Godolphin Charities Celebrates 10 Years

[Wandering Eyes]

On the racetrack, Godolphin is enjoying a record-breaking season after becoming the first ownership group in history to win the G1 1,000 Guineas, G1 2,000 Guineas, GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks all in the same year. Off the racetrack, the international operation founded by Sheikh Mohammed is celebrating a banner year in a different realm of the industry.

2025 marks 10 years since the launch of Godolphin's global charitable program, which was founded with the mission of growing awareness and passion for the Thoroughbred and having a positive, long-lasting impact on the industry and the communities local to Godolphin's facilities. Over time, initiatives like the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards and Godolphin Flying Start have had an international influence, but the organization has also amplified its impact by supporting a range of programs beyond its own.

Diana Cooper is the Strategic Advisor of Charities at Godolphin, overseeing the work that goes on globally. Her involvement with Godolphin dates back over 30 years. When the concept for this program was launched in 2015, she transitioned from the racing and bloodstock division of the operation over to the charitable sector.

“We had already created a fund for the wildfires in Australia in 2007 and likewise in Japan with the earthquakes,” explained Cooper. “So there has always been a lot of work happening, but not within a framework that meant we could build and see what was working, what wasn't, and where we could best fill those gaps.”

When the program first began, one of the first steps was to designate charitable managers for Godolphin's various facilities worldwide. Today, those roles are filled in six of Godolphin's locations with Katie LaMonica in the U.S., Penny Taylor in the UK, Louise Bernard in France, Ciara Devitt and Tom Gallagher in Ireland, Emma Ridley in Australia and Yasuko Sawai in Japan. These managers coordinate local charitable efforts and collaborate with each other to address international industry challenges.

The first issue the fledgling team decided to tackle in 2015 was aftercare.

That year, they hosted the Godolphin Forum for Thoroughbred Aftercare, inviting leading aftercare providers from around the world to gather in Kentucky and discuss the state of the industry. The following year, Godolphin helped launch the inaugural International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR) in Newmarket, bringing together many of the same organizations from Lexington along with broader industry leaders like The Jockey Club, Horse Racing Ireland, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and France Galop.

Panel at the 2025 IFAR Conference | IFAR/Brittlan Wall

The forum has expanded significantly since then. Every year, the international racing community gathers to discuss the importance of responsible aftercare. Last month, the ninth-annual IFAR conference was held in Lexington.

“I think our industry was pretty complacent for a long time because the Thoroughbred was always part of our lives,” noted Cooper. “We didn't quite grasp what the ramifications would be until probably a little bit too late. So that's why our first thing was to help set up IFAR. The more voices that talk about it, the happier the horses will be. Our dream is that everywhere there is a racing jurisdiction, there will be an aftercare body.”

Over the past 10 years, aftercare initiatives have launched and blossomed around the globe. With support from Godolphin, the Retired Racehorse Project in Kentucky became a national retraining event rather than a regional one in 2015. Godolphin also partnered in the founding of Au-Delà des Pistes, an effort that promotes and monitors racehorse in their second careers in France. A similar platform called Treo Eile began in Ireland in 2020. Godolphin helped launch Old Friends Japan the same year.

“I think one of the things we're most proud of is that now, aftercare isn't a conversation that goes like, 'Oh, we'll give you some money and now go away,'” said Cooper. “It's a joyous part of the industry now. There is a growing groundswell of support for the Thoroughbred and an acknowledgment of how much they can provide in their second life.”

As aftercare efforts have advanced, Godolphin has expanded its focus to include not only the horses, but also the people and the communities that make up the industry.

One of Godolphin's biggest success stories has been the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, which recognize and reward the diligence of farm and racing stable staff. The project first began when Godolphin became the principal sponsor of the Stud and Stable Staff Awards in Ireland in 2015. Since then, it has expanded to four other countries and seen over 10,000 nominations, 365 winners and, most impressively, over $6.7 million awarded in prize money.

This year, TIEA will celebrate its 10^th year in the U.S. In other countries where the awards program is held, TIEA is supported by the national governing body of the country, like the BHA or France Galop. Katie LaMonica, the charities manager for Godolphin America, said that the support of major organizations within the American industry has been essential to its success here.

“Since we have no governing body, when we brought the program here we really had to figure out how we were going to structure it,” she explained. “I went out to try to pull together what I believed were our governing bodies. We brought The Jockey Club, the HBPA, TOBA and the Breeders' Cup together. Some of those groups don't sit at the same table very often, but they have all been very passionate about this program. It renews your faith and love of this game every year when you are meeting and hearing everybody's story. I think it's the best thing we do.”

Winners of the 2024 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards in the U.S. | courtesy Godolphin

Industry challenges are often country-specific. In the U.S., LaMonica's focus is on education and recruitment.

Godolphin supports projects like Stable Recovery and the TRF Second Chances program, which both provide vocational training to help develop a workforce for the industry. Godolphin helped with the launch of Amplify Horse Racing, the national youth arm for education in the industry, in 2019 and LaMonica is still on their board of directors today. She has also served as the chair of the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) Foundation.

“Each year we are charged with looking not only within our communities–like what Lexington needs and what our broader Kentucky industry here needs–but we also have to look at the global health of the industry,” said LaMonica. “We can't solve all the problems and it's not our responsibility to solve all the problems. However, because we are the largest global racing organization, we need to do everything we can to improve the quality of life for the human and the horse.”

Man of Promise educates students on a school exchange between Newmarket, England and Monasterevin, Ireland | courtesy Godolphin

Godolphin-sponsored education initiatives are happening  worldwide, like children's programming that incorporates stud tours in Japan and Business in the Community initiatives in Ireland. In 2021, Godolphin supported the opening of the Newmarket Pony Academy, a five-day course for elementary-aged children that focuses on teaching equine care in a way that integrates English, math and science.

In 2019, Godolphin hosted the Godolphin Forum for Education, which–much like the first IFAR conference–brought industry leaders together to examine opportunities and challenges related to education and community engagement. The first forum led to the creation of Together for Racing International (TfRI), a global initiative that provides a platform to promote these important topics.

Like many of the programs Godolphin has helped established, TfRI is not operated exclusively by Godolphin. Instead, Godolphin focuses on providing the resources and support needed to get these projects off the ground and sustain them over time. The goal is to empower independent efforts that align with the broader mission of strengthening the global racing community.

“Philanthropist and wartime refuge Steve Shirley said, 'Philanthropy is not all about giving money. It's about energy, contacts and the experience of coming together. And when happens, so much more as achieved.' That has been the ethos of our program too,” explained Cooper. “We have a donations budget in each country for our local communities, but the sustainable aspect of our program for the industry is to create those networks, really grow the programs and enable others to come on board.”

Cooper and her team rarely pause to reflect on the milestones they have reached over the past decade. Instead, they are already planning for the next ten years, envisioning new ways to expand their impact and strengthen their initiatives on a global scale.

“These 10 years have been the most fulfilling thing,” Cooper said. “It's so cool to see our industry show what it is really capable of, how much more we have to offer. When you do look back on the last 10 years and see the body of work we have accomplished as a team, it is very special. I don't think we could have dreamed it.”

The post Godolphin Charities Celebrates 10 Years appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article