accepted online at entries.equestrian.digital/login . For any questions regarding entries, please contact hanna@splitrockjumpingtour.com.

To view a sharable information sheet on the event visit: thoroughbredaftercare.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-SAP-SJ-TB-Division-One-Sheet.pdf

“The Thoroughbred High Point Awards are a wonderful way to celebrate the athleticism and versatility of Thoroughbreds as they excel in new careers beyond the racetrack. Bringing these awards to Santa Anita Park in partnership with the Split Rock Jumping Tour creates a meaningful connection between racing and equestrian sport, united by our shared commitment to these incredible horses,” said Nicole Walker, Vice President of The Stronach Group and professional equestrian. “The Stronach Group and 1/ST are proud to support Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and its mission to ensure Thoroughbreds have opportunities to thrive long after their racing careers. We’re pleased to support initiatives that celebrate their continued success and highlight the importance of aftercare.”

Rogers recalled teaching exercise physiology students about conditioning principles, then introducing them to trainers who were applying many of those same principles without necessarily using the same scientific terminology. When asked how they knew a horse was ready for a particular stage of training, the answer sometimes came down to something much less technical: the horse was telling them.

“The best people that we can have if we’re interested in reducing injury is making sure that we go along, travel alongside with the trainers because they’re the ones who understand the horses, they understand the training load, they’re picking up on very subtle changes in those horses,” Rogers said. “If we empower them with data that shows that their management decisions were right, they can have more confidence to make the most appropriate management decisions.”

That philosophy is part of the newly announced New Zealand Equine Safety Initiative (NZESI), a collaboration involving Rogers, Colorado State University researchers Drs. Wayne McIlwraith and Chris Kawcak, and the New Zealand Thoroughbred racing industry. The initiative aims to bring together research on early growth and development, training workloads, veterinary histories, wearable sensors, blood biomarkers, and advanced diagnostic imaging to better understand how injuries develop and identify at-risk horses.

Rather than expecting any single technology to provide the answer, researchers hope that combining those sources of information will eventually allow them to establish an individualized profile for each horse, then recognize changes that might warrant further investigation.

Rogers described the concept as developing a horse’s “kinematic fingerprint,” using wearable sensors to establish its normal movement patterns instead of simply comparing it with population averages. A horse that moves differently from others isn’t necessarily at risk, but a change from its own established pattern could be more meaningful.

The same approach could eventually incorporate blood biomarkers and diagnostic imaging, with researchers envisioning a traffic-light system in which an unusual finding might prompt closer examination or additional testing.

“It’s highly unlikely that any single approach is going to be the magic panacea,” Rogers said. “It’s a matter of understanding what technology we have and how we can pull it together and create these large data sets to understand, with the different technologies we have available, how we can better understand the individual and the deviation for that individual from its norm.”

Some of that work is already underway, including the collection of training and clinical records, research into growth and development, and the use of wearable sensors to monitor horses in training. Other components, including more practical blood-based screening and a new standing CT system being developed by McIlwraith and Kawcak, remain in development.

Rogers said the goal is to collect information during ordinary training sessions as well as high-speed workouts, allowing researchers to examine the effects of total workload rather than focusing only on a horse’s fastest efforts. But the volume of information presents a challenge of its own, particularly if trainers are expected to interpret it.

He recalled speaking with a trainer who had begun experimenting with wearable technology but found himself overwhelmed by the amount of data it generated. For the research to have a practical impact, Rogers said, scientists will need to identify a manageable number of measurements that can actually help trainers make decisions.

His own work focuses on another gap in researchers’ understanding: what happens to Thoroughbreds between the yearling sales and the early stages of their racing careers. Although considerable information exists about growth during the first year of life, Rogers said much less is known about the changes in muscularity, height and other physical characteristics as horses progress through pre-training and into racing, or how those changes interact with exercise loads and subsequent injury risk.

New Zealand offers some advantages for studying those questions because its Thoroughbred industry is relatively interconnected, operates under one national racing authority, and tends to have less movement of horses between trainers than the United States. That makes it easier to follow horses over time and collect consistent information from the people responsible for their care.

According to Rogers, the majority of the country’s commercial trainers are already participating in different aspects of the research, with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing supporting several components of the initiative. The broader project is expected to develop over several years, with researchers seeking to translate findings into practical changes as individual studies progress.

For Rogers, that involvement matters not only because trainers can provide the information researchers need, but also because they’re more likely to use findings they helped develop.

“If we did this work in isolation from the industry, and you could do it in a very, very controlled manner if you just breed your own horses and you trained them and did that, then there’s always the argument, well, that’s not real world,” Rogers said.

“But what we also found was that once we started working more prospectively and with trainers, and the same with the breeders, the industry uptake of the findings from that was much greater because they were actually involved in it.”

The decision for Old Friends to join Horse Country’s growing collective signifies a deeper collaboration between the two organizations and their dedication to the welfare of the Thoroughbred and the promotion of Kentucky’s iconic horse industry. Moving forward, Horse Country and Old Friends will work more closely to provide seamless access and exceptional experiences for visitors eager to connect with the horse, land, and people of Kentucky’s iconic equine industry.

“We are absolutely thrilled to officially welcome Old Friends into Horse Country membership,” said Hallie Hardy, Executive Director of Visit Horse Country. “Old Friends has long been a sanctuary for our sport’s equine heroes, sharing their inspiring stories with thousands of fans. With the Breeders’ Cup returning home to Lexington this fall, the timing couldn’t be better to formalize this partnership as we welcome racing fans from around the globe. Together, we look forward to promoting equine tourism, highlighting aftercare, and offering guests an unforgettable look at every stage of a racehorse’s life—from foaling to the finish line and beyond.”

Old Friends, founded by Michael Blowen, offers a sanctuary for retired Thoroughbreds, including Kentucky Derby winners, champions, and beloved “hard-knockers,” allowing fans to visit these equine heroes up close. Their inclusion in Horse Country will provide visitors with an even more comprehensive understanding of the Thoroughbred life cycle, from their racing careers to their well-deserved retirement. Visit Horse Country and Old Friends will collaborate on cross-promotional tour itineraries, digital engagement across Visit Horse Country’s online channels, and concierge booking support to streamline visitor experiences.

“Old Friends is proud to welcome thousands of visitors each year, and we are now extremely pleased to join with Visit Horse Country in order to give even more people an opportunity to visit and interact with some of our Racing legends,” said John Nicholson, President and CEO of Old Friends, Inc. “Visit Horse Country and Old Friends are both committed to sharing Kentucky’s horse heritage as well as the great sport of Thoroughbred Racing with the world.”

This partnership underscores the collective spirit of Kentucky’s Horse Country, where legendary land and dedicated horsemen hope to share its majesty with the world, celebrating every facet of the Thoroughbred’s journey. 

About Visit Horse Country: Visit Horse Country, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that serves as the central tourism gateway to Kentucky’s equine industry. Through curated tours and events at unique member locations, Horse Country strives to share the beauty, tradition, and profound connection between humans and horses that define the Bluegrass region.

About Old Friends, Inc.: Old Friends, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides a dignified retirement for Thoroughbreds, housing retired racehorses and breeding stallions, and allowing the public to visit them. Founded in Georgetown, Kentucky, Old Friends is dedicated to increasing awareness of the needs of retired racehorses.

The Into Mischief gelding ran his final race on April 3, finishing seventh in a Keeneland allowance race for owner Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and trainer Brian Lynch. He was given a month for rest and recovery before beginning his foundational training in July – eight months after many of Donut God’s Makeover contemporaries began their work.

A registered nurse by trade, Babcock closely followed the gelding’s career through her friend Jocelyn Brooks, Flying Dutchmen’s director of bloodstock and a Makeover alum as a trainer.

“He’s a super sweet personality,” Babcock said. “He likes to go really fast, and when we started working with him, anything we pointed him at or asked him to do, he was very willing and very brave, and easy on the ground. And his face is just so cute. I just love it.”

Donut God was an early success in the Flying Dutchmen iteration of owner Travis Boersma’s stable. The co-founder and chairman of Oregon-based Dutch Bros. Coffee built his racing business through the claiming ranks under the nom-de-course of Boardshorts Stables, before rebranding under the Flying Dutchmen moniker to take bigger swings in the commercial market and in higher-level races.

Purchased under the Boardshorts Stables moniker for $400,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Donut God was an enthusiastic debut winner as a juvenile, taking a Churchill Downs maiden special weight by 2 1/4 lengths. He followed up that effort by setting the pace in the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, and holding on to win by a half-length.

Donut God made his 3-year-old debut in July of that season, finishing second in the Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth Park, then he finished ninth in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob Stakes last September before going on the shelf again for the rest of the year. His final start at Keeneland came seven months later, ending his career with two wins in five starts for earnings of $143,125.

With aftercare a stated priority for the Flying Dutchmen operation, the stable has kept close tabs on Donut God as he trained for the Makeover, helped greatly by Brooks’ friendship with Babcock.

Brooks is a two-time Makeover participant, most recently competing last year with Grade 3 winner Happy Farm. The rider made a return to the Makeover with Happy Farm this year as part of the event’s graduate class, bringing previous participants back to the Kentucky Horse Park to compete once again. This put her in a position to shepherd Babcock through her first Makeover, taking Donut God through the Eventing discipline on a quick turnaround.

“I wasn’t really sure because, like I said, this is my first time doing it, but doing it with Jocelyn, who’s had the experience before, was really helpful,” Babcock said. “Even though he had had a short time off, he’s very quiet-demeanored in the stall, and when we’re messing with him and everything, so it just kind of gave us a lot of confidence to keep going with him.”

Though she was headed into uncharted territory at the Makeover, Babcock was far from a neophyte when it came to the saddle. A Missouri native, she began riding as a pre-teen, first riding Western disciplines before she saw someone jump her horse over poles, and her priorities shifted to eventing.

Babcock competed in her first three-day event at age 12, and she entered shows across the country before attending college at the University of Kentucky to become a nurse, at which point, central Kentucky became her new home base.

Babcock admitted that she came to Kentucky for the horses first and the nursing second, but she noted that there are parts of each world that can blend into each other.

“I think with people that are sick, you have to be caring, and be quiet, and do what they need in that moment,” she said. “I think with horses too, especially as they’re coming off the track, you have to work with what you have that day, and just kind of take it day by day and if it doesn’t work out, then try something else. So, I think it all comes together.”

Babcock and Brooks were stabled next to each other during the Makeover, representing the Flying Dutchmen contingent.

The shedrows of the Kentucky Horse Park barns during Makeover weekend are frequently decorated for each horse to express their character and accomplishments, and Donut God’s outpost was one of the most compelling to visit, offering onlookers Dutch Bros. coffee and donuts, along with other donut-themed party favors.

The display also featured a pair of poster boards displaying the various mileposts of Donut God’s life, from his Jockey Club registration photos as a foal, through to his early training and time on the racetrack, to the steps he took to retrain for the Makeover. The first portrayed the gelding’s life over the course of years, as he lived a racehorse’s life. The second poster told a story over a handful of months, further driving home just how quickly Donut God had transitioned from a racehorse to an eventer.

Eventing at the Makeover is a two-part discipline, in which competitors are first judged in a dressage portion. Later, the horse and rider go through a round of jumps, including a handful of show jump fences preceding a cross-country course that includes different terrain and water hazards, along with more jumps. In addition to clearing the obstacles in the second portion, the horse and rider are judged for form and horsemanship throughout the course.

The pair exited the Dressage portion of the event in the middle of the pack, meaning a top-10 spot in the finals was likely out of reach, but they could still go home on a high note with a strong jumping round. Unfortunately, Donut God’s inexperience caught up with him, and he was excused after refusing a handful of jumps.

It was a disappointing end to the competition, but what makes the Makeover special is that it’s not necessarily an end point, but a milepost on the way to bigger things down the road.

Donut God was listed as available for adoption on the Makeover Marketplace heading into this year’s event, and while there has been some interest, he is still hanging out on the farm with Babcock and Brooks, waiting to see what the future bakes up.

“TCA congratulates Sydney Petty and Aidan Gass on their achievements in the show ring,” said Erin Halliwell, executive director of TCA. “They are wonderful examples of the next generation of equestrians embracing the versatility and potential of Thoroughbreds beyond the racetrack. TCA is proud to support TAKE2 and its efforts to showcase the Thoroughbred’s ability to excel in their next careers.”

Gass follows in the footsteps of sister Abigail, who earned the TAKE2 Junior Rider championship in the Hunter division last season aboard Quiet Prospector. The bay gelding raced for the Gass family, but was winless in 10 tries before retiring from the track. He had been Abigail’s mount since 2017, then was shown by both Abigail and Aidan in 2025.

“When I moved to 2’3″, I moved to Joey, aka Quiet Prospector,” Gass explained. “He’s the better horse for teaching confidence for bigger fences. He’s more honest. Joey is very smooth, nice, and adjustable.  He is a reliable horse and a good teacher.

“When I ride well and make good decisions, he gives me his all. When I don’t make good decisions, he lets me know!” he added with a laugh. “Joey has taught me from 2’3” all the way to 3′, just like he did for my sister Abigail. It was a blessing to be (TAKE2) Junior Rider of the Year, since she won that title last year on him, as well as compete him in the (TAKE2) Finals this year.”

The duo finished 12th of 25 in the TAKE2 Hunter Final at Split Rock’s Kentucky National Horse Show Sept. 20. Petty and her mount, Analisia, were seventh of 23 in the TAKE2 Jumper Final, and both horses hit the top 10 in the TAKE2 Thoroughbred League’s 2026 standings.

In the saddle since the age of 5, Petty was not in the market for a Thoroughbred when she found Analisia.

“When we were shopping for horses, we were not looking for a Thoroughbred, but we saw her and couldn’t resist,” she said. “Thoroughbreds have such a big heart and their stamina is unmatched. They always try their hardest and it is very special to earn their trust because once you trust them and they trust you, they are unbeatable.

“I would recommend taking the chances on these special animals,” she continued. “They can be difficult at times, but the rewards are so special. These horses love to try and would do anything for you.”

A Kentucky-bred daughter of Union Rags, Analisia never made it to the races.

“They said she was too slow for the track and wasn’t keeping up with the horses she trained with,” Petty explained.

But she has more than held her own in her second career. In her first season in the TAKE2 Jumper division, she finished ninth in the 2026 League standings.

“She is such a fun horse to ride and I have loved being able to put my foundation on her so she rides very in line with how I ride,” Petty said. “She is a fun horse to have around the barn and always finds a way to make everyone laugh.”

Both teens have enjoyed being part of the TAKE2 Program.

“TAKE2 is such a good opportunity because of how different Thoroughbreds ride,” Petty said. “It is so fun to have a League just where they can compete.”

Gass remarked, “The TAKE2 Program gives the Thoroughbreds their own division, away from the Warmbloods. It has been my experience that judges tend to favor the Warmbloods most of the time, so giving the Thoroughbreds their own special classes, Finals, and Classics/Derbies allow them an even playing field and gives them good prize money to work for.”

Petty will not have as much time in the show ring next year as she will be heading to college, but she will not be leaving Analisia behind. 

“Moving forward we will still be competing, but I am getting ready to leave for college so it will be significantly less,” she explained, adding, “I plan to take Analisa with me wherever I go to college and keep riding her and keeping her in shape until it’s her time to retire her and she’ll be able to relax all day.”

Gass has plans to study business after high school, possibly at nearby University of Central Oklahoma. But, like Petty, horses will always be a part of his future.

“I would like to continue my training to be the best equestrian I can be,” he said. “Who knows, maybe I’ll even go to the Olympics one day.”

Hopefully, on a Thoroughbred.

“First of all, I want to thank the staff at Horseshoe Indianapolis because they have been great in supporting us,” said Jamie Haydon, president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, in the winner’s circle interview with Rachel McLaughlin. “Our organization is the largest funder of equine research in the world, and every October we will have grants submitted. Your money will go directly to any horse health project we have.”

Haydon was trackside for the presentation during the Wednesday, Oct. 14 racing program. Eric Halstrom, vice president and general manager of racing, made the presentation to Haydon. Both Haydon and Halstrom came up with a unique way to tie in the organization with racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

“We wanted to find a way to support Grayson, and having a challenge each summer with our turf racing has been beneficial in raising funding and awareness for them,” said Halstrom. “The work Grayson does for our industry is vital to the advancement of our sport, and we appreciate the strong partnership we have developed with them over the past seven years. We want to thank all the handicappers for volunteering their time and efforts for such a great cause.”

Each handicapper began with a total of $500 provided by Horseshoe Indianapolis. The contest spanned five weeks of turf racing from the end of July until the end of August. Two races were showcased each week leading up to the final total raised for Grayson Jockey Club Equine Research.

This year’s lineup of handicappers included Gene McLean of The Pressbox, Scott Ehlers of Daily Racing Form, Dan Cronin of Fat Bald Guy Racing, Jimmy McNerney, announcer and Midwest handicapper, Jenna Otten, on-air racing analyst at Caesars Entertainment’s Eldorado Scioto Downs, and Alexa Zepp of America’s Best Racing. They were joined by Horseshoe Indianapolis racing analysts Brian Arrigoni and Rachel McLaughlin. Scott Ehlers led the field once again this season with a tally of $849.50 followed by Brian Arrigoni with $716.90. In all, a total of $3,723.05 was raised by all handicappers, the highest amount in the seven-year history of the event. The total was paired with a donation from Horseshoe Indianapolis to reach the final donation of $8,723.05.

The 24th season of live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse extends through Friday, Nov. 13. Indiana’s top Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses will be featured Saturday, Oct. 24 during the seventh annual Indiana Champions Day. For more information on racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis, visit www.caesars.com/horseshoe-indianapolis/racing or find details on social media @HSIndyRacing.

The new award recognizes early- to mid-career Diplomates of the ACVS who have demonstrated exceptional achievements and contributions while excelling in surgical practice and leadership.

Ortved joined the faculty at New Bolton Center (NBC), Penn Vet’s large animal hospital and research campus, in 2016 as an equine orthopedic surgeon. Three years later, she was named to her endowed chair. Her surgical work spans the full spectrum of equine orthopedics, from acute injuries to complex chronic conditions that affect performance horses. She is recognized for her expertise in advanced orthopedic and minimally invasive techniques and, as an ACVS Founding Fellow in Minimally Invasive Surgery (Large Animal Orthopedics), has helped shape standards within this specialty while maintaining a commitment to excellence in patient care.

Targeting Joint Disease at Its Source

Osteoarthritis challenges veterinarians and owners alike, affecting horses of every breed, age, and level of athletic activity. Ortved’s research targets the disease itself rather than its symptoms. Her Orthopedic Regenerative Medicine Laboratory investigates the molecular signals that drive cartilage to break down and to regenerate, using that knowledge to develop gene- and cell-based strategies that help damaged cartilage heal, slow joint degeneration, and prevent osteoarthritis after trauma. Her broader work in gene therapy, stem cell biology, and immunomodulation also contributes to a comparative understanding of joint disease. Equine osteoarthritis closely parallels the human condition, and her findings inform both veterinary and human orthopedic medicine.

“Dr. Ortved embodies what we strive for at New Bolton Center: she is a clinician who delivers outstanding care to our equine and large animal patients, and also a scientist whose work is changing how we approach disease,” said Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD, DACT, Harry Werner Endowed Professor of Equine Medicine, and chair of the Department of Clinical Studies – New Bolton Center. “It’s wonderful that the American College of Veterinary Surgeons chose Kyla as the first recipient of this award, and we are so proud to have her as a member of our faculty.”

“Dr. Ortved leads not by directing, but by inspiring—by building an environment where trainees, colleagues, and collaborators are motivated to reach their highest potential,” said Penn Vet’s Holly L. Stewart, VMD, PhD, DACVS (Large Animal), assistant professor of large animal surgery, who nominated Ortved for the award.

About New Bolton Center’s Equine and Large Animal Care

Nationally renowned for advancing equine surgery and medicine, Penn Vet’s NBC is the cornerstone of the equine economy in Pennsylvania’s 10-county southeastern region. With 7,359 large animal cases in fiscal year 2026, students experienced a breadth of equine clinical rotations and performance specialties unmatched among the nation’s 35 veterinary schools.

NBC’s Field Service, Penn Vet’s large animal ambulatory practice, traveled nearly 194,000 miles and treated 23,930 patients in fiscal year 2026, offering on-farm preventive health care, reproductive services, and diagnostic and emergency services. NBC’s campus also includes a swine center, a working dairy, and a poultry unit that provide valuable research for, and consultative services to, the agriculture industry.

About the ACVS

The ACVS is the veterinary specialty organization responsible for certifying veterinarians in large and small animal surgery. It sets certification standards for advanced professionalism in veterinary surgery and offers surgical education programs. There are 2,687 ACVS Diplomates.

Under Shirreffs’ training throughout her racing career, the legendary Zenyatta, owned by Anne and Jerry Moss, won 19 of 20 starts, including the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and was thrice voted champion Older Female (2008-2010). Following her retirement to Lane’s End Farm, Zenyatta was named 2010 Horse of the Year and additionally selected as the first recipient of the Secretariat “Vox Populi” Award.

Highlighting the rare and historical treasures in the Shirreffs collection is Zenyatta’s original bridle, bit and reins, worn throughout her racing career. In a 2023 interview with the Horse Racing Radio Network’s Mike Penna, Shirreffs poignantly described the bridle as his “most cherished piece of Zenyatta memorabilia.”

Other important auction pieces in the collection include the champion mare’s race-worn blue and white diamond browband featured on the cover of the Zenyatta Commemorative Collector’s Issue published by The Blood-Horse, the original 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic embroidered morning saddlecloth and associated “Champion” winner’s blanket; Zenyatta’s original leather halter; training and race-worn shoes; and her Hollywood Park numbered stall plate, interior wooden stall board, as well as the racetrack’s original Zenyatta street sign — each personally collected and saved by Shirreffs just prior to the racetrack closing.

The collection is being offered in accordance with the wishes of Shirreffs, who died on Feb. 12, 2026, at his home in Arcadia, Calif. Even prior to his passing, Mr. Shirreffs had begun to disperse the important pieces in his collection as it was his specific intention that the memorabilia be shared with the general public and that it benefit the racing community.

“John so loved our sport and referred to our time with Zenyatta as ‘Camelot,’” said Dottie Shirreffs of her late husband. “To share special pieces from Zenny’s thrilling and historic time with us has always been John’s wish and we started doing so some time ago. This auction represents the continuation of John’s vision, and what an honor it is to share his collection with her beloved fans and admirers.”

Proceeds from the auction of the Shirreffs collection will benefit Breeders’ Cup Charities and other non-profit organizations that Shirreffs supported, including The Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, and Old Friends Retirement Farm.

“The charitable giving resulting from these pieces will benefit the organizations who do so much to assist the horses and humans who are so devoted to our sport,” added Shirreffs.

“John Shirreffs’ legacy is defined not only by his extraordinary accomplishments as a horseman, but by the humility and generosity he brought to our sport,” said John Keitt, chief operating officer of Breeders’ Cup Limited. “Zenyatta delivered some of the most unforgettable moments in Breeders’ Cup history, and these treasured pieces represent her remarkable story. We are honored that John’s wishes will allow fans to share in that history while supporting Breeders’ Cup Charities and other organizations that serve the horses and people who devote their lives to Thoroughbred racing.”

Items from a number of other Shirreffs-trained horses will be represented in the auction, including rare pieces from 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, 2009 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic winner Life Is Sweet and 2007 Santa Anita Derby winner Tiago. An avid racing history enthusiast, additional artifacts from Shirreffs’ personal collection to be offered include a race-worn Triple Crown-winning shoe from Whirlaway’s historic 1941 Belmont Stakes victory and a shoe worn by five-time Horse of the Year Kelso in his 1965 Whitney Stakes victory. 

Selected items from the collection are available for public viewing at Cross Gate Gallery. Additionally, a special preview of the Shirreffs collection will take place on Oct. 29 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 325 W. Main St. in Lexington during the official Breeders’ Cup week festivities. As part of The Racing Memorabilia Auction Speaker Series, “Zenyatta: The Treasures of A Queen,” will feature special guest Dottie Shirreffs, who will share an insider’s glimpse of Zenyatta and her husband’s training of the beloved champion, as well as the backstories for the related auction items on display. 

For additional information on the auction and speaker series, please visit theracingmemorabiliaauction.com or contact Jackie LeMastus at jackiel@crossgategallery.com or 502.554.6403

Cash prizes of $2,000 per division were awarded to the 42 divisions offered, which included hunters, jumpers, English pleasure, dressage, combined test, Western pleasure, ranch riding, competitive trail, and in-hand competition.

This year also saw the addition of a new Thoroughbred Premier Show Series running alongside the championships, which featured novice rider and green horse hunter classes, a $5,000 hunter classic, and a $5,000 jumper classic.

“Another successful T.I.P. Championships reminds us just how strong and passionate the Thoroughbred aftercare community is,” said Kristin Werner, coordinator of T.I.P. “We are deeply appreciative of everyone who supports the program, especially Stable View for helping provide a world-class home for this event. The championships give us an opportunity to highlight the versatility of Thoroughbreds and the people who help them succeed, and we are excited to continue expanding that impact in the future.”

The results for the T.I.P. Championships can be found at tjctip.com/About/CSF. They can also be found below:

To qualify for the championships, a T.I.P.-eligible Thoroughbred must participate in a show offering T.I.P. high point awards, classes, or divisions in the applicable discipline beginning Aug. 1 of the prior year through Sept. 15 of the championship year or participate in the T.I.P. Performance Awards in the applicable discipline or qualify through a hardship request.

To be eligible for T.I.P. shows, a Thoroughbred is defined as any horse that has been registered with The Jockey Club or a foreign Thoroughbred stud book recognized by The Jockey Club.

Created and announced in October 2011, T.I.P. recognizes and rewards the versatility of the Thoroughbred through sponsorship of Thoroughbred classes and high point awards at sanctioned horse shows, year-end performance awards, a recreational riding program, and non-competition awards. Additional information about T.I.P. is available at tjctip.com and on the T.I.P. Facebook page at facebook.com/tjctip. 

The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for Thoroughbreds in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. A New York non-profit organization governed by a board of stewards, The Jockey Club has offices in New York and Kentucky. Profits from the commercial subsidiaries of The Jockey Club support investments in initiatives to improve the health, safety, and welfare of Thoroughbreds and to market and grow the sport. Among its many supported initiatives are America’s Best Racing (americasbestracing.net), OwnerView (ownerview.com), and the Thoroughbred Incentive Program (tjctip.com). Additional information is available at jockeyclub.com.

Stable View is a top-notch equestrian facility located in Aiken, South Carolina. Established in 2010, Stable View has developed and diversified its equestrian program to meet the needs of both the discerning amateur and the elite professional across a variety of equestrian disciplines. For more information, visit svfequestrian.com.

Johnson said in a video that Ewing had retired from racing and was shipped to Ocala, Fla., for his second career. Ewing was gelded in Ocala and died after he tried to jump a fence.

“He was such a good horse,” Johnson said in the video. “I loved being around him. I learned so much with Ewing. Thank you, Ewing, for everything.”

I made a video as well.. he was in the process of retiring to a second career and being gelded in Ocala. Unfortunately, he jumped a fence and did not make it. RIP sweet boy 🐎🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/ZDlqtBe3Us

— Griffin Johnson (@lmgriffjohnson) October 13, 2026

A 3-year-old son of Knicks Go, Ewing was purchased for $585,000 as a 2-year-old in training purchase. He began his career with a 12-length victory in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Saratoga, and took down the Saratoga Special by a length a month later. 

Ewing was made the second-choice on the morning line for the G1 Breeders’ Futurity but was scratched after trainer Mark Casse was unhappy with his training to end his juvenile season. Ewing resurfaced in February at Oaklawn Park in the Ozark Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, where he finished sixth. Ewing was retired from racing after two off-the-board finishes on turf in the G3 Quick Call and the Colonial Turf Dash Stakes. 

He earned over $170,000 from six starts for owners D. J. Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Kenneth Freirich. 

Ewing was bred in Kentucky by John Gardiner. He is out of the unraced Indian Charlie mare Sassy Ali Joy.

Using mathematical modeling, researchers from the University of Melbourne found that a program incorporating one annual rest period and three four-week periods of reduced exercise produced a similar pattern of accumulated bone damage in racehorses to a program with two six-week rest periods annually. Two-week periods of lighter exercise, however, did not provide the same benefit.

“Our previous modeling study revealed that high-speed training contributes to most bone damage, and rest from training is essential for repairing that damage,” said Dr. Md Nurul Anwar, a mathematician and research fellow at the University of Melbourne. “The surprising finding in this study was when the model revealed that instead of resting the horse twice per year, if we rest the horse once and replace the other rest period with low-intensity training (trot/canter) for at least 4 weeks, also known as ‘back-off’, the damage profile was similar.”

In the simulated four-week back-off, horses spent two weeks trotting and cantering at lower speeds before gradually returning to faster exercise over the following two weeks.

Dr. Ashleigh Morrice-West, a veterinarian and researcher at the University of Melbourne, said backing off a horse’s workload may be easier for trainers to incorporate into a racing campaign than stopping training altogether.

“Backing off training is actually much easier to incorporate for many trainers than ceasing the racing preparation altogether, largely because the time required to then get a horse back up to race-fitness is much shorter following a brief back-off period compared to complete lay-up where the skeletal and cardiovascular systems have all deadapted,” she said.

The researchers also found that lower-volume training programs incorporating some high-speed exercise could produce similar bone adaptation to higher-volume programs, but with substantially less accumulated damage.

“What makes a horse cardiovascularly fit is not necessarily the same as what makes its skeleton ready for racing, and these two body systems really do need to be thought about differently when preparing a horse fit for racing,” Morrice-West said. “Overground training is essential for adapting skeletons, but the balance has to be made where the horse does not incur too much damage in the process.”

The study used a mathematical model focused on the lower portion of the cannon bone within the fetlock, rather than measuring injuries in living horses. The model also represents an average horse, and the researchers caution that the ideal duration of reduced training may vary depending on individual horses and training practices.

Dr. Peta Hitchens, an equine veterinary epidemiologist and principal research fellow at the University of Melbourne, emphasized that bone damage doesn’t necessarily result in an obvious fracture. She pointed to research findings that palmar osteochondral disease, a condition affecting the fetlock, is present in approximately 80 percent of racehorses.

“Though these might not always show clinical signs, they have been shown to affect performance,” Hitchens said. “Advanced diagnostic imaging is helping us to understand the degrees of bone injury better.”

Anwar said the team hopes eventually to use the model to develop training programs that minimize bone damage without compromising racing performance.

D I Wire was guided to his second consecutive FLGR stakes win by jockey Paco Lopez. He previously won the $99,615 Aspirant Stakes on September 21.

The Kelly Breen-trained horse scored the one-and-a-quarter-length triumph for owner Screen Door Stables. He improved his lifetime purse earnings to a sum of $236,762 and paid $2.62, $2.10, and $2.10. Silver Knight was a clear second and returned $2.10 and $2.10. Big Poppy was third and paid $2.10

Two New York-bred stakes for older horses also took place at FLGR on Monday. The $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes for older female horses and the $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders Stakes for the older males were both run at one mile and one-sixteenth.

Victory Hall Won the Jack Betta Be Stakes under Reylu Gutierrez for trainer Thomas Morley. Rhymes Like Dimes took the Genesee Valley Breeders Stakes with jockey Michael Davila for owner/trainer Timothy Murphy.

The $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes is named after the female horse who won seven stakes and earned over $350,000 during her career. Her regular jockey, Dennis Saul, presented the trophy to the winning owner.

A truck driver arrested in September while transporting 25 horses, including 13 former Standardbred racehorses, toward a Canadian slaughterhouse could be difficult to prosecute because of the way the law was written, St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary Pasqua told the Times Union.

Driver Robert M. Seitz was charged with violating New York Agriculture and Markets Law § 385, which prohibits transporting or otherwise transferring horses in the state when the person knows or should know they are intended for slaughter for human or animal consumption. However, the law specifically targets the horse’s owner; Seitz was the transporter, but the horses were owned by Bruce Rotz and originated from his Rotz’s Livestock in Pennsylvania, according to the Times Union.

Even if prosecutors secure a conviction, the potential punishment is limited. Although the law classifies the offense as a misdemeanor, it provides only for monetary fines, rather than jail time. Pasqua also raised concerns about whether the law could withstand a constitutional challenge involving interstate commerce.

Another complication is that the law does not explicitly provide for the forfeiture of horses seized during an investigation, raising questions about what happens to the horses once criminal proceedings conclude. The horses were taken to a Saratoga County farm, where the New York State Humane Association has helped organize their care, with assistance from Dorset Equine Rescue and other volunteers. Caring for the horses has already cost more than $100,000, according to the newspaper.

The Times Union reported that many of the animals were suffering from health problems despite having been cleared for transport by a USDA veterinarian just days before their seizure. One of the former Standardbreds, Cascada, who earned more than $100,000 during his racing career, has since been euthanized because of a serious medical condition.

Seitz is scheduled to appear in DeKalb Town Court later this month.

Read more at the Times Union.

Thoroughbred of the Year

The Thoroughbred of the Year Award recognizes a Thoroughbred that has excelled in a non-competitive career, such as equine-assisted therapy or police work, and includes a $5,000 grant to the non-profit organization associated with the horse or, if no organization is associated with the horse, to a horse-related charity chosen by The Jockey Club.

The 2026 Thoroughbred of the Year is Fury. Registered with The Jockey Club as Junglist, Fury is an 8-year-old gelding that retired from the racetrack in 2021 before being responsibly retired to Turning For Home, who matched him with Special Equestrians.

The equine team at Special Equestrians spent the next two years training and desensitizing Fury until he was ready to become an active therapy horse, serving both mounted and unmounted participants.

“We’re grateful that Fury was named The Jockey Club T.I.P. Thoroughbred of the Year,” said Janice Witt, executive director of Special Equestrians. “We’re proud to include off-track Thoroughbreds in our therapeutic riding programming. Fury follows in the footsteps of Kat (Kat’s Hope), who received the award in 2023 and is our top-performing therapy horse.

“The responsiveness of retired racehorses is especially valuable for the people that we serve,  especially individuals with autism and mental health conditions,” Witt added. “OTTBs have phenomenal focus and work ethic when given the care, time and attention they deserve, making them great candidates for healing work.”

Young Rider of the Year

The young rider award, which recognizes riders 18 or younger (as of January 1, 2026) who own or lease a Thoroughbred for use in 4-H, Pony Club, or other activities, has been awarded to Addyson Machese.

Machese, who turns 16 in November, owns Feta, Mind Ya Bizness, registered name Russian Ekati (Tale of Ekati – Russian Bride), an unraced 5-year-old Thoroughbred bred in Ohio by Raimonde Farms LTD.

Machese inherited her mother’s love for Thoroughbreds, adopting Maid the Journey (“Gouda”) in November 2023. Gouda sadly passed in 2025 before the pair could compete at the 2025 T.I.P. Championships. Machese and Feta have been learning the ropes together since August 2025 and have started competing together in beginner cross-rail hunters after a winter filled with groundwork and training. Through hard work and dedication, Machese was able to take Feta to the 2026 T.I.P. Championships this year, honoring their teamwork as well as Gouda’s memory. Machese and Feta finished third in the Open Crossrails Division, earning the Junior High Point Award for the division.

Machese said, “Winning this means so much to me. Writing this essay gave me the opportunity to share Gouda’s story and how much he impacted my life and my love for horses. He was such a special horse; so much of what he taught me has fostered my relationship with Feta. I’m so honored that my story resonated with others, and I hope this award can be a way to honor Gouda’s memory and everything he meant to me.”

Honorees

The Jockey Club also chose three Honorees for the T.I.P. Young Rider of the Year award – Molly Gettings, Mia Martin, and Sophie Thom.

Gettings is 15 and owns Oh Bene (Afleet Alex – Smart Ashley), a 10-year-old horse bred in Kentucky by Oak Ridge Farm & Diane Curry. Oh Bene retired from the track in 2019 after nine starts, earning a total of $3,913 during his racing career. Gettings and Oh Bene have had many accomplishments in their two years together. They’ve been to camps, including the GMHA Young Riders Camp in Vermont; participated in T.I.P. classes at the SNHEA shows; traveled to New Jersey for the Thoroughbred Spectacular; and earned a D3 in eventing through Sleeping Giant Pony Club.

“Thoroughbreds have a funny way of teaching you loads of things,” said Gettings. “Bene taught me patience, but mostly he taught me partnership, and he’s built my confidence back up bit by bit.”

Martin is 17 and owns Lincoln Park, aka “Frankie,” registered name Swing True (Cowtown Cat – Hot Dice), an unraced 16-year-old gelding bred in Florida by North Star Equine. Martin and Frankie have been partners for the past five years, and although Frankie has tested Martin more than a few times, their hard work has paid off. While currently competing in the 2’6 – 2’9 hunters and equitation, Frankie has gotten them a 4-H Regional Title and multiple champion ribbons across Wellington.

“I am incredibly grateful to have received the 2026 T.I.P Rider of the Year Honoree award,” said Martin. “Thoroughbreds are such a special breed. They are hardworking, talented, and deserve the same recognition and opportunities as any other breed. This award means so much to me and Frankie, and the award will go directly toward helping with Frankie’s arthritis treatment and supporting his retirement. I am so thankful for the recognition of my Thoroughbred. With this award, I want it to be known for the possibilities that Thoroughbreds have and for young riders to not give up on them.”

Thom is 16 and owns Morrison (The Factor – Liza Lu), an 11-year-old gelding bred in New York by Golden Goose Enterprise. Morrison retired in 2019 with 20 starts – three firsts, four seconds, and one third. During his time on the track, Morrison earned $230,764. After a lot of work, Thom and Morrison have moved up the levels from starter all the way to competing at training level eventing, qualifying for the 2026 American Eventing Championships at novice level.

“We have definitely had our fair share of setbacks and confidence knocks, but Morrison showed what a true passion for this sport is. We still have a lot to work on, but Morrison has become my best friend and the perfect eventing partner,” said Thom. “He just has a way of making even my worst days better. I hope to own Morrison for the rest of his life because he has truly changed my life forever.”

Special Recognition

While the Thoroughbred of the Year Award recognizes a Thoroughbred that has excelled in a non-competitive career, this year, The Jockey Club T.I.P. program feels it is important to highlight and recognize a Thoroughbred who, while still competing through the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA), has influenced countless riders, coaches, and programs.

The 2026 Thoroughbred of the Year Honoree award has been given to All That Jazz. Registered with The Jockey Club as Northern Jazz, this 18-year-old Thoroughbred was bred in Pennsylvania by Jeffrey L. Haller.

Jazz was able to highlight the versatility of the Thoroughbred breed by competing in the hunter, jumper, and equitation rings with great success with his owner, the coach of the Alvernia University Equestrian Team, Eryn Ziegler. Jazz now works as an IHSA horse for the Alvernia University Equestrian Team and has quickly become a favorite draw for riders from many different schools. He has been voted IHSA Zone 3 Region 4 Horse of the Year for the last two years.

“In the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, riders draw their mounts at random and compete with no warm up,” said Ziegler. “Jazz is truly talented to adapt so well to every rider who gets on his back. He is a kind-hearted guy who tries his best to take care of every rider. He’s the horse that comes around once in a lifetime, and we are so fortunate to have him with the Alvernia University team.”

Created and announced in October 2011, T.I.P. recognizes and rewards the versatility of the Thoroughbred through sponsorship of Thoroughbred classes and high point awards at sanctioned horse shows, year-end performance awards, a recreational riding program, and non-competition awards. Additional information about T.I.P. is available at tjctip.com and on the T.I.P. Facebook page at facebook.com/tjctip. 

The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for Thoroughbreds in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. A New York non-profit organization governed by a board of stewards, The Jockey Club has offices in New York and Kentucky. Profits from the commercial subsidiaries of The Jockey Club support investments in initiatives to improve the health, safety, and welfare of Thoroughbreds and to market and grow the sport. Among its many supported initiatives are America’s Best Racing (americasbestracing.net), OwnerView (ownerview.com), and the Thoroughbred Incentive Program (tjctip.com). Additional information is available at jockeyclub.com.

Now in its second year, the Thoroughbred Makeover’s expanded Championships format continues to provide more horses and trainers with the opportunity to compete on Saturday for their share of the prize money. Preliminary competition took place Wednesday and Thursday, with the top 10 in each discipline returning Saturday to compete in championship rounds across the Kentucky Horse Park.

Full results can be found on the RRP website. Let’s meet our winners:

Barrel Racing, presented by Boehringer Ingelheim: White Dove

• Trained by Gunnar Harbison
• Violence – Tizway That Way, by Tizway
• 13-2-0-2, $25,477
• 2021 gray/roan mare bred in Kentucky by H&E Ranch
• Owned by Cazares Racing Stable LLC
• Trained by Joseph D. Davis
• Last breezed June 5, 2026 at Horseshoe Indianapolis

“I’m really proud of her. She did really good, especially for getting her in June off the track. She took to training excellent. She’s really good minded and she loves her job.”

Competitive Trail, presented by Godolphin Lifetime Care: Our Girl Flint

• Trained by Maximiliano Castro
• Flintshire – Sugarandice, by Dixie Union
• 16-0-1-1, $22,097
• 2021 bay mare bred in Kentucky by Randy Bloch & John Seiler
• Owned by BSF Equine Athlete LLC
• Trained by Juan Padilla
• Last raced Oct. 9, 2025 at Remington Park

“I’m very, very proud of her and super happy because she did way better than I thought. I know she’s a great horse. She’s very willing to do what I ask every time, and she’s always trying to do her best for both of us.”

Dressage, presented by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners: Twice a Dollar

• Trained by Elliott Timmons
• Twice As Bad – My Last Dollar, by Paddy O’Prado
• 2-0-0-0, $200
• 2022 bay filly bred in Kansas by John Borst
• Owned by Patricia Weelborg
• Trained by Carlos Padilla
• Last raced Feb. 1, 2025 at Sam Houston

“It feels amazing. Not bad for a little eventer.”

Eventing, presented by Bourbon Lane Retirement Fund: Al Tirah

• Trained by Rory Catherine Parks
• Cross Traffic – My Gal Lexie, by Sultry Song
• 18-1-0-2, $24,170
• 2020 gray/roan mare bred in Kentucky by Modo Tesio Equine, LLC
• Owned by Arnaldo Monge
• Trained by Darragh Holden

“This horse is a once in a lifetime horse. I got her from a good friend who is actually here. I knew her at the track, and I immediately went into the barn after not being there for a while and said ‘I want this one when she’s done.’ This is a once in a lifetime horse and this will be my 5* horse hopefully!”

Field Hunter, presented by Masters of Foxhounds Association: Set Point

• Trained by Shelly Talk
• Sea The Stars – Hot Sauce, by Peintre Celebre
• 28-4-2-1, $73,690
• 2018 bay gelding bred in Ireland by Highfort Stud & Mrs. Olivia Hoare
• Owned by Del Rio Racing LLC
• Trained by Richard J. Hendriks
• Last raced March 22, 2025 in Aiken, South Carolina

“I am beyond excited. I am so thrilled with this horse. Dreams do come true.”

Freestyle, presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance: River in Egypt

• Trained by Lauren Slavin
• Cairo Prince – Glide On By, by Pure Prize
• 8-2-1-0, $62,018
• 2020 dark bay/brown gelding bred in Kentucky by the Estate of Harvey A Clarke, Paul Braverman, Sebastian Murat & Steven
• Owned by Newtown Farm
• Trained by Daisy K. Olivo
• Last breezed Jan. 11, 2026 at Fair Grounds

“Since being partnered with River, he’s made all my dreams come true. He steps up to every challenge, and I couldn’t be more proud of every new adventure we take on together.”

Polo, presented by United States Polo Association: Red Regret

• Trained by Robert Pizarro
• Bucchero – E Major, by E Dubai
• 3-1-0-0, $7,850
• 2022 chestnut filly bred in Florida by Adam Parker and Suzette Parker
• Owned by Berndt Racing Stable, Inc.
• Trained by Joel Berndt
• Last raced Aug. 7, 2025 at Canterbury Park

“This horse is really special to me. I’ve always played polo and made some horses for fun, but this is the first horse I’ve bought all on my own without the help of my family. She’s an amazing horse: super talented, athletic. I’m just really happy for the horse.”

Ranch Work, presented by Juddmonte Farms: Our Girl Flint

• Trained by Maximiliano Castro
• Flintshire – Sugarandice, by Dixie Union
• 16-0-1-1, $22,097
• 2021 bay mare bred in Kentucky by Randy Bloch & John Seiler
• Owned by BSF Equine Athlete LLC
• Trained by Juan Padilla
• Last raced Oct. 9, 2025 at Remington Park

“We took her to practice with cows only one time before the Makeover, but to be fair, we have goats at the ranch so she’s seen livestock. At home on the ranch, she’s willing to do anything, and we go on lots of trail rides. I’m so proud of her and how relaxed and willing she has been at both divisions.”

Show Hunter, supported by Phoenix Performance Products: My Sobriety

• Trained by Lauren Silverstein
• Volatile – Boom Boom Boom, by More Than Ready
• Unraced
• 2022 gray/roan gelding bred in Kentucky by Jay Goodwin, Meredith Krupp & Borrowdale LLC.

“I bought a thoroughbred from a guy the year before so when he called me up to say that he had another one asking if I wanted him, I said ‘yup!’ I went and picked him up, and he has literally been a unicorn every day since.”

Show Jumper, presented by WinStar Farm: Li’l Lang

• Trained by Santistevan Sport Horses Club Team at CSU Team
• Tapiture – Positively Jean, by Midshipman
• Unraced
• 2021 bay gelding bred in New York by Lucas Stritsman

“He’s been absolutely phenomenal this entire week. He’s really shown up. I couldn’t ask for a better partner. He is one of the best partners and one of the best horses I’ve had in a while.”

The Thoroughbred Makeover will return to the Kentucky Horse Park Oct. 13-16, 2027. Updated rules and further information will be available in late 2026 at theRRP.org. 

We’ve read OpEds about making the racetrack more trendy, or more accessible.  We have seen comments about programming that already exists – such as the Kentucky Equine Management Internship, which brings in countless undergrads to our world. We’ve seen influencers on their TikToks, and fashion bloggers with their fascinators.  

But has anything really changed?

I’m writing in to discuss a program that hasn’t yet been brought forward or discussed – and one that could benefit from industry support – and that is a Thoroughbred Retraining Club located 1,250 miles away from the heart of the racing industry in Fort Collins, Colorado.  

For the last 8 years, this program has been a staple of Colorado State University’s Equine Sciences degree. Led by Tiare Santistevan and Cayla Stone, the club was created to teach students about the selection, rehabilitation, retraining, and competition of these elite athletes.  It starts in January of the Spring semester, and culminates in them taking 4-5 horses across the country to the Retired Racehorse Projects Thoroughbred Makeover in October. 

And this year? They won it. 

Undergraduate students Emmah Tait and Sophia Bloom produced the 5yo L’il Lang (Tapiture – Positively Jean) for the last ten months to reach this triumph.  And it wasn’t just RRP that was successful. Sophia was able to compete at the esteemed Rebecca Farms in July, while Emmah competed him in September at both Skyline Horse Trials in Utah in addition to Tomora Horse Trials right here in Greeley, CO. 

But what’s perhaps more important is the care aspect. Both students participated in the daily care of these horses. They came to the farm and fed, mucked out, doctored, and rode. Both were there to ice, sweat, or cold-hose a swollen limb when needed. They were also joined by 6 other undergraduates on three additional Thoroughbreds, including Hanelei Bay (Into Mischief), Gem Mint Ten (Laoban) and Shore Lodge (Omaha Beach) throughout this endeavor – learning how to be – you heard it – a TEAM.

This also isn’t the first time that this program has had success on the national stage, as horses such as Fortune (Empire Maker) and Warrior’s Place (War Dancer) have also hit the individual podium and brought home prize money.  CSU’s Team has also consistently placed highly in the Team division as well, which is a testament to itself. 

But success also shouldn’t be determined by money won or ribbons earned. In fact, it should be measured by the very thing we lament not being able to do very well – recruiting new industry members, enthusiasts, and even leaders.

Each of these young people is not only a competent member of the aftercare arm of this industry, but an enthusiast of the industry in general.  During the program, they get a bird’s-eye view of the best parts of our infrastructure and, in turn, become ambassadors for the sport. They met donors of horses such as Walmac Farm, Peter Blum, and Repole. They went to the backside of Keeneland and Churchill Downs to meet famous trainers such as the late D. Wayne. And they also met with industry insiders to learn about pedigrees, programs, and the routine care of racehorses before they retire.

And yet somehow, CSU has the only Aftercare Program at the University level. It is a prototype of what could be, and the outreach potential both inwards and outwards is superb.  But like so many Universities, budget cuts are rising, and programming is being cut. 

Just this past year, the program had to transition to a club and was moved off campus to the instructor’s private facilities.  And you can imagine that costs accrue readily – such as feed, farrier, and veterinary work. It also costs a considerable amount to expose these animals to small and large competitions. Not to mention the cost of travel to Lexington and back when diesel prices are over $6.00 a gallon. To put it quite simply – the program costs money. 

And this is where I reach out to the industry. 

You just had a penultimate sale. $536,700,000 dollars worth, to be exact.  You are building new barns and new paddocks, and also raising stud fees to astronomical levels. And yet we are somehow celebrating the number of seven-figure animals sold while simultaneously lamenting the lack of young people involved. 

And we write OpEds lamenting the need to create programs to recruit them – when the programs already exist – and are smack dab in front of us. Or at least, 1,250 miles away.

Support these programs such as CSU. Sponsor a horse. Donate money. Recruit Gen Z. Pave the way for these young people to be retained in our masses. And at the same time? Retrain some exceptional Thoroughbreds. 

Ones like L’il Lang, the 2026 Show Jumping Champion of RRP.

The New York-bred 7-year-old gelding by American Freedom raced 53 times and won 10 of them over five seasons of racing, spending his entire career in New York, and winding down in the claiming ranks at Finger Lakes.

He was an honest horse on the track, doing his best work at the route distances in the claiming ranks, and preferring a stalking trip before finding his best run in the final furlong. Despite spending the bulk of his career with a claiming tag on his head, Datesfreedom was claimed just twice, picked up both times for $8,000.

By the end of the 2025 racing season at Finger Lakes, though it was clearly time for Datesfreedom to move on to his next phase of life after the racetrack. He was listed for sale by trainer Michael Ferraro via Finger Lakes Finest Thoroughbreds, Inc.; a non-profit organization that assists racing connections at the upstate New York track in listing their retiring Thoroughbreds online for sale to non-racing homes.

As reported by the Paulick Report in January, Datesfreedom was one of three horses purchased by New Jersey-based Marcos Quinones, with the stated intention of training him as a trail horse. Though Quinones jumped through every hoop to the satisfaction of the trainer and the organization, Datesfreedom and his two fellow Finger Lakes grads soon ended up at H & R Horses, a training/sales barn in Hillsboro, Ky. The others were soon listed at the the Bowie Livestock Auction in Texas with a “ship to slaughter” date, but Datesfreedom remained at the Kentucky farm.

Finger Lakes Finest purchased Datesfreedom from H & R Horses for $2,500, and sent him to quarantine with Stall 13 Thoroughbreds, a non-profit facility in Lansing, N.Y., led by executive director and head trainer Aubrey Graham. The gelding stepped off the trailer just as the calendar flipped to January 2026.

“The poor thing, they shipped him in a blizzard that was coming in, so I asked them if they had a blanket for him, and they had one that was like two-thirds of a blanket – it kind of had one side eaten out – but he actually didn’t look terrible,” Graham said. “He was well taken care of on the track. He hadn’t lost a ton of condition by the time he got to me.”

This year’s Thoroughbred Makeover permitted horses to have had their final race or workout as far back as July 1, 2024, while serious training beyond basic groundwork could begin on Dec. 1, 2025. With Datesfreedom first coming into Graham’s care from a potential bail pen situation just 10 months before the Makeover – practically nine after the horse’s three-week quarantine period – the pair were at a significant handicap when it came to preparation.

It was that time in quarantine, though, that made Graham realize she might have a Makeover prospect.

“He did fantastic and just showed he had a wonderful personality,” Graham said. “As he trotted around quarantine, he also showed he was quite athletic and and was going to be good at a lot of things.

“The biggest thing besides waiting to make sure he didn’t have any infectious diseases, worming, and things like that, he did have some extremely severe scratches from getting into something, probably a wire or a hay string on the back of his hind pasterns,” she continued. “So, we treated those as best we could out there and then got him back into the main barn near the end of January, and then got him going for his first rides and first shows a couple of months later. Then, it’s just kind of been bringing him along in eventing and show jumping.”

Beyond Stall 13, Graham specializes in training off-track Thoroughbreds through her Kivu Sporthorses, meaning every horse in her program receives a foundation in the eventing disciplines: dressage, show jumping, and cross country. If a horse shows an affinity or distaste for one of the disciplines, she focuses her training on a horse’s strengths.

Datesfreedom was one that cleared the bar for all three, prompting Graham to enter him for the Makeover in both the Eventing and Show Jumper competitions.

“He’s got great movement, he’s nicely built, he’s uphill, he’s a Yes It’s True horse (through his broodmare sire), which is a line that I really like,” Graham said. “They’re athletic, they’re quirky – quirky in personality, not quirky under saddle. He’s all work under saddle.”

On top of his later start in training, living in Upstate New York means winter tends to stick around longer than most parts of the country. Thus, opportunities to gain valuable experience at horse shows were not as plentiful as they would be for other Makeover competitors in southern states.

Graham said the horse had no problem making up for lost time.

“I just took him and hacked him around, and he did his first cross country fences at a really quiet trot in a foot-and-a-half of snow over some logs, and just showed that he’s just brave as the day is long, and he has said ‘no’ to absolutely nothing thus far,” she said. “I put him at a ditch, and he goes, ‘Cool, that’s a ditch, great.’ You look at bigger jumps, whatnot, and he kind of goes, ‘I took that.’ So he’s really come along fantastic.

“He’s naturally brave over cross country fences,” Graham continued. “I think he’d make a hell of a fox hunter, a really nice event horse, and he could do show jumping or dressage. There’s no limit to what this horse could do. Throw a western saddle on him, and he could do stuff too, but I really think he’ll cook up the levels.”

Graham described Datesfreedom as a horse with an active mind that can sometimes cause him to create mischief if he gets bored. But when it’s time to get to work, the gelding is a fast learner.

“I taught him to jump the day before he went to a horse show,” she said. “They were very baby horse show crossrails, and it was winter, and I had a free spot in the trailer, and I was like, ‘Well, he should probably go and get off-property because in upstate New York, again, it’s been snowing, it’s been cold as hell. He’d popped over logs outside, but he hadn’t ever seen poles.

“So, we set up a baby grid (an arrangement of jumping poles) and spent 30 minutes teaching him what poles are, and then put him through the grid and incrementally increased it,” she continued. “The next day, I took him to a little indoor jumper show where he did crossrails and then did the two-foot, and he was just like, ‘Okay.’ He didn’t move, didn’t fuss around, and then he proceeded to go around bravely over the crossrails, figure it out, figure his feet out, and have a blast. I was like, ‘All right, this thing has a brain. There’s a lot cook cooking in there, and that’s kind of how he’s been with everything.”

Datesfreedom began his time at the Makeover in the Eventing portion of the competition. Eventing at the Makeover is a two-part discipline, in which competitors are first judged in a dressage portion. Later, the horse and rider go through a round of jumps, including a handful of show jump fences preceding a cross-country course that includes different terrain and water hazards, in addition to more jumps. In addition to clearing the obstacles in the second portion, the horse and rider are judged for form and horsemanship throughout the course.

The pair finished 24th of the 41 horses to complete both parts of the Eventing competition. The following day, Graham and Datesfreedom contested the Show Jumping discipline, where they finished 42nd of 57 to complete the course.

“He laid down probably his best dressage test he’s done,” Graham said about his Eventing performance. “This is the great thing about the Makeover is it’s a nice, early in their career test. You take the temperature of things. He came out in a big environment with kids running around and judges in the box, and cars driving by, and just focused and did his test. It’s probably not the best test of the day, but I don’t care. For him, it was the best one he’s done.”

The pair came back out later in the day to contest the jumping portion. By Graham’s own words, the two played “pick-up sticks,” during the show jumping portion of the event, knocking down a few rails, but they made up for it in the cross country, where Datesfreedom was brave and willing across the obstacles.

The cross country portion ends with an open show gallop over a large uphill expanse of the Kentucky Horse Park’s steeplechase infield, and Datesfreedom was able to show a bit of the speed that led him to the winner’s circle so many times.

“I like to let the horses realize that we’re not just going to hold them back here, we can also go forward, so when we land off the last fence, I just put my hands forward and said, ‘Let’s go, and he’s like, ‘Really?'” Graham said. “So, he just set into a really lovely gallop, and it’s great because you can start to feel he’s got 3-4 more gears in there. It’s uphill, but I’m not gonna keep him at some nice easy four-beat gallop, I’m just like, ‘You show me what you want to do.’

“He pulled up really easy,” she continued. “I just sat up and half-halted with my leg, and he was like, ‘Okay, cool,’ just carefully cantered down the hill and was done. I’m really proud of him. And despite the poles, who cares? That’s easy to fix in the long run.”

The long run, though, will be a road for someone else to travel. Datesfreedom was listed as adoptable heading into the Makeover, and he will have a new home following the event. After arriving at the Kentucky Horse Park from upstate New York, the gelding will leave on a trailer toward Idaho, where he will embark on a career as a mid-level eventer.

“The hope is that we’ve given the foundation that will let us get him somewhere where he can now have a regular career, as opposed to being a speculative thing,” Graham said. “He comes with contracts that he can always come back, and the safety net that he’s got a whole program of people behind him, which is great.”

The kind-eyed chestnut scored the biggest upset in Kentucky Oaks history when she mowed down the field from last to win the 2006 edition at odds of at 47-1. Then, she sold as a broodmare prospect for $2.5 million, and embarked on a breeding career that saw her become one of the defining broodmares of the 2010s. That run culminated with a Broodmare of the Year title in 2017.

Lemons Forever has been living the pensioner’s life at owner Charles Fipke’s CF Farm in Paris, Ky., since 2024, but she continues to blaze trails; this time as the winner of the inaugural Miss Mareworthy competition, celebrating active and retired broodmares across North America.

Her ascent to the throne was thanks in large part to the determination of CF Farm’s Kerstin Olivia Day, who nominated the 23-year-old Lemon Drop Kid mare to the competition, wrote a compelling bio and arranged a lemon-themed photoshoot for her nominee page, then rocked the vote like few others.

The first round of the Miss Mareworthy competition consisted of a public vote, with the 13 most popular mares moving on to the finals.

Day left no room for a recount in her campaigning, rounding up farm staff, and registering as many visitors to the farm as she could – even making veterinarians pull out their phones and vote for the mare before they slipped on their gloves. From there, she turned her attention outside the property lines.

“Once I got the pictures done, I entered her and everything else, and I just went to the all the farm people and said, ‘ Okay, this is what we’re doing. We’re gonna vote, vote, vote, vote,'” Day said. “I even sent the links to my family in Germany. I found a friend of mine who I’ve known through Facebook – she’s a big fan of Forever Unbridled (Lemons Forever’s Eclipse Award-winning daughter), so I sent her the link and said, ‘Come on, you can do this. Get your friends in California.’ So, she did promote it in California, and she texted me and said one of her former grooms at the track saw what I’d posted and saw what she posted, so she got that side involved too… It really is an honor because I did not think it was going to be this big.”

Lemons Forever’s 751 votes in the preliminary round were enough to get her into the final round, where a panel of judges sorted the top finishers based on the qualities of mindfulness, authenticity, resiliency, and expressiveness.

The margin of victory was razor-thin among the top finishers, but Day argued before she was informed of the final results that Lemons Forever would be a deserving winner. The mare had the qualities that can leave a person starstruck, and that came through in her presentation.

“I watched her on TV when she was running, never even thought of anything, and then I, when I started the job here, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I remember her. I watched her race,'” Day said. “Where I worked before, we didn’t have the quality of horses that Mr. Fipke has.”

Lemons Forever was co-owned by Horton Stable Inc. and her trainer Dallas Stewart during her on-track career. She quietly made her way into the Kentucky Oaks field after finishing a late-gaining third in the Grade 3 Bourbonette Breeders’ Cup Stakes in her black type debut.

Lacking the back class of her rivals, Lemons Forever was largely overlooked by bettors ahead of the Kentucky Oaks, but Stewart has made a career out of defying the odds in the sport’s biggest spots. Under jockey Mark Guidry, Lemons Forever sat in last of the field of 14 through the first half-mile of the Oaks, then she looped around the field and drove hard in the stretch to prevail over runner-up Ermine by 1 1/4 lengths. A $2 ticket to win on Lemons Forever paid back $96.20.

It was a career highlight for Lemons Forever, but it would also be the peak of her racing momentum. She stayed in graded stakes company for the bulk of her remaining time on the racetrack, but her only win after the Oaks came at age four against allowance optional claiming company. She ended her career with four wins in 16 starts for earnings of $648,940.

Lemons Forever lived up to every penny of her seven-figure hammer price to Fipke as a broodmare prospect, producing 10 foals, including six winners from eight starters.

The star among that group was Forever Unbridled, a daughter of Unbridled’s Song who won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Distaff as a Fipke homebred en route to that year’s Eclipse Award for champion older female. She retired to Fipke’s broodmare band with earnings in excess of $3.4 million.

The pairing with Unbridled’s Song proved to be especially fruitful for Lemons Forever, also producing Unbridled Forever, winner of the G1 Ballerina Stakes and third-place finisher in the 2014 Kentucky Oaks, attempting to emulate her mother’s success.

Lemons Forever is also represented in the stud barn by Forever d’Oro, a stakes-placed son of Medaglia d’Oro who stands in Indiana, and Perfect Speighty, a son of Speightstown who stands in Ontario.

Though Day said Lemons Forever tended to defer to the sire when it came to the physical types of foals the mare produced, her trademark came in the care she put into each one during the time they were together.

“She loved her babies,” Day said. “She was an excellent mother, and she’s just this calm and cool mare. She is a professional, and whatever she does, whatever you put in front of her, she’ll just be like, ‘Okay, if that’s what I need to be doing, I’ll do it.’

“When she foaled, the way she acted with them, the way she took care of them, that was her one and only priority,” Day continued. “You have some mares that, they give birth, they’re like, ‘Well, it’s a baby. I’ll go eat first.’ Never with her. She was just like, ‘This is my kid. I’m going to take care of it as long as I have it,’ and she was never once evil to any of them. Never lost patience with any of her foals or anything, no matter what those little suckers did. That, to me, is what stands out.”

The Miss Mareworthy pageant attracted a number of broodmares with names recognizable to fans both casual and hardcore, but Mareworthy Charities co-founder Kyle Rothfus said having a horse of Lemons Forever’s achievement and Q-rating was an incredible endorsement of the competition in its debut season.

“It was really awesome to see a lot of famous horses that are current, like Goodnight Olive, Caravel, and Candy Raid, but to see Lemons Forever, who’s like a legend, actually win it, it makes Mareworthy feel like the industry is supporting us,” he said. “We’re excited because I think it makes the industry look and say, ‘Oh, you drew the attention of Lemons Forever. That’s a pretty big deal.”

In a tight race for the top, Rothfus said the way that Day presented Lemons Forever to the world gave her the needed edge to secure the crown.

“I think it was the fact that her story combined with her pictures – her ownership put in really great photos,” he said. “They took time with it, so she ended up in second or first place in every single category, and it was just the combination of her story was well written. It was thoughtful. It was from her person, and the fact that the photos were a really good combination, so she was that steady horse that just hit across the board.”

Rothfus also marveled at the attention that the Miss Mareworthy pageant has brought an underserved population when it comes to public attention, in broodmares. While many of the breed’s top male runners can be visited at stud farms during open house season and farm tours, and further tracked with stallion directories and annual stud fee announcements, many broodmares live less visible lives.

CF Farm is a private facility, which means Lemons Forever is not in an especially bright spotlight, save for when one of her foals does well, and she gets a mention. Day said an event like Miss Mareworthy can go as far as to provide proof of life for some mares to some fans.

“It went bigger than what I ever thought it would be, and it reached more people than I ever thought that would care,” Day said. “This is not a public stable. Nobody knows what happens, who’s here, who’s not here, but that people actually saw her, that she still exists, and they have the memory, that were like, ‘Oh my god, I remember her from racing,’ that was great, because then you actually know that she didn’t go lost somewhere. She’s still alive. She’s still out and doing good.”

The banner event of the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP), the Thoroughbred Makeover is the largest retraining competition in North America for recently retired racehorses and former broodmares, showcasing the athleticism and trainability of the Thoroughbred and inspiring more equestrians to partner with the breed.

More than 250 horses competed over two days in up to two of 10 sport disciplines: Barrel Racing, Competitive Trail, Dressage, Eventing, Field Hunter, Freestyle, Polo, Ranch Work, Show Hunter, and Show Jumper. Preliminary competition concluded Thursday, determining the top ten horses in each discipline that will advance to Saturday’s Championships.

The top ten horses in each discipline will return to compete in Saturday’s Championships on blank-slate scores for $135,000 in total prize money. Top-placed Former Broodmares and Graduates will also be highlighted during mounted awards at the conclusion of each discipline championship. Additional awards for top-placed amateurs, juniors, teams, and special award winners will be presented during the Championship Awards Party on Saturday night, presented with support from McIntosh Group and Wasabi Aftercare Fund.

View full preliminary results here.

Meet the 2026 Preliminary Competition Winners

The following horses earned top honors in their respective disciplines during preliminary competition.

Barrel Racing: White Dove

• Trained by Gunnar Harbison
• Violence – Tizway That Way, by Tizway
• 13-2-0-2, $25,477
• 2021 gray/roan mare bred in Kentucky by H&E Ranch
• Owned by Cazares Racing Stable LLC
• Trained by Joseph D. Davis
• Last breezed June 5, 2026 at Horseshoe Indianapolis
• Barrel Racing Top Graduate: Camp Gray, trained by Kara Lee

Competitive Trail: Our Girl Flint

• Trained by Maximiliano Castro
• Flintshire – Sugarandice, by Dixie Union
• 16-0-1-1, $22,097
• 2021 bay mare bred in Kentucky by Randy Bloch & John Seiler
• Owned by BSF Equine Athlete LLC
• Trained by Juan Padilla
• Last raced Oct. 9, 2025 at Remington Park
• Competitive Trail Top Broodmare: Becca’s Diamond, trained by Jennifer Vickers Kelly

Dressage: Midnight Twister

• Trained by Kristina Aaron
• Bradester – Volant, by Birdstone
• 3-0-0-1, $2,278
• 2022 dark bay/brown gelding bred in Texas by Gary West
• Owned by Matthew Herod
• Trained by Danny Pish
• Last raced Dec. 18, 2025 at Remington Park

Eventing: Midnight Trouble

• Trained by Aubrey Graham
• Midnight Lute – Zarleeza, by Harlan’s Holiday
• 27-4-3-3, $235,705
• 2020 dark bay/brown gelding bred in Kentucky by TC Stable LLC
• Owned by Sunny Meadow Farm
• Trained by Mitchell E. Friedman
• Last breezed Feb. 20, 2026 at Belmont Park
• Eventing Top Graduate: Five Berg, trained by Sierra Thomas

Field Hunter: Set Point

• Trained by Shelly Talk
• Sea The Stars – Hot Sauce, by Peintre Celebre
• 28-4-2-1, $73,690
• 2018 bay gelding bred in Ireland by Highfort Stud & Mrs. Olivia Hoare
• Owned by Del Rio Racing LLC
• Trained by Richard J. Hendriks
• Last raced March 22, 2025 in Aiken, South Carolina

Freestyle: River in Egypt

• Trained by Lauren Slavin
• Cairo Prince – Glide On By, by Pure Prize
• 8-2-1-0, $62,018
• 2020 dark bay/brown gelding bred in Kentucky by Estate of Harvey A. Clarke, Paul Braverman, Sebastian Murat & Steven
• Owned by Newtown Farm
• Trained by Daisy K. Olivo
• Last breezed Jan. 11, 2026 at Fair Grounds
• Freestyle Top Broodmare: Becca’s Diamond, trained by Jennifer Vickers Kelly
• Freestyle Top Graduate: Wally K, trained by Monique Cameron-Hamby

Polo: Fantastic Forest

• Trained by Buck Schott
• Rainbow Heir – Forest Funds, by Forestry
• 5-0-0-0, $775
• 2023 dark bay/brown filly bred in Maryland by New Farm
• Owned by Cecil E. Clugston
• Trained by Spencer Myers
• Last raced April 15, 2026 at Horseshoe Indianapolis

Ranch Work: Our Girl Flint

• Trained by Maximiliano Castro
• Flintshire – Sugarandice, by Dixie Union
• 16-0-1-1, $22,097
• 2021 bay mare bred in Kentucky by Randy Bloch & John Seiler
• Owned by BSF Equine Athlete LLC
• Trained by Juan Padilla
• Last raced October 9, 2025 at Remington Park

Show Hunter: My Sobriety

• Trained by Lauren Silverstein
• Volatile – Boom Boom Boom, by More Than Ready
• Unraced
• 2022 gray/roan colt bred in Kentucky by Jay Goodwin, Meredith Krupp, & Borrowdale LLC
• Show Hunter Top Broodmare: Silver Kitty, trained by Kristen Muselman
• Show Hunter Top Graduate: Go Code, trained by Bella Canzano

Show Jumper: South Bend

• Trained by Emily Castrenze
• Algorithms – Sandra’s Rose, by Old Trieste
• 36-5-5-7, $753,868
• 2017 bay gelding bred in Kentucky by Highclere, Inc.
• Owned by Gary Barber, Pantofel Stable LLC, Wachtel Stable, and Peter Deutsch
• Trained by Mark Casse
• Last breezed February 22, 2025 at Ocala Training Center
• Show Jumper Top Broodmare: Silver Kitty, trained by Kristen Muselman
• Show Jumper Top Graduate: Shelbenie, trained by Kristina Aaron

Looking Ahead to Championship

Following two days of preliminary competition, attention now turns to Saturday’s Championship rounds, when the top 10 horses in each discipline will compete for final placings and prize money.

Friday offers a break from competition, with educational opportunities and special events taking place throughout the Kentucky Horse Park, including the RRP Charity Polo Match at the Man o’ War Polo Fields.

Saturday’s Championships will determine the 2026 Thoroughbred Makeover champions across all 10 disciplines, culminating in the Championship Awards Party that evening.

Follow the Retired Racehorse Project on Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok for continued coverage, Championship results, and highlights from the remainder of Makeover Week.

Like the setup, the delivery is something unique to the racehorse retraining competition, with ex-jockeys Crystal Conning and Madison Olver splitting the responsibilities of training 2024 Claiming Crown Horse of the Year Like a Saltshaker up to the event, as well as sharing riding duties at the Makeover itself – his first competition in his new career.

The on-track timelines of the two riders and their horse ran a number of parallels before they converged. Conning took her first U.S. mounts in 2019 after beginning her career in her native Australia, where she was also a world-class eventer. Stateside, she began her career working for trainer Rusty Arnold before hanging her tack on the Turfway Park/Belterra Park circuit. She later went back and forth between Turf Paradise and Canterbury Park before heading to the Mid-Atlantic.

Olver started as a professional jockey in 2022, also tackling states up and down the eastern seaboard, but doing most of her riding at Monmouth Park and Aqueduct. A Colorado native, Olver broke Mustangs in her home state, and she grew up eventing at the amateur level, before angling toward racing during her time in France.

Like a Saltshaker, an 8-year-old Peace and Justice gelding, made his first start in September 2020, and he ended with 18 wins in 48 starts for earnings of $606,161. The well-traveled Pennsylvania-bred won the Fitz Dixon, Jr. Memorial Juvenile Stakes at Presque Isle Downs during his 2-year-old campaign, and he eventually climbed the ladder into Grade 1 competition, but he just as quickly made his way back down that ladder. He found his level in the optional claiming ranks, and he got claimed twice, the second time for a modest $10,000.

That claim put him in the barn of trainer Brittany Vanden Berg, who fueled a renaissance that culminated with a victory in the Claiming Crown’s Rapid Transit division at Churchill Downs in 2024. At the end of the season, he was named the Claiming Crown’s Horse of the Year, an award presented by the National HBPA.

The lines started to intersect in December 2024, when Like a Saltshaker was competing at Parx Racing for owner Flurry Racing Stables and trainer Michael Moore. Conning got the assignment aboard the gelding, and together, they finished third in a starter allowance.

It was their next start together, though, that really mattered. In a 6 1/2-furlong starter allowance optional claimer on Feb. 12, 2025 at Parx, Conning and Like a Saltshaker sat in a stalking position and wore down the leader to win by 1 3/4 lengths. It would be the final win of Conning’s career.

The pair rode together two more times, and Conning took her last mount in September 2025, the same month that Olver rode her final race at Monmouth Park. Like a Saltshaker’s last start came in May of that year.

The sentimental value was high between Conning and Like a Saltshaker, but the potential to revisit a part of her relationship with horses that she thought she’d left behind in Australia was also an appealing part of making sure the gelding had a home after the races.

“This is the first horse I’ve had in America,” Conning said. “I’ve been here for eight years, and obviously I have a long equestrian background, but I’ve been away from it for a long time. This is the first horse that I’ve sort of kept for myself in a long time, and he’s just such a pleasure. I have that special kind of thing with him, having ridden him in a number of races and won on him, so it’s just been a real pleasure to have him.

“I fell in love with him at the track because he’s just so straightforward and cool, and I just knew that he’d be an easy restart,” she continued. “There’s nothing tricky about him. I went overseas last summer for a week or so, and he was still in training, and Maddy galloped him for me, for the week, so we both know him really well.”

Just that week galloping Like a Saltshaker in Conning’s place was enough to win Olver over when it came to his future as an eventing prospect.

“The only week that I galloped him, he’s just got this huge personality,” she said. “He just makes you want to be around him.”

Conning and Olver are now both based in Central Kentucky, which made the logistics of training and attending the Makeover, based at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, an attainable target.

The pair entered Like a Saltshaker in the Makeover’s Eventing discipline, under the moniker “Team Like A Saltshaker,” allowing them to each ride one leg of the competition.

Eventing at the Makeover is a two-part discipline, in which competitors are first judged in a dressage portion. Later, the horse and rider go through a round of jumps, including a handful of show jump fences preceding a cross-country course that includes different terrain and water hazards, in addition to more jumps. In addition to clearing the obstacles in the second portion, the horse and rider are judged for form and horsemanship throughout the course.

Like a Saltshaker is a massive specimen with a thick neck and chest – throwing back to his paternal grandsire War Front – and his long stride covers a lot of ground in the open field. Olver said the gelding’s ability to use those physical gifts is what made him a good candidate for eventing at the Makeover.

“Just based off of my experience, a horse that is pretty good at winning races is usually pretty brave and will jump anything,” she said. “He’s a very forward-minded horse, which is also really great for eventing. He’s super brave, he’s super game, he’s just happy to be here.”

Conning’s reason for targeting that discipline was more straightforward.

“I grew up eventing, so that was his only choice,” she said with a chuckle.

When it came to splitting riding responsibilities for the Makeover, Conning said the decision had as much to do with logistics as it did with which of them might excel in either leg of the competition.

“Maddy’s done a lot of the prep work to get him to this show for me,” Conning said. “I haven’t ridden him in actually a couple of weeks. Maddy’s been keeping him ticking, and schooling, and doing everything. So, it’s been very much a team effort to get him here, and I’m very appreciative of my team.

“I originally said I’ll do the dressage because I know that that’s not Maddy’s favorite, and I don’t mind it, though it’s not my forte either,” Conning continued. “I was happy to take one for the team, so to speak. But, I just am at the barn a lot (working as an assistant for trainer Rusty Arnold), and when we figured out the scheduling, it looked like it was going to be better for Maddy to do the dressage and me do the fun part (the jump round), so that was really all.”

The Makeover can be an intimidating show for any horse, given the relatively short turnaround time allowed from a horse’s final race or workout to the time they step in the ring. Even for veteran campaigners like the gelding that Conning and Olver shipped in to the Kentucky Horse Park, the sights, sounds, and sheer mass of horses doing a variety of new things can be a lot to take in. Many competitors take their Makeover horses to at least one show before the event to acclimate them to the setup, but Team Like A Saltshaker did not have that luxury.

Given that handicap, the horse’s two trainers came in with tempered expectations, but they were pleased with what the horse gave them.

“To be perfectly frank, that’s the first full dressage test he’s ever done,” Olver said. “This is his first show, period. All things considered, I don’t think we could have asked for better from either me or ‘Salt.’ He did absolutely everything that I asked from him. Just a few green moments, that’s it.”

Likewise, the open expanses of the cross country course inside the Kentucky Horse Park’s steeplechase loop were uncharted territory for Like a Saltshaker. He struggled with the stadium portion, dropping a few rails along the way, but he thrived when he and Conning got into the cross country portion, clearly relishing the opportunity to really stretch his legs.

“Once he got into the cross country portion, the 10 fences that are speed and power and moving, he was wonderful,” Conning said. “He jumped straight in the water, jumped over the ditch like it was nothing. It was just awesome, and then he had fun ripping up the hill at the end, showing everybody how he won 18 races. So, for his first like day out, he’s done a really good job.”

Conning admitted that the barrage of new experiences exposed Like a Saltshaker as a bit green during the jumping portion, which cost him on the leaderboard. The stadium jumps feature bits of flair and distractions that he hadn’t seen at home, and with all the rails he knocked over on his way to the cross country, the gelding finished last of the 41 horses that completed the event.

However, while the Makeover can be a major milepost in an off-track Thoroughbred’s training, it is far from the finish line, and Team Like A Saltshaker exited the event with that mentality, finish position be damned.

Horses that compete at the Makeover have varying destinations after the event. Some are offered for sale at the Makeover itself, some will be placed after the event with the benefit of more experience, and some enter the Kentucky Horse Park with the rider they’ll be paired with for the rest of their life. Conning said she planned on being in the latter category with Like a Saltshaker, hoping to grow from this experience.

“He’ll stay with me forever, I hope, and I would love to event him more,” Conning said. “I think he’s gonna be really good at it. I think he really enjoys it. Time permitting and life permitting, I would like to do some eventing with him next year in the spring and see what happens, and come back to the Horse Park. He’s just gonna be my guy.”

But if a stallion or mare arrives from a country affected by contagious equine metritis, like Japan, current federal requirements also mean a veterinarian or trained designee must watch the horse whenever it leaves its stall to ensure it doesn’t breed while out on the racetrack.

That is one example supporters of newly introduced federal legislation point to in arguing that U.S. import rules have failed to keep pace with the health and biosecurity systems already surrounding elite international horses.

H.R. 10611, the Temporary International Movement of Equines Act of 2026, or TIME Act, would direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a separate, risk-based regulatory framework for so-called high-health, high-performance horses entering the country temporarily for recognized international races or equestrian competitions.

The bipartisan legislation is led by U.S. Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Kat Cammack, R-Fla. It was introduced Sept. 24 and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has not yet taken it up.

Under the bill, USDA would be directed to recognize the relatively low health risk posed by horses certified under standards established by the World Organization for Animal Health, or WOAH, and develop regulations incorporating identification, traceability, and biosecurity measures. Those regulations would include expedited entry and modified quarantine procedures. USDA would have to begin the rulemaking process within 180 days if the legislation becomes law.

The bill would not exempt international competition horses from federal animal-health requirements. Instead, it calls for a separate framework that takes into account the health status and risk posed by this particular population.

Dr. Kandace DeBolt spent five years working for USDA before joining Lexington Equine Medical Group in 2019. Now an associate veterinarian and import and export coordinator with the practice, she also serves as an international quarantine veterinarian for the Breeders’ Cup.

DeBolt said current contagious equine metritis requirements are a prime example of where the existing system can become impractical.

CEM is a highly contagious venereal disease of horses. Under current protocols, DeBolt said, international horses subject to CEM requirements must be kept completely separate from other horses, with a secured perimeter maintained throughout their stay. A licensed, accredited veterinarian or qualified trained designee must directly observe each horse whenever it leaves the stable to ensure it does not breed and potentially transmit the disease.

Limited space at racetracks, combined with the personnel and security required to maintain that separation, can make the process expensive and difficult to manage, she said.

“Current USDA rules and protocols are outdated, inconsistent with current science, and do not account for the high health status of elite international racehorses,” DeBolt said in emailed responses to the Paulick Report.

Competition and racing venues already employ health, identification, traceability, monitoring and biosecurity measures of their own, DeBolt noted, meaning some federal requirements can duplicate safeguards already in place.

The push to change that system has been underway for some time, but the approaching 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles have added urgency.

Dr. Katie Flynn, senior veterinarian for equine health and biosecurity at US Equestrian Federation, said WOAH’s high-health, high-performance framework recognizes these horses as a distinct, closely managed population. These horses are generally microchipped and passported, vaccinated, under continuous veterinary care, and subject to biosecurity protocols as they move between international competitions.

“We feel that it’s overregulation of the high-health, high-performance horse that has created significant barriers for horses to come to this country to compete in the United States,” Flynn said.

Those barriers aren’t limited to CEM. Flynn said the industry also hopes a new framework could address requirements involving equine piroplasmosis, New World screwworm, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis. In some circumstances, horses currently face seven-day quarantine periods during which their exercise is restricted to hand-walking, a significant health and welfare concern for a fit horse expected to compete soon after arrival.

The goal, Flynn said, would be to determine whether health measures taken before departure and during import quarantine could safely shorten those stays for qualifying horses.

While the mechanism for that would depend on USDA approval, one solution could be for industry organizations or racetracks to establish health-monitoring or biosecurity requirements.

The American Horse Council Foundation is coordinating industry funding for a risk assessment of the high-health, high-performance population. At the same time, the U.S. Animal Health Association’s Committee on Equine is developing a white paper intended as a potential roadmap for implementing an HHP program in the United States.

The bill leaves much of the detail to USDA. It requires a risk-based system and modified quarantine procedures but does not dictate which existing disease requirements should disappear or precisely how qualifying horses should be handled.

DeBolt emphasized that supporters aren’t seeking to eliminate animal-health protections.

“The equine industry supports science-based measures that advance and protect horse health,” she said. An HHP framework, she said, should recognize the low risk posed by these horses while reducing unnecessary regulation and redundant separation, observation and security requirements.

For racing, the potential benefits aren’t limited to an event two years away. In a press release announcing the legislation, Breeders’ Cup president and CEO Drew Fleming said efficient international movement is essential to an event built around bringing together horses from around the world. The Jockey Club also backed the legislation, arguing that a risk-based system could reduce barriers to international participation in U.S. racing while maintaining animal-health safeguards.

For Tonko, whose New York district includes Saratoga Race Course, that international component is part of the appeal.

“Aligning with international safety standards benefits fans, athletes, economies, and the sport as a whole,” Tonko said in the press release, adding that he believes the legislation could help put venues including Saratoga further onto the international stage.

Cammack, whose district includes the Ocala area, similarly said the goal is to allow elite international horses to compete in the United States without unnecessary regulatory barriers while maintaining protections for the domestic horse population.

“The TIME Act brings our rules in line with proven international standards and keeps strong protections in place for the horses already here,” Cammack said. “I’m proud to partner with Congressman Tonko on this bill and to keep working with the American Horse Council to get it across the finish line.”

Whether the bill itself can move quickly enough to matter for the 2028 Games is far from certain.

Amanda Kadilak, government affairs liaison for the American Horse Council, acknowledged that passing standalone legislation in the current Congress may be difficult. But she said introduction of the bill is also intended to signal to USDA that the industry and at least some members of Congress want the agency to move toward recognizing high-health, high-performance horses as a separate population.

USDA already has authority to grant exceptions to some of its existing requirements, Flynn said. With the risk assessment and white paper expected to be completed by the middle of next year, advocates hope the agency could use that authority to temporarily ease some import requirements for Olympic horses even if Congress hasn’t finished work on the TIME Act.

That would address the immediate problem. Flynn said it wouldn’t end the effort to change the system permanently. “We’re not going to stop at a derogation,” she said, using the regulatory term for such an exception. “This is a long-term plan to support our industry.”

Over 250 horses are competing over two days in one or two of ten sport disciplines, including Barrel Racing, Competitive Trail, Dressage, Eventing, Field Hunter, Freestyle, Polo, Ranch Work, Show Hunter and Show Jumper. Competition took place in eight of those disciplines today; Freestyle and Polo will take place on Thursday. Ranch Work concluded today with Our Girl Flint (Flintshire – Sugarandice, by Dixie Union) emerging as the provisional winner. Our Girl Flint is a 2021 mare bred in Kentucky by Randy Bloch and John Seiler. She made 16 starts, earning $22,097 in her racing career, and trained for the Makeover by Maximiliano Castro.

The top 10 horses in each discipline will return to compete in Saturday’s Championships on blank-slate scores for $135,000 in total prize money. Top-placed Former Broodmares and Graduates will also be highlighted during mounted awards at the conclusion of each discipline championship. Additional awards for top-placed amateurs, juniors, teams and special award winners will be presented during the Championship Awards Party on Saturday night, presented with support from McIntosh Group and Wasabi Aftercare.

Scoring will finalize for the day in other disciplines throughout the evening and can be viewed here.

Prior to competing, all horses must pass the Arrival Exam, a process designed ensure all entries enter their competition venues in appropriate soundness and body condition. A dozen teams comprised of licensed veterinarians and veterinary students volunteered their time to staff the exams, which include positive identification by microchip scan, verification of health paperwork, vitals, body condition assessment using the Henneke scoring method, and a soundness evaluation at the walk. Arrival Exam Hospitality was provided by Zoetis.

Horse shoppers and adopters will find plenty to love in the Makeover Marketplace, sponsored by Churchill Downs, Incorporated. The Marketplace is an optional sale for horses entered in the Thoroughbred Makeover, granting shoppers the unique experience of watching horses perform in competition, taking trial rides in a designated arena, and scheduling pre-purchase exams with on-call vets from Lexington Equine Medical. The Marketplace catalog is available in print at the show office, as well as online.

Preliminary competition resumes Thursday morning, with the Field Hunter Mock Hunt beginning at 7:30 a.m. and Freestyle at 8 a.m. Dressage, Eventing, Show Jumper, Show Hunter and Competitive Trail resume later in the morning at 9, followed by Polo at 4 p.m. and Barrel Racing Run II at 5:30 p.m.

Thursday’s schedule also includes Plaidcast Live at 5:30 p.m. in the Visitor Center Auditorium.

See additional event coverage throughout Makeover Week on Retired Racehorse Project social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.

The work is part of an ongoing effort to develop blood-based screening tools that could help veterinarians identify horses that warrant closer examination or advanced imaging. Previous studies have investigated markers of bone and cartilage formation or breakdown. The Cornell researchers took a different tack, searching for patterns among immune and inflammatory proteins that might be associated with catastrophic musculoskeletal injury.

The Cornell project, funded by the Harry M. Zweig Memorial Fund for Equine Research, was designed specifically to investigate whether inflammatory biomarkers could eventually help identify racehorses at increased risk for catastrophic injury.

For the study, published Oct. 2 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, researchers tested blood samples for 12 markers associated with immune activity and inflammation. Samples came from 44 Thoroughbreds that suffered fatal musculoskeletal injuries at New York racetracks and 63 horses treated for nonfatal fractures at Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialists. Another 554 Thoroughbreds whose blood had been submitted to Cornell for routine equine infectious anemia testing served as controls.

Researchers found four inflammatory or immune markers that showed different patterns in horses with fatal injuries. Three also varied with fracture severity, suggesting the differences weren’t simply a general response to being injured.

Two of the markers, known as CCL3 and CCL5, were particularly interesting. Both are involved in immune signaling and bone remodeling (the ongoing process in which old or damaged bone is broken down and replaced), but they moved in opposite directions. CCL3 decreased as fractures became more severe, while CCL5 increased. The authors said theirs is the first evidence linking that opposing pattern with bone fractures and fracture severity.

Looking at the markers together also appeared more useful than considering any one alone. Two or more of the four were identified in about 70 percent of horses with fatal injuries, compared with less than 1 percent of the control horses. A calculation comparing CCL3 with CCL5 identified 84 percent of horses in the fatal-injury group.

That doesn’t yet mean veterinarians can use a blood test to predict which horses are headed toward catastrophic injury, however. Importantly, blood from the 44 horses with fatal injuries was collected after the injuries occurred, before the horses were euthanized. Researchers therefore know the biomarkers were associated with fatal musculoskeletal injury, but not whether the same changes would have been detectable beforehand.

The authors described the study as an “end stage analysis” and said research following horses and collecting blood before an injury occurs will be necessary to determine whether the biomarkers actually have predictive value.

If they do, the researchers envision blood testing as a screening tool rather than a diagnosis on its own. Abnormal results could flag a horse for additional orthopedic examination or advanced imaging, potentially allowing veterinarians and trainers to intervene or adjust a horse’s training before a serious injury occurs.

Though her name implied refined elegance, Isabel Dodge Sloane’s chestnut miss was anything but on the racetrack. Her trainer Elliott Burch told The Blood-Horse, “When she was running, she would mow them down.” Bowl of Flowers was the last champion bred and owned by one of America’s grand dames of racing, Isabel Dodge Sloane. Sloane’s father, John Francis Dodge, and uncle, Horace Elgin Dodge, founded the Dodge Brothers Company in 1900, making auto parts for Ford Motor Company before transforming the business into their own automobile company in 1914. Sloane got her start in steeplechase racing in the 1920s and purchased land near Upperville, Va., where she began breeding her own runners, both flat racers and jumpers, on the farm she christened Brookmeade. Sloane’s banner year as an owner came in 1934: not only did her Cavalcade win the Kentucky Derby, her other 3-year-old stable star, High Quest, also nosed out his Derby-winning stablemate in the Preakness Stakes. Sloane’s penultimate champion had been Sword Dancer, Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old of 1959.

Sloane stood some of her own stallions at Brookmeade, and two of her best champions – Sword Dancer and Bowl of Flowers – were products of stallions standing at her farm. Bowl of Flowers was by Sailor, a chestnut son of Eight Thirty who counted the Pimlico Special at three and the Gulfstream Park Handicap at four among his triumphs. Though not considered fashionable, he also sired champion sprinter Ahoy and Travers Stakes winner Crewman.

Bowl of Flowers’ dam was the excellent racemare Flower Bowl, winner of the Delaware and Ladies Handicaps at age four. Though bred by Sloane, her immediate pedigree had the stamp of Hollywood movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, who had imported her sire, Alibhai, and stood him at his California farm before his sale to a syndicate sent him to Kentucky. Flower Bowl’s dam, Flower Bed, was bred by Mayer and sired by another of his imported stallions, Beau Pere. At the time, the female family was not considered especially strong, though it would become a powerhouse in breeding within a few years.

The result was a chestnut filly foaled on tax day, April 15, 1958, at the Daniel W. Scott Farm near Lexington, Ky. Though she was small, attaining a height of just 15.2 hands at two, she very much impressed her trainer, Elliott Burch. He was quoted years later in William H. Rudy’s book Racing In America, “She was a standout from the beginning. A long, lanky filly at two, high hindquarters, floppy ears, a red-gold chestnut. She had rough ankles all her life, and they caused me to stop on her several times.” Burch’s father, Preston, had trained both the filly’s sire and dam, so the younger Burch was quite familiar with the attributes of both. He soon discovered in his early training of Bowl of Flowers that she possessed the weaponry of both her parents: the terrific speed of Sailor and the nearly limitless stamina of her dam, as well as Flower Bowl’s preferred come-from-behind running style.

Bowl of Flowers, under jockey Eddie Arcaro, went to the post for the first time in a five-furlong maiden affair at Aqueduct on May 13, 1960. The filly, much like a frightened little girl on the first day of school, was overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of a racetrack replete with several thousand fans and a full field of other green companions. She broke out of the gate dead last and galloped after the eight other fillies. At the quarter pole, she was still last, but then something clicked, and she took off. Bowl of Flowers made a devastating, if green, run to pass all the other fillies but one. She went under the finish six lengths in arrears of the smart Nashua filly Shuette. Thirteen days later, she again lagged behind the field until she decided to go after her competitors and rush past them all for a three-length maiden victory.

The next start for Bowl of Flowers, the 5 ½-furlong fillies division of the National Stallion Stakes at Belmont Park on June 20, showed another dimension of her talent. Sweet-natured around the barn, Bowl of Flowers was a warrior on the track. This was on display for the first time in the National Stallion. In a field of eight, and partnered by Manny Ycaza for the first time, Bowl of Flowers settled at the back as Eddie Arcaro took Shuette to the lead. But then came Bowl of Flowers. Her running style was all elegance and grace at the gallop until she locked on her prey, put her head down, and began a furious charge down the home straight to catch and best the tiring Shuette by the scantest of noses in a new track record of 1:04 ⅕. The battling top pair were eight lengths clear of Eastern Princess, a striking full sister to Bold Ruler. Yet the effort took its toll on her fragile ankles; Burch had her ankles blistered and rested her until autumn.

Bowl of Flowers returned in the fall needing to play catch-up if she were to have any part in the chase for the juvenile filly championship. Good Move had captured the Spinaway Stakes and the brilliant Little Tumbler had humbled colts in the Belmont Futurity. Nearly a quarter of a century before the inaugural Breeders’ Cup, two eastern stakes – the Gardenia and the Frizette – were the races in which a victory in one or both sealed championship credentials. After three allowance preps, each a furlong further than the last, Bowl of Flowers was ready for the Gardenia.

The 1 1/16-mile Gardenia featured thirteen hopefuls. Bowl of Flowers was partnered by Bill Shoemaker this time. The speedy Little Tumbler zipped to an early lead while Bowl of Flowers was enduring trouble at the very back of the pack. Shoemaker told the New York Times, “I got pinched at the start when the outside horse [Prominent Lady] moved in and came out on me. I had to pull her up, and I figure I lost five lengths before I got her in stride.” Bowl of Flowers was still twelfth of thirteen approaching the turn for home. Shoemaker guided her to the outside and prayed he and his filly had enough real estate left to at least pick up a placing. Bowl of Flowers had grander ideas. Once clear, she unleashed her powerful run and gobbled up the ground, passing horses one by one until she took the lead forty yards from home and crossed the finish a half-length winner over the equally hard-charging longshot Angel Speed.

Her victory in the rich Gardenia put Sloane’s filly clearly in the catbird seat for leading juvenile filly. Burch was not content to let his filly rest on her New Jersey laurels and took aim at the one-mile Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 12. She won by three lengths, but her courageous run is what excited Arcaro. Hoping to get to the outside, she was blocked by Counter Call. Instead, Arcaro drove her right through the pack, merely a passenger as his determined mount blitzed past her competitors to snatch her sixth victory in eight starts of the season and the 2-year-old filly championship in the process.

Arcaro excitedly informed the press afterward: “I am convinced that not only is she the best filly in the country, but that she could beat any of the colts.” Given that Hail to Reason and Carry Back were the best juvenile colts in training, Arcaro’s assessment of her ability was quite a statement. So much so that Burch and Sloane nominated her for each of the 1961 Triple Crown races. But it was not to be.

Plans to run her in the Pimlico Futurity against colts a week later were quickly abandoned due to her troublesome ankles. Her ankles were fired in late December, and the ambitious plans for a try at the Triple Crown against colts gave way to the more traditional route of New York’s filly Triple Crown: the Acorn and Mother Goose Stakes and the Coaching Club American Oaks. Her 3-year-old season was not as dominant as had been her juvenile season. Her sore ankles were always worrisome, complicated by the fact that the filly grew a great deal over the winter. As a 3-year-old, Bowl of Flowers reached 16.1 hands, nearly a full hand taller than she had been at the end of her first season.

Bowl of Flowers easily took the Acorn Stakes, then dropped the Mother Goose Stakes by a head to Ogden Phipps’s talented Tom Fool filly Funloving, who was riding a four-race win streak that included the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. Arcaro remarked to the New York Times that his filly “didn’t have enough of that final punch.” Some observers that afternoon blamed Arcaro for an overconfident ride that didn’t unleash his mount’s homestretch charge until it was too late.

Arcaro made no such mistake in the 1 ¼-mile Coaching Club American Oaks two weeks later at Belmont Park. While Funloving made the pace from the start, Arcaro kept Bowl of Flowers closer than usual in fourth position before letting her pounce on the leader, a move that saw her inhale Funloving and draw off to a 5 ½-length victory. With that victory, Bowl of Flowers seemed to be at the top of the discussion for the leading sophomore filly. That is, until a new star emerged in the historic Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.

That new star on the horizon was Darby Dan Farm’s lovely Swaps filly Primonetta. She had been rising rapidly like cream to the top and had won nine of ten starts before the Alabama. Under Bill Shoemaker, Primonetta went right to the front when the gates opened and stayed there for the entire ten furlongs of the Saratoga distaff classic. Bowl of Flowers ran an unusually lackluster race to finish third, six lengths behind the winner. Burch, looking for an excuse, soon discovered that Bowl of Flowers was ill, commenting to the press, “You should have seen her blood count – but I won’t show it to you.”

Bowl of Flowers proceeded to lose two of her next three starts, and it looked like the 3-year-old filly championship was Primonetta’s for the taking. But the Darby Dan filly then dropped two straight in the Gazelle and Beldame, meaning that she and Bowl of Flowers would have to settle the championship of their division when they met in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 19. Add in the intimidating presence of Airman’s Guide, well on her way to the older mare title, and the Spinster of 1961 was an event set to determine two championships.

The Spinster turned out to be the easiest victory of the Brookmeade filly’s career. Arcaro kept Bowl of Flowers off the pace as Airman’s Guide and Primonetta dueled each other throughout the majority of the race, then pounced in the stretch, passing a tiring Airman’s Guide and taking aim on Primonetta. Bowl of Flowers caught her near the wire and won the race by three-quarters of a length in 1:49 ⅕, tying the stakes record.

The Spinster’s result sealed the championship picture. Bowl of Flowers locked up her championship, and Airman’s Guide, despite her fading fourth-place finish, was not hurt in her bid for champion older mare. Burch probably should have stopped on Bowl of Flowers after the Spinster, but he decided to try her against males in the 1 3/16-mile Roamer Handicap at Aqueduct on Veterans’ Day. The field Bowl of Flowers was asked to tackle included Belmont winner Sherluck, Jersey Derby winner Ambiopoise, and Dwyer winner Hitting Away. At the finish, it was Sherluck by a nose over Hitting Away, with Bowl of Flowers only another nose back in third.

After this admirable performance, Bowl of Flowers was given a much-earned rest. Hopes for a 4-year-old campaign were dashed during the winter at Hialeah when the champion suffered a fracture of her left foreleg during a workout and was promptly retired. Bowl of Flowers departed for the broodmare paddocks in Virginia having won ten of sixteen starts with three seconds and three thirds for earnings of $398,504.

Sent initially to Brookmeade in Virginia, Bowl of Flowers was sold after the death of her owner, Sloane, in March of the next year. The champion filly became the property of Mr. and Mrs. Whitney Stone and spent her broodmare career at their Morven Stud near Charlottesville, Va. For a mare of her caliber, Bowl of Flowers endured years of frustration. Her first foal died and for the next sixteen years, she came up barren eight times and aborted twins twice. She produced only six live foals, the best of which were Spruce Bouquet, a winner of the Hawthorne Gold Cup, and Whiskey Road, a winner in Ireland and good sire in Australia whose get included Australian champion and major stallion Strawberry Road. The memory of Bowl of Flowers may have faded away, but her genes still course through champions and prominent sires of today courtesy of Strawberry Road, sire of champion American fillies Ajina and Escena, and broodmare sire of leading stallion Quality Road.

Sadly, after she came up barren at the age of twenty-one in 1979, Bowl of Flowers completely disappeared from the records. When or even where she died was never recorded. During her life as a broodmare, she shared the paddocks at Morven with the great racemare Shuvee and that star’s dam, Broodmare of the Year Levee. Both are interred, replete with grave markers, at Morven, now the Morven Sustainability Lab of the University of Virginia. Five other horses share that little burying ground, and if Bowl of Flowers ever did, her marker is long gone.

Even her memory within her own family was overshadowed by the accomplishments of her younger half-brothers Graustark and His Majesty, while her dam, Flower Bowl, eclipsed her champion daughter when she was honored with a race named for her, inaugurated in 1978. Like the cheetah after a charge, the memory of Bowl of Flowers receded back into the wild brush that is the passage of time, waiting for another chance to pounce back into remembrance.

The promotional line reads: “Dr. Barbara Murphy explains the physiology behind Equilume and how her research into the genes that regulate the body’s internal clock led to her work in chronobiology, the study of biological rhythms, and the effects of light on equine physiology.”

“The Boundless Podcast” is available on all major platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Hosted by professional jockey and veterinarian Dr. Ferrin Peterson, the podcast explores the stories of individuals who have accomplished the seemingly impossible by breaking molds and redefining success through unique challenges, pivotal moments, and determination.

Peterson is currently based in Japan, working at Northern Farm in Thoroughbred training and development. A multiple stakes-winning professional jockey and graduate of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Peterson created Boundless to educate and inspire through conversations with people whose paths have challenged conventional definitions of success.

That was the experience of one breeder whose three-month-old colt had been thriving until he developed severe respiratory distress. A lung scan revealed Rhodococcus equi (R. equi) pneumonia, and within hours, the foal went from appearing healthy to requiring hospitalization and intensive care.

R. equi can be particularly challenging because the infection may develop quietly in the lungs before obvious signs appear. By the time a foal shows symptoms such as fever, coughing, lethargy, nasal discharge, or difficulty breathing, significant lung abscesses and inflammation may already be present.

For this colt, the situation became life-threatening. His treatment included oxygen support and aggressive therapy to address both the underlying infection and the severe inflammatory response occurring in his lungs. Once stable enough to leave the hospital, he still required weeks of around-the-clock care, medications, repeated bloodwork, and lung scans.

Fortunately, he fought hard. By the end of June, his bloodwork indicated that he might finally be ready to discontinue medication, with the hope that his next assignment would simply be returning to his paddock and behaving like a normal young horse again.

His story is an important reminder for every horse owner — not only those involved in racing or breeding. The horses we eventually ride, compete, and build partnerships with all begin as vulnerable young horses whose future can depend on diseases being recognized quickly and effective treatments being available when something goes wrong.

For breeders and foal owners, understanding R. equi and recognizing its potential warning signs can be especially important. A foal that looked perfectly healthy yesterday may need veterinary attention today.

And when that happens, early recognition, skilled veterinary care, and the knowledge gained from years of studying diseases like R. equi can give that foal something invaluable: the opportunity to grow up.

Understanding How Horses Fight R. equi Infections

Every year, R. equi infections pose a serious threat to the health of foals, causing pneumonia that can be difficult and costly to treat. While veterinarians have made significant advances in managing the disease, important questions remain about how a horse’s immune system naturally recognizes and fights this infection. A new research project aims to answer those questions and lay the groundwork for better vaccines and treatments.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas A&M University, with support from the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, are working to better understand how horses’ immune systems respond to R. equi. By applying cutting-edge technologies typically used in human health research, the team hopes to uncover critical information that could improve equine health for years to come.

The goal of the project is to identify exactly what the horse’s immune system “sees” when infection occurs. When a horse is infected, its cells display tiny pieces of the bacteria on their surface as a signal that something is wrong. Special immune cells, called T cells, use these signals to detect infected cells and help eliminate the infection.

Using advanced laboratory technology, including highly sensitive mass spectrometry, researchers can identify these bacterial pieces and determine which parts of the bacterium trigger an immune response. This approach enables scientists to move beyond predictions and directly measure the bacterial targets that are most important to the horse’s immune system.

To conduct the study, researchers will collect lung cells from several horses using a routine veterinary procedure called bronchoalveolar lavage. The cells will then be exposed to R. equi in a controlled laboratory setting. Scientists will isolate the bacterial fragments presented by the cells and analyze them to determine which bacterial proteins they come from.

The result will be a detailed map of the bacterial targets most likely to be recognized by the horse’s immune system. This information could help guide the development of more effective vaccines and treatments for R. equi infections and improve our overall understanding of how horses respond to this important disease.

By combining innovative immunology research with equine medicine, this project seeks to unlock new insights into one of the industry’s most significant infectious diseases, ultimately helping veterinarians, horse owners, and breeders better protect the health of future generations of horses.

Why R. equi Research Matters

For breeders and foal owners, R. equi can turn a healthy, thriving foal into a critically ill patient with little warning.

In this breeder’s case, a promising three-month-old colt appeared normal one day and was struggling to breathe the next. Lung scans revealed severe R. equi pneumonia, requiring hospitalization, oxygen support, intensive medications, and weeks of around-the-clock care. Even with aggressive treatment, his prognosis was initially guarded.

The experience illustrates why continued research into R. equi is so important. The disease can progress quietly before obvious clinical signs appear, and once severe pneumonia and inflammation develop, treatment can be lengthy, intensive, and costly.

For breeders, better ways to prevent, identify, and treat R. equi could mean recognizing disease earlier, improving outcomes, reducing the burden of treatment, and ultimately saving more foals.

As this breeder’s experience demonstrates, research can feel distant — until it’s your foal fighting for every breath.

Instead, Bartschi found herself surprised that the young horse was taking longer than expected to develop, finding even basic progression under saddle to be difficult. Even on the hard days, he tried to do what was being asked of him, but he moved with tension through his neck and back, often bracing instead of moving freely, and while the behavior was subtle, Bartschi knew something was not right.

“Walking and trotting developed slowly, but the canter never fully came together,” she said. “Captain was never dangerous or unwilling; in fact, his willingness was what made the situation so difficult to understand.

“It didn’t feel like he was saying, ‘I don’t want to,’” Bartschi said. “It felt like he was saying, ‘I can’t.’”

A struggle beyond training

As Captain struggled, Bartschi never gave up on him. A mother of three young children, she approached training with patience and caution, building a program centered on groundwork and routine care.

“We just kept trying to make him as comfortable as possible,” Bartschi said. “We wanted to give him every chance to figure it out.”

Over the years, Bartschi and Captain’s trainer, Devereaux Branham, devoted significant time and effort to understanding Captain’s challenges, adjusting his program, and searching for answers as his progress remained inconsistent.

In late 2025, the pattern shifted. Captain started tossing his head in a way that felt different from the training issues they had worked through before.

After two visits with a local clinic, Bartschi decided to take Captain to the Texas A&M Large Animal Teaching Hospital, where a team led by Dr. Kati Glass and Dr. Weston Warnock began a more extensive diagnostic workup.

“It was challenging to pinpoint exactly what the main problem was initially,” said Glass, a clinical associate professor of equine orthopedic surgery and equine sports medicine and imaging. “He was having some lameness problems; he wasn’t quite himself, and he wasn’t performing to the level they expected. Ultimately, it became clear that neurologic dysfunction and pain was contributing.”

Bringing the problem into focus

To further investigate the source of these issues, a CT myelogram, an imaging procedure used to evaluate the spinal cord and surrounding structures, was performed. It revealed a disc protrusion between the C6 and C7 vertebrae in Captain’s neck that had resulted in spinal cord and spinal nerve root compression.

“For a long time, intervertebral disc disease was thought to not happen in horses,” said Warnock, also a clinical associate professor of equine orthopedic surgery and equine sports medicine and imaging. “What looks like a forelimb lameness issue, in some cases, can actually be due to cervical pain or spinal nerve pain, as was the case with Captain.”

With a diagnosis confirmed, the conversation shifted to treatment options. In Captain’s case, that meant cervical stabilization surgery using a new implant system developed by French veterinarian Dr. Fabrice Rossignol specifically for horses.

“It is the first big innovation in cervical spine surgery in a long time,” Glass said. “This implant system was designed specifically for equine cervical fusions using the latest cervical surgical technology. We were really excited about the opportunity to use this new implant for Captain’s surgery, which would allow us to stabilize the affected vertebrae, allowing the compression and instability in Captain’s neck to resolve.”

Recovery and rehabilitation

An important part of the recovery process is rehabilitation, especially for neurologic recovery, which depends on repetition and controlled movement to help restore communication between the spinal cord and the rest of the body, according to Glass.

“We’re actually recovering Captain’s neurologic system, and that takes a lot of practice,” she said.

Captain’s rehabilitation program includes controlled exercises and structured movements designed to gradually rebuild strength, balance, and coordination.

While the veterinary team remains optimistic about Captain’s recovery, even in the early stages, Bartschi has started to notice a change in him.

“He is very calm and a different horse already,” she said.

“These cases take time for spinal cord and nerve recovery,” Warnock said. “But the early signs of improvement are incredibly encouraging.”

Raising the standard of care through collaboration

For the veterinary team, Captain’s case represents more than a single surgery — it also reflects years of collaboration and a growing understanding of spinal diseases in horses.

“This collaboration is critical,” Glass said. “We are constantly reflecting on what we are doing and how it can be done better. We don’t want to be complacent; we are always working to improve our current options and toward new interventions so that we can help more horses with more problems.”

Beyond that, Warnock believes this case represents the future of equine surgery, particularly for spinal procedures.

“I think in five years we will probably have the conversation about what we didn’t know today and how much we continue to learn,” he said. “Spinal surgery in horses is rapidly evolving, with new diagnostic and therapeutic options being developed constantly.”

As such, Captain’s case also represents more than one horse’s recovery.

“This is part of a larger shift in how we understand performance issues in horses,” Glass said. “It is expanding what we think is possible in terms of diagnosis and treatment.”

For Bartschi, however, the meaning of Captain’s recovery is personal. After years of trying to understand what Captain was struggling to communicate, she finally has an answer.

More importantly, she now has the opportunity to give him what she wanted for him all along — the chance to move comfortably, confidently, and painlessly.

As Captain continues his rehabilitation, Bartschi and Branham are beginning to see a calmer, more peaceful horse emerge. After years of searching for answers, they are finally able to focus not on what was holding Captain back but on what may now be possible for his future.

By super sire Into Mischief, Turnagain Tide brought $750,000 as a Keeneland September yearling and made it to the winner’s circle in his second career start, breaking his maiden as the 3-5 favorite at the Keeneland Spring Meet in 2021. He added an allowance win at Horseshoe Indianapolis that June but was retired after an off-the-board finish four weeks later.

Given time after his racing days were over, he was donated to CANTER Michigan in December and began retraining with Jennifer Blades, barn manager Jen Murdoch, and rider Kimberly Fenn at Blades’s Willowbrooke Farm in January of 2022. He did not immediately take to his new surroundings.

“Turner’s transition was not the smoothest,” Fenn recalled. “He took a bit longer than many of the horses that we retrain for CANTER. At first, he was afraid of everything, even mere jump standards. As a prey animal, and one who was trained to run, Turner’s response to his fear was to bolt. While this is a natural response, it can be quite intimidating, particularly with a horse of his size.”

Turner was 16.2 hands at the time (he has now grown to 17.1) and very strong. It took a high level of horsemanship to overcome his challenges. 

“Fear is a difficult issue to correct because it is important to treat the animal kindly so that you do not add anxiety to the fear response,” Fenn explained. “On the other hand, behaviors that start with one origin, such as fear, can also become habit, so the behavior must be curtailed.”

The transformation did not happen overnight, but Murdoch saw the potential and adopted him. The team kept working with him, and two years after his first steps down the road to a second career, Turner was ready to try out his new skills at a rated horse show. With Blades still as trainer and Fenn handling riding duties, he overcame all obstacles, in and out of the ring, to earn a blue ribbon. And it wasn’t long before it was time to move up the ranks.

A veteran supporter of the TAKE2 Program, Blades encouraged the step up into the Thoroughbred Hunter division last year, and Turner blossomed, missing year-end honors by just 31 points. This past season, he improved yet again to finish fifth in the year-end high-score standings and was named the TAKE2 Jet Run champ.

“Jennifer (Blades) is a staunch advocate for Thoroughbreds and has been working with horses in the TAKE2 League for many years,” Fenn said. “In 2025, we moved Turner up from the 2’6 to the 3’ divisions, and we felt that he would be most successful in the Thoroughbred division. Indeed, except for his initial outing, he has been champion or reserve champion every time.”

A New England native, Fenn is firmly on team Thoroughbred.

“Thoroughbreds are quintessential athletes, as evidenced by their many Olympic and World Cup achievements,” she said. “However, I think that what really makes them special is their heart. They are sensitive souls who form strong bonds with humans and will try their absolute hardest for their person.”

Originally from Connecticut, Fenn was introduced to her love of horses by her Aunt Dawn and was in the saddle from a young age. She served as captain of her intercollegiate team for three years, leading them to a national championship during her senior year at the University of Delaware. Fenn started with CANTER Michigan six or seven years ago, but in the capacity of volunteer; her day job is as a professor at Michigan State University, where she conducts research on learning, memory, and cognition. Schedule flexibility leaves her time to dedicate to other passions, and CANTER was the perfect fit.

“I have great respect for the individuals I have met in the CANTER program,” she said. “They are genuine horse people who value the animals, regardless of their limitations or quirks, and are committed to finding them appropriate homes after the track. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with them and help retired racehorses enjoy their second careers.”

CANTER was launched as a non-profit organization in 1998 to help transition Thoroughbred racehorses from the racetrack by listing them for sale on a dedicated website. The network now includes 14 affiliates nationwide. In addition to the listing service, CANTER Michigan sends up to six horses at a time for retraining at Willowbrooke.

“I appreciate the philosophy of the CANTER program,” Fenn explained. “I have seen firsthand how beneficial the program is, primarily to the horses who are given a new life, but also to the adopters who are able to acquire a partner in an increasingly difficult and expensive market.”

CANTER Michigan will receive a donation of $1,000 from TAKE2 in recognition of their contribution to happy and productive lives for retired racehorses. The winner of the TAKE2 Jet Run Award in the Jumper division was Caitlan Brooks’ Jersey Fresh, a graduate of Maryland’s After The Races, which will also receive $1,000.

“The aftercare organizations are often the unsung heroes in the success stories of retired racehorses,” said TAKE2 President Rick Schosberg. “We want to be sure the vital role they play is recognized and celebrated. They provide the strong foundation that future success is built on, and we thank them for that.”