Giving Tuesday: New Vocations

[Wandering Eyes]

Each day leading up to Giving Tuesday, December 3, the TDN will offer space to charities providing service the people and animals in the racing industry. To submit your charity’s message, email suefinley@thetdn.com

NEW VOCATIONS RACEHORSE ADOPTION PROGRAM

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In a day and age where horse racing needs positive, feel-good stories to share, New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program has them in spades. And it’s thanks to generous donors like you that we’re able to continue transitioning horses retired from racing into new careers as sport or pleasure horses and creating horse and rider partnerships to last a lifetime.

We got our start in 1992, and our mission has always been to offer retiring racehorses a safe haven, rehabilitation and continued education through placement in experienced, caring homes. Some of the horses we serve are sound and healthy, but simply too slow to be competitive on the track. Many have sustained injuries that need time to heal, while others need some R&R from the occupational hazards that come with being a racehorse and to get reacquainted with just being a horse again. But they all share a common plight: without training beyond what they’ve learned for racing, a good future isn’t guaranteed.

However, the staff at New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program wholeheartedly believes in the talent and potential of these horses (ask how many of us have our own retired racehorses!). So, we endeavor to stand in the gap providing a transitional haven, skilled hands, loving care, and a future of hope and a brighter tomorrow.

We provide a safety net for these horses by matching them with qualified individuals and following up on their rehabilitation and vocational training to ensure a successful transition. Our focus is on adoption versus retirement, and we believe each horse deserves to have an individual home and purpose.

Today, we’ve placed more than 7,000 retired Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses from more than 40 different racetracks (including Hipodromo Camarero in Puerto Rico) in qualified homes throughout the country. We have six locations specializing in retraining and rehoming Thoroughbreds: our main base in Lexington, Kentucky; Medina and Xenia, Ohio; Hummelstown, Pennsylvania; Gansevoort, New York; and our newest facility in Covington, Louisiana.

You might recognize some of the horses we’ve had the privilege to serve when their owners and trainers decided to wrap up their racing careers. GI Wood Memorial, the GI Forego S., and the GII Churchill Downs S. contender Schivarelli came through our program earlier this year and found the perfect home with adopter Joy (“He is definitely the barn favorite,” she says. “I will never part with this kind, good, brave boy. He is going to be with us forever.”). We recently sent Goren, a $1.1- million purchase at Fasig-Tipton in 2017, to his new home with adopter Valerie, where he’s in training to become a foxhunter. And just a couple weeks ago, graded stakes winner Dalmore arrived at our Lexington facility to begin the next phase of his life.

But more commonly, we serve the horses you haven’t heard of. What they might have lacked in success on the track, they more than make up for in talent, heart, and “all the feels” for their new owners. This year, Frank’s Gift, a little gray gelding that didn’t even make it to the track and was returned to our program once before his current owner Victoria picked him out, was reserve champion in two divisions at the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover with his trainer Lauren. Cardinal Coach Mac moved all the way to Arizona with adopter Janet, who regularly shares his achievements, day-to-day happenings, and flashy mugshot on our social media channels (he’s become quite the celebrity!). And, before she’d even brought him home or had a chance to sit on him, adopter Kelly cried tears of joy after meeting her new partner Trend for the first time at our Lexington facility.

We couldn’t make matches like this, serve as many horses as we do, or share as many feel-good stories without support. We are exceptionally grateful for our current donors’ generosity, and we will always welcome, with open arms, contributions from new donors. You’re not just giving us money to care for horses. You’re investing in a retired racehorse’s future, giving them the skills and care they need to fill another heart with the excitement and joy they fill yours with as they thundered down the stretch during their racing days. And for that, we’re so very thankful.

 

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