Wandering Eyes

The 25th running of the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup will break new ground when run as a World Pool fixture. The meeting, which will be staged at Ascot on Saturday, August 8, will also for the first time feature a team from the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Led by Vincent Ho, the rider of the legendary Golden Sixty, the team will consist of three riders licensed to ride in Hong Kong and will replace the Asia team. Australian jockey Jamie Melham, who made history in 2025 when becoming the first female to complete the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double aboard Half Yours, will captain the Rest of the World team. She will also act as a global event ambassador for the Shergar Cup. “This will be the 25th running of the Shergar Cup at Ascot and it's exciting to see another evolution of the event, with World Pool and Hong Kong Jockey Club involvement for the first time,” said Nick Smith, director of racing at Ascott. “As ever we are hugely grateful to Dubai Duty Free for their support of this event, and of British and Irish racing as a whole.” The post Shergar Cup Joins World Pool for 25th Anniversary appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Genesis Green Stud's new recruit Royal Scotsman has had his first mare scanned in foal. The mare in question, Compassionate, is owned by Classic-winning jockey and breeder Willie Carson of Minster Stud, who is said to be “thrilled with the result”. Compassionate is a Minster Stud-bred Charm Spirit half-sister to G1 Dubai Duty Free winner Al Shemali (Medicean) and G2 Henry II Stakes winner Tungsten Strike (Smart Strike). “The team at Genesis Green are equally delighted, as Royal Scotsman continues to attract an increasingly strong first book of mares,” said Jake Swinburn. “These include proven producers at the highest level, notably Nessina, dam of Ajaya, winner of the G2 Gimcrack Stakes; Sahara Sky, dam of Dick Whittington, winner of the G1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes; and Madam President, dam of Cappella Sansevero, winner of a Group 3 contest and runner-up in the G2 Coventry Stakes. Notably, all three colts went on to become stallions in their own right, underlining the depth and commercial appeal of the mares supporting Royal Scotsman in his debut season.” Swinburn added that the ownership group of Royal Scotsman is launching a new incentive for breeders, with a breeding right being awarded to the first breeder to produce a stakes winner by the stallion in the UK, Ireland or France. The post Willie Carson Has First Mare Scanned in Foal to Royal Scotsman appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The Road, presented by Gainesway and WinStar Farm, looks at the recent strong Kentucky Derby (G1) performance of winners of prep races that offer 50 qualifying points. View the full article

Owner Chris Fountoukis is on the cusp of a major Kentucky Derby (G1) prep as his undefeated colt Solitude Dude is set to start in the Feb. 28 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) Gulfstream Park.View the full article

Tattersalls has announced the appointment of trainer and stallion master Knut Arnesen as its Scandinavian representative. “Knut Arnesen is a great addition to the Tattersalls team of overseas representatives, we place huge emphasis on promoting all Tattersalls sales to as wide an international audience as possible and we are delighted that he has joined us. Well-known and hugely respected in the Scandinavian racing and bloodstock industry, Knut brings a wealth of experience to the role and his knowledge and extensive contacts in Scandinavia will be invaluable,” said Tattersalls managing director Matthew Prior. Arnesen, who has held a training licence in Norway for more than four decades, has also stood stallions, including Evasive and Mutajally. His experience in the bloodstock business includes working as a shipping agent, having transported horses from Newmarket to Scandinavia since 2000. Arnesen added, “I am thrilled to be joining Tattersalls as Representative for Scandinavia. The racing industry in Scandinavia continues to become more international with increasing numbers of horses competing on the global stage and being imported each year. We have seen tremendous success from Tattersalls graduates among them, with Norwegian-trained UAE Oaks winner Queen Azteca the star example last year, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to encourage buyers from Norway, Sweden and Denmark to come to Newmarket to source horses from the market-leading sales at Tattersalls.” The post Knut Arnesen Joins Tattersalls as Scandinavian Representative appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Vincent Ho Chak-yiu will captain the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s first ever team to compete in the Shergar Cup in August, with the UK’s world-renowned jockey competition set to be run under the World Pool banner for the first time. The Jockey Club announced the initiative in its “global racing engagement” on Friday, with the team of three spearheaded by Hong Kong’s leading home-grown rider Ho replacing last year’s Asia team. First staged in 1999, this year’s Shergar Cup will feature six races with...View the full article

Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) winner Willydoit (NZ) (Tarzino) will be racing for a spot in the Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m) when he lines up at Flemington. Willydoit and stablemate Holymanz (NZ) (Almanzor) contest the Gr.2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) on Saturday as the pair look to enhance their claims of further autumn riches. Now in his second preparation for the Ciaron Maher stable, Willydoit is yet to strike the form that saw him win the New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie last March. Maher’s National Assistant Trainer Jack Turnbull said the stable had learned a lot about the now four-year-old following his first campaign in Sydney during the spring. Willydoit resumed at Caulfield on February 7 and beat only one horse home in the MRC Foundation Cup (1600m), but the stable has again called for blinkers on the gelding after suggesting the gelding was a ‘little plain’ first-up. “When the race was run the way it was, it was brutally run, and with a horse like Light Infantry Man winning it, sitting second, it says a lot about the race shape,” Turnbull said. “For him, who was back, no headgear, floating along, he just never got involved. “His splits late were positive enough, but he should have done something because he did nothing for the first three-quarters. “He’s had a couple of good gallops, he gets on the bigger track, the mile again, headgear on, there’s a lot more going his way this week.” Turnbull said Willydoit had been one of the better staying three-year-olds having also finished fourth in the Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick last autumn, but as a spring four-year-old the stable decided to chase spring riches. It included finishing ninth in The Golden Eagle (1500m) after running seventh in the Alan Brown Stakes (1400m). “He was a dominant staying three-year-old, but he’s not slow, so coming to Sydney last campaign, with the weights, we were willing to try him in the big features which didn’t work,” Turnbull said. “A prep on, we know a bit more about him and I think 2000 (metres) will be his go. “The Australian Cup is on the plan, but if he was not to fire at that class and weight scale, then there are races like the Mornington Cup (Listed, 2400m), but we’ll just see, but his main early aim, after this run, is the Australian Cup.” Turnbull described Holymanz as an ‘old marvel’ who came off a freshen up to finish third in the MRC Foundation Cup at his last start. “We could have gone to the All-Star Mile (next Saturday), but we’ve decided on the softer option to get him to be winning again,” Turnbull said. “It’s not a race that’s out of his reach and if he can run up to his last run, he’ll be right up there again.” View the full article

Group Two performer Checkmate (NZ) (Mongolian Khan) will head to his home track of Matamata this weekend for a mile test before trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott look to step him up over more ground. The Okaharau Station-bred and raced gelding returned to form when third in the Gr.2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day before running fifth in the Gr.3 Aotearoa Classic (1600m), and his trainers were intending on testing him over 2000m in the Listed Kaimai Stakes at Matamata a fortnight ago, but those plans were curtailed by wet weather. His conditioners have opted to keep him to a mile on Saturday in the Colchester Engineering 1600, but they are still keen to test him over 2000m at his next start if he performs up to expectations this weekend. “We were going to run him over 2000m in the Kaimai Stakes, but when the track came up like it did we thought it wasn’t going to give the horse a fair crack,” O’Sullivan said. “We tried him over 2000m once before in the Rosehill Guineas (Gr.1, 2000m), but it was at the end of his prep and we didn’t really get a line. We will probably look to step him up to 2000m after this race, but let’s see what he does.” O’Sullivan has been pleased with Checkmate’s work in the lead-up to Saturday and he is expecting a bold showing from his gelding. “He should be very competitive, we will be disappointed if he is not hard to beat,” O’Sullivan said. “He is going to get a nice track, he has worked well, he looks good and he should run well. “He was a bit unlucky last time, the jockey (Damian Lane) felt like he was going to run a lot closer than what he did if he hadn’t had copped a bit of a buffeting or been held up just after straightening. “The horse is going well and in 12 months’ time he is going to be a real racehorse.” Wexford Stables are set to be represented by nine other runners on their home track on Saturday, including Tristar (NZ) (Exceedance) and Hankee Alpha (NZ) (Proisir) in the Ancroft Developments 1200. Four-win mare Tristar heads into the race off the back of three consecutive placings, while Hankee Alpha has placed in two of her three starts this preparation, and O’Sullivan is expecting both mares to feature on Saturday. “Both are going well and both will be very competitive,” he said. View the full article

A pair of jockeys made significant moves up the championship table, a premiership-winning trainer continued his red-hot start to the year and Ka Ying Rising smashed more records in February. The SCMP analyses the jockeys and trainers who had a month to remember or one to forget, as well as the most outstanding victory and winning ride. Who’s hot? It was a rare month when Zac Purton didn’t return the biggest winning haul, with Jerry Chau Chun-lok and Andrea Atzeni sharing that honour with nine...View the full article

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday voted down a pair of dates allocation requests for spring and summer meets at Red Bluff (Tehama District Fair) and Ferndale (Humboldt County Fair), meaning that no Thoroughbred racing is likely to occur in 2026 on the state's once-vibrant Northern circuit that has been dark since December of 2024. “As much as I'd like to see them do well, they have no chance of success,” the CHRB's chairman, Gregory Ferraro, DVM, said prior to the first of two separate votes that each went down in defeat by 4-2 margins. “There's just no market for 'em up there,” Ferraro said. “So you're going to end up destroying all of racing in California to bet on a no-chance situation in the North. “There will come a time when the North will be ready for racing. But it's not right now,” Ferraro said. Considering that the CHRB has repeatedly rebuffed attempts to revive the circuit over the past two years (meets at Ferndale, Fresno and Pleasanton were nixed in early 2025), proponents of NorCal are likely left wondering if Ferraro's “now” might be morphing into “never.” As recently as two summers ago, NorCal boasted a year-round rotation of racing anchored by one commercial track, Golden Gate Fields, and five fairs venues. That quantity of lower-class racing opportunities in the North dovetailed well with the better-quality race meets in Southern California at Santa Anita Park and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (with shorter meets at Los Alamitos Race Course filling in seasonal SoCal gaps). But an existential North-vs.-South rift was blown wide open in 2023 when The Stronach Group (TSG) announced plans to shutter Golden Gate, then the last-surviving commercial track in NorCal. TSG also owns Santa Anita, and together with Del Mar, the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), and the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), those entities have since lobbied hard for centralizing all of the state's racing and simulcast revenues on a single circuit in the South. Together, those pro-SoCal groups have asserted that the South's racing would be “cannibalized” by what they have characterized as unrealistic, not-well-organized, and tenuously financed attempts to make a go of race meets in the North while the entire state is dealing with a rapidly thinning Thoroughbred population and no source of purse revenues other than pari-mutuel betting. NorCal interests, on the other hand, have consistently argued that they have both the horses and the financial backing to pull off successful small meets, and breeders, owners and trainers based in that region remain firm in their belief that it's a mistake to concentrate the entirety of the state's racing in one urban area in the South. The North's proponents have also articulated complaints that the TOC and CTT aren't representing their interests, and that the CHRB isn't extending support to smaller-scale racing outfits that haven't been able to compete at Santa Anita or Del Mar. They also claim that if NorCal slides off the grid, so too will the state's alarmingly diminishing foal crop, because the North is where the bulk of the breeding farms are. The CHRB, meanwhile, is caught in the middle, and its board members seem collectively mindful that they made a mistake by greenlighting a risky venture by an entity called Golden State Racing that failed to conduct a financially viable extended NorCal meet at Pleasanton in the autumn of 2024. In fact, in April 2025, Ferraro described that Golden State Racing decision by the CHRB as “unwise at best or disastrous at worst.” In direct opposition to Ferraro, the CHRB's vice-chair, Oscar Gonzales, has been a staunch, outspoken supporter of keeping racing alive in the North over the course of the last several years, and he has consistently advocated for and backed every proposal aimed at propping up the North since TSG pulled the plug on Golden Gate, which last had racing in June 2024. Prior to the votes on Thursday, Gonzales zeroed in on California's “foal crop that is nosediving,” which he pegged at “right around 800” and said is “just going to keep going down” if the CHRB didn't do something to revive racing in NorCal. “The breeding that goes on in California is primarily in the North,” Gonzales said. “And what I have heard loud and clear from the breeders is that they're literally getting out because there is nowhere for them to kind of spread their investment across the table. “So I find it very interesting that trainers would be very much in favor [of a single circuit in the South], especially when we just don't know what the future is for Santa Anita or TSG,” Gonzales said. “We see what [TSG has] done in Maryland [where TSG is exiting the Thoroughbred industry by turning over control of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park to the state]. We see what they're doing in Florida [where TSG is pushing for legislatively “decoupling” live racing at Gulfstream Park from its casino there]. But we're willing to put all of our chips [in the South] rather than spreading them out?” Gonzales asked rhetorically. Instead, Gonzales suggested, the CHRB should be “keeping some presence in the North, even if it's just [fairs meets in the] summer, [because that's all] the breeders want.” Gonzales continued: “We know the Cal-bred program is going down, and a big reason they're going down is because there's no place for them to train or race. I don't understand [and] I just don't really see a strategy here by completely eliminating Northern California racing. Because when you do that, you're eliminating breeding. And if you're eliminating breeding, guess what? You're eliminating the Cal-bred program eventually… “By having these little fairs, you're sending a message to the breeding community in Northern California [that] they matter, and that there's going to be a place for them to compete,” Gonzales said. “After today's meeting, if, in fact, we do not approve of these fairs, these breeders are going to be really sending their broodmares out [of state], and we will start to see a foal crop down in the 600 to 700 [range], which we might as well just throw in the towel at that point,” Gonzales said. Ferraro was quick to respond to that last point by Gonzales, interjecting that, “I hate to be argumentative, but the way to improve breeding for California-breds is to breed better horses, not breed horses for the fairs.” Thursday's meeting had been specially added to the CHRB's calendar after the board, at its January meeting, had tabled a proposal for 19 weeks of fairs racing at three different tracks (Pleasanton, AKA Alameda County Fair, which asked for dates last month, did not come back with a new proposal along with Red Bluff and Ferndale). Red Bluff proposed an Apr. 29 to May 26 meet. Ferndale wanted dates from Aug. 5 to Sept. 1. A CHRB staff analysis that was prepared for the Feb. 26 meeting indicated that there were several outstanding financial, bureaucratic and logistical questions about the proposed race meets that needed to be rectified under a tight timeline, particularly for Red Bluff, which has not hosted a CHRB-licensed meet in some four decades. A CHRB safety steward visited the bare-bones remains of Red Bluff's former half-mile oval Jan. 23 and noted that there were “a large number of updates/improvements that need to be made to the track before it can pass an inspection.” Ferndale last raced in the summer of 2024. “At least with Tehama, I think in no way, shape or form are they ready to start a race meet and be successful at it,” Ferraro said. Commissioner Dennis Alfieri said it was his opinion that the SoCal statewide consolidation plan is still in its formative stages, and thus shouldn't be tinkered with by diverting simulcast revenues and horses to the North. “We're finally doing so well in the South,” Alfieri said (with Gonzales openly scoffing at that statement). “But it's fragile, right? It can break like an egg. And so I am still not convinced that granting race dates [in the North] is appropriate or smart. My belief [is] it's not the time to experiment, [and] this is high-risk.” Commissioner Brenda Washington Davis said she saw both sides of the issue, and asked other board members to consider that giving the North some leeway with regard to racing might help get NorCal stakeholders on board to help lobby for new forms of gaming revenue that could be legalized to subsidize purses statewide. “I understand the impetus for consolidating and not dragging everybody down by compromising purse sizes and field sizes,” Washington Davis said. “[But] I think every time the Southern California circuit takes a position that they don't want the North racing, [that] puts us farther from that Northern element that could help with getting [purse subsidies legalized]. “And frankly, in my concern, it's fragile in the South because we don't have the subsidy. And I think the South would go down anyway at some point, the way things are heading,” Washington Davis said. “So it would just make more sense to me, instead of hounding on the fact that [race dates, horse population and simulcasting revenues are] a zero-sum game, to say, 'Let's give the North something,' and put that pressure on ourselves to work harder and get [gaming legalization] that you all know we're going to have to have to keep racing healthy in California.” Voting “no” for both versions of the NorCal meets (and the simulcast privileges that would have gone with the dates) were Ferraro, plus commissioners Alfieri, Damascus Castellanos and Peter Stern. Voting “yes” to advance the NorCal meets were Gonzales and Washington Davis. Commissioner Thomas Hudnut was not at the meeting. The post CHRB Again Votes down Attempts to Revive NorCal Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. 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Kingsclere Stables have an exciting week ahead of them, with promising mare She’s A Dealer shooting for black-type at Trentham on Sunday, while six days later the Cambridge barn will hold a strong hand in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m). Trainer Roger James had five New Zealand Derby wins to his name before Robert Wellwood joined him in partnership eight years ago, and a win in the race was high on his list. Wellwood achieved that goal two years ago with Orchestral, and the stable is favoured to repeat the feat with another filly in this year’s HKJC World Pool-sponsored Classic. Their exciting filly Autumn Glory currently heads the market following her runner-up performance in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) last Saturday behind Ohope Wins, with Yulong Investments electing to bypass the Derby in favour of Australian targets with the victor. The burgeoning thoroughbred giant has decided to remain in New Zealand with their other recent purchase, Autumn Glory, with the daughter of Ocean Park seeking to add an elite-level crown to her Group Two heroics in the Waikato Guineas (2000m) two starts back. Wellwood has been pleased with the way she has come through her Oaks run and said she ticks a lot of boxes heading into next week’s Derby. “We have now seen two things,” he said. “In the Waikato Guineas she beat the boys and secondly in the Oaks she showed she can definitely see a mile-and-a-half out. “She has ticked a few boxes that probably most haven’t in the race, and she has come through the Oaks in superb order.” Stablemate Road To Paris has also impressed, having finished runner-up in his last two outings, including in the Gr.2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) last weekend, and TAB bookmakers have installed him a $4.20 equal second favourite for the Derby alongside Avondale Guineas winner That’s Gold. While he has shown plenty of talent on the track, Wellwood said the son of Circus Maximus still has plenty to learn. “Road To Paris ran second in the Avondale Guineas doing things completely wrong,” he said. “He is a very high-class horse, we have always thought a lot of the horse, but he has really got to learn to do things the right way around to be winning it.” Ariadne will round out the stable’s Derby representation, with her handlers electing to back her up in the Derby following her pleasing fourth placed result in the Oaks. “She is a horse we now know goes the mile-and-a-half,” Wellwood said. “She had a bit of interference at the top of the straight in the Oaks, had she not had that perhaps she would have run a place. I would love to see an uninterrupted run for her. She certainly wouldn’t be out of it.” The stable is also looking forward to contesting the Gr.3 Haunui Farm King’s Plate (1200m) with Sweynesday. The five-year-old gelding has been a model of consistency, winning five and placing in four of his nine starts to date, including running third in last month’s Gr.1 Railway (1200m), his first tilt at stakes level. “Masa (Hashizume, jockey) rode him in a bit of work (on Thursday morning) and it was probably as good as I have seen him work,” Wellwood said. “He is in terrific order and I am very happy with him.” While looking forward to Champions Day, the stable’s immediate attention is racing this weekend, with She’s A Dealer seeking to breakthrough for an elusive stakes win in the Gr.3 Rydges Wellington Cuddle Stakes (1600m) at Trentham on Sunday. The daughter of Ace High has finished fourth in the Gr.2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) and Gr.3 Aotearoa Classic (1600m) in her last two starts, and Wellwood is confident she will be able to attain black-type against her own sex this weekend. “We are really happy with her,” he said. “We were keen to see her go 2000m, but the Kaimai Stakes (Listed) was run on a very wet track, so we are back against mares only here. “A big mile at Wellington I think will suit and it would be great to see her get through to win her first black-type race.” View the full article

Gary and Mary West's Sticker Shock (Uncle Mo–Smokey's Love, by Forestry) made it two-for-two going a route of ground when winning at Oaklawn Thursday afternoon. Allowed to settle in a two-wide third as Copper Wind (Gun Runner) led the way through a :23.49 quarter, the 3-2 favorite, who was getting-first-time Lasix here, took closer order as the pacesetter kept up the tempo through a half-mile in :47.62. Starting to put the pressure on the leader as the round the far turn, the West homebred held a narrow advantage straightening for home, and despite the best intention of 5-2 chance Scot's Law (Tiz the Law) to her outside, the Brad Cox trainee held tough to score by a length. Spitfire (McKinzie) was third. The winner is a half to Love Tap (Aus) (Tapit), GSW-Aus, $414,859; and to Fighting Mad (New Year's Day), GISW, $472,008. Smokey Love most recently produced a colt by Tapit in 2025. Third as the favorite in her career debut going seven panels at Keeneland in October, Sticker Shock appreciated the added yardage when going wire-to-wire in an 8 1/2-furlong test at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29. 8th-Oaklawn, $125,000, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($150,000), 2-26, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.24, ft, 1 length. STICKER SHOCK (f, 3, Uncle Mo–Smokey's Love, by Forestry) Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-1, $154,613. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. O-Gary and Mary West; B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. The post Uncle Mo’s Sticker Shock Collects Second Straight with Oaklawn Score appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Autumn Glow bids to make history in the Verry Elleegant Stakes (G1) Feb. 28 at Randwick Racecourse. The Chris Waller-trained daughter of The Autumn Sun has won her first nine starts, and will emulate Black Caviar if she can win her 10th this weekend.View the full article

In 2011, I attended the meeting at Belmont Park that launched the creation of the TAA. I'll never forget how passionate Mike Repole was in that meeting as he paced back and forth leading the conversation that no one wanted to lead. One thing everyone agreed upon was that something needed to be done to fund and monitor aftercare. That was a huge accomplishment and pointed the industry in the right direction for both funding and accreditation. However, the goal was for both funding and infrastructure to grow over time, but that has not been the case. The Thoroughbred industry needs to move beyond viewing aftercare solely as a funding challenge and recognize it as a shared responsibility of everyone involved in breeding and racing Thoroughbreds–at every level. For years now, the industry has acknowledged an obligation to provide meaningful aftercare for retired racehorses. The creation of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance marked an important step forward, but it was never intended to be a complete solution. Since then, progress has not kept pace with intent, and the gap between commitment and follow-through has continued to widen. This is not a matter of indifference, as many within the industry care deeply. Rather, advancement has been limited by leadership that has not required collective action or structural improvement. Thankfully, awareness has grown, more owners seek aftercare, more organizations are accredited, and initiatives like the Thoroughbred Makeover, Take2 Thoroughbred Program, and Thoroughbred Incentive Program have expanded demand for Thoroughbreds in second careers. This is all good news, but aftercare capacity has not grown fast enough to meet the demand. The majority of aftercare organizations, including New Vocations, are overflowing and very few have the ability or support to grow. New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program began in 1992 when my mother, Dot Morgan, recognized a truth the industry could no longer afford to ignore: racehorses retiring from the racetrack were not disposable commodities, but capable, willing athletes in need of a responsible second chapter. At a time when formal aftercare infrastructure was nonexistent, she began taking in retired racehorses, rehabilitating them, retraining them, and placing them into homes as riding companions. More than three decades later, that grassroots effort has grown into the nation's largest racehorse aftercare organization. New Vocations has successfully rehomed more than 9,500 retired Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds nationwide. That scale matters–not as a point of pride alone, but when responsibility is treated as a core obligation, real solutions follow. With leadership comes accountability. As the largest aftercare organization in the country, New Vocations does not simply advocate for aftercare–we live it daily, accepting both the operational demands and the moral responsibility that accompany this role. Our work proves that meaningful aftercare is achievable and sustainable when it is prioritized. What remains missing is industry-wide leadership willing to take ownership of the problem, not just acknowledge it. On October 7, 2024, I, along with others from the aftercare space and industry stakeholders, was invited by Mike Repole to meet and discuss the issues the racing industry faces with their horses beyond the track. It was a great first step as no one has reached out to get feedback from such a variety of aftercare initiatives and truly research the current aftercare space. Shortly after that meeting I was able to review the report that Repole's team put together called “U.S. Aftercare Ecosystem Findings.” The phrase “aftercare ecosystem” describes this space perfectly. The services that New Vocations provides represents just one of the many aftercare initiatives that are currently in existence. To solve the overall aftercare issue, we must have a multi-prong approach. Aftercare is not one program or one solution–it is an ecosystem. At present, we have improved awareness and accreditation, but we have not built the underlying infrastructure required to meet rising demand and complexity of aftercare. The burden continues to fall disproportionately on non-profit aftercare organizations operating without the capital depth of the industry they support. If the industry is serious about its responsibility to Thoroughbreds beyond the track, it must invest not only more dollars, but in leadership and infrastructure to ensure no horse falls through the cracks. Good intentions are no longer enough. The horses do not need more conversations about aftercare–they need decisive leadership that turns responsibility into action. I feel we have come full circle to that meeting at Belmont in 2011 asking the same question. Who will lead the charge? New Vocations is ready to expand, collaborate and do more–but we are only a small piece of the solution. The post Letter to the Editor: Good Intentions are No Longer Enough appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The New York Racing Association announced Feb. 26 the stakes schedule for the 2026 summer meet at Saratoga Race Course, which will open July 3 and continue through Labor Day, Sept. 7. View the full article