Messineo’s CARMA Gift Funds OTTB Riders, Supports Vital Safety Net

[Wandering Eyes]

Chanel Minnifield is not typically one for tempered expectations.

She moved to Los Angeles from Kentucky with actorly aspirations, and last year appeared in the Oscar-nominated movie, “Rustin.”

Minnifield started riding when she was a child and now, as a professional showjumper, has her sights set on competing at the 2028 Olympic Games. She has a book coming out; produces a podcast.

But when earlier this year Minnifield applied to the California Retirement Management Account's (CARMA) Messineo Makeover Scholarship, she hoped it would help pay for a trip to the annual Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover this October in Kentucky.

She didn't expect it to cover the entire round-trip. Nor that it would also allow her compatriot at Zen Heart Horsemanship–the non-profit she co-founded to help Black, Indigenous and kids of Color in underserved communities get involved with off-track Thoroughbreds–to join her.

The scholarship is a reality thanks to the largesse of horse-lover Nancy Messineo, a former racehorse owner who passed in June of 2023 after a long battle with cancer. Messineo bequeathed sizeable sums of money to CARMA and several other Thoroughbred aftercare charities.

Rather than loudly broadcast her intentions, however, Messineo kept her cards close to her chest–indeed, the recipients of her generosity only found out about these gifts after she had passed.

“Being in California, getting a horse to Kentucky is a really huge feat,” said Minnifield, pricing out the entire roundtrip at about $4,000 per horse.

“When we got the email that we received the scholarship, and that they were going to take care of the transportation, I literally hit the ground and was just screaming,” Minnifield said.

“Now we're able to take other monies that we'd set aside for horse transportation, that we'd fundraised, and really put it into the development of the horse. That's why I've been allowed to go to so many horse shows,” she added.

Minnifield and her Zen Horse teammate, Nathan Bonner, are two of six recipients of this year's scholarship, geared towards those in CARMA's placement program. KC Horse Transportation will assume vanning duties.

“It made perfect sense to us that if we could help, if Nancy could help, get six horses there to showcase and to compete and to proudly carry the banner, it just seemed like a no-brainer,” said Lucinda Lovitt, CARMA's executive director, about the evolving shape the scholarship, which originally was to have supported only one or two applicants.

Lucinda Lovitt | CARMA

“This is our first step in using her gift in helping placement program horses, which is what Nancy wanted–she wanted to support the placement program in transitioning racehorses from the track into their next career,” said Lovitt.

As to the rest of Messineo's gift to CARMA, Lovitt said that uncertainty currently surrounding the future of the California racing industry, under its new consolidated form, has made the board a little circumspect about how they use it.

“With out placement program, we have at any given time between 20 and 30 horses in the program that we're caring for,” said Lovitt.

“As racing continues to contract here, we view that program as a safety net for our horsemen. And if racing were to stop, our funding for that stops,” said Lovitt.

Currently, owner contributions to CARMA are matched by 1/ST Racing when Santa Anita is operating.

“Nancy's gift is going to be crucial in ensuring that we're going to be able to take care of these horses if we have no more funding for that program,” said Lovitt.

At the same time, Lovitt said, “we will continue to explore ways to create a legacy and honor her gift, but we just don't have any other firm plans right now. We're taking it slow.”

As to this year's scholarship, the funds will mean Minnifield will be able to take her ex-racer, La Peer, a five-year-old Girvin mare, to Lexington this October 8-11 for the Makeover.

“My girl's got sass, for sure,” said Minnifield about Le Peer, who raced under the Little Red Feather Racing banner for trainer Phil D'Amato.

“She's a quiet leader, I'll say that. She has so much heart–she's very transparent and very honest,” Minnifield added. “When she has questions she asks them, but she's a fast learner.”

The Los Angeles Olympics will come around too soon for La Peer, who Minnifield believes to have that kind of potential. She's surprised more of her equestrian peers don't see the top-level potential in Thoroughbreds.

“In the 80s and 90s, that's all the Olympians had–everybody rode the Thoroughbred. But I think over time, Thoroughbreds got a bad rap for being too hot. And I'm like, 'you all need to step up being a horsewoman. You all need to start riding better. That's a sports car if you've ever seen one,'” Minnifield said.

“My whole game,” she added, “is the Thoroughbred.”

The post Messineo’s CARMA Gift Funds OTTB Riders, Supports Vital Safety Net appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article