Tag: Horse Care

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation announced Thursday that seven restaurants will be participating in its Dine out for Charity fundraiser, which will last from October 26 through November 29, 2022.

For the duration of the event, participating restaurants will donate a percentage of all sales or a percentage of sales from specialty menu items to the foundation. Lexington, Kentucky, restaurants that have committed to the charitable promotion are Azur, Bru Burger, Dudley's, J. Render's, and Lexington Diner. Lil's Coffee House and Trackside at the Depot in Paris, Kentucky, will also participate.

“With the equine community being so important to Central Kentucky, we are very excited to participate in this Dine out for Charity event,” said Chef Jeremy Ashby, part owner of Azur and Lexington Diner. “We are thrilled to welcome all of the visitors this fall to celebrate the horse in the championship shows and races while also providing a warm place to those attending the auctions in November.”

“Horses of all breeds and disciplines are an integral part of Kentucky's culture and economy, and we are thankful for the support of many of Central Kentucky's best restaurants in facilitating equine health,” said Dell Hancock, chairman of Grayson. “We believe that this initiative is a great opportunity to engage the local community while educating its members on the importance of equine veterinary research.”

Those who are interested in dining out to support Grayson should contact individual restaurants directly for details on how they are contributing to Dine out for Charity.

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation is traditionally the nation's leading source of private funding for equine medical research that benefits all breeds of horses. Since 1983, the foundation has provided more than $32.1 million to fund 412 projects at 45 universities in North America and overseas. Additional information about the foundation is available at grayson-jockeyclub.org.

The post Grayson-Jockey Club’s ‘Dine Out For Charity’ Fundraiser Begins Oct. 26 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Facility in Georgetown, Ky., has welcomed a new retiree, Get Western.

The winner of the final running of the Old Friends Stakes, the son of Get Stormy out of Marquetessa—a daughter of Old Friends retiree Marquetry—broke his maiden as a 3-year-old at Churchill Downs for trainer Charles LoPresti and owner Ward C. Pitfield.

The following year the dark bay gelding captured his one and only black type start, the $150,000 Old Friends Stakes, which was run over the turf oval at Kentucky Downs until 2019.

The “Win for Life” contest guaranteed him placement at Old Friends upon retiring from racing.

Eventually transferred to J. Reeve McGaughey's barn, Get Western's last race was at Turfway Park in February of 2022.

He was transferred to the Secretariat Center, located at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY., for retraining and rehoming but soundness issues prevented his embarking on a second career.

He finished his racing career with four wins from 21 starts and career earnings of $289,641.

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October in Kentucky means 'Keeneland' for many lovers of Thoroughbreds, but increasingly, it's also the season for Thoroughbreds jumping, prancing, and working cattle at the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover.

People who love riding OTTBs have followed the Makeover for years, but its popularity is growing among racing stakeholders, too.

This year, the RRP staff premiered an orientation table called Connections Corner, aimed at helping a horse's racetrack connections figure out where and how to see them strut their stuff in their new career.

The Thoroughbred Makeover is held at the Kentucky Horse Park, which is a sprawling, 1,200-acre facility with an overwhelming number of barns, arenas, and fields. The Makeover features horses competing in ten different types of equine sport all over the campus, so for someone who hasn't participated, it can be hard to figure out where to go or what you're looking at.

As of Wednesday afternoon, RRP Development Director Erin O'Keefe said there was a mix of people approaching the table, which is sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

“So far we haven't had a ton of race connections at this point yet who hadn't been out here yet,” said O'Keefe. “We've had race connections who'd been here before who are coming and checking in who are familiar with the event but still needed help with where and when.

“We've had a lot of racing fans who have come. Whitmore and Finnick the Fierce are the two we've looked up the most for people who want to know when they're riding and where they're stabled, which is conveniently right across from each other.”

Preliminary competition takes place Oct. 12 and 13, and O'Keefe had a lengthy list of racing connections planning to come on Thursday to catch their favorite OTTB. Then there are those who RRP staff have already corresponded with and given orientation information to who will be finding their way around without the help of the Connections Corner.

O'Keefe said one major commercial breeding farm had sent a professional photographer to capture some of its graduates in their new jobs for use on social media. Other connections who were interested but unable to attend have RRP staff shooting images and contacting them with scores and placings for their horse.

“In my opinion, to come out and see the size and scope of this event and the vast array of things these horses can do that first year off the track is just impressive,” said O'Keefe. “I think aftercare can be a really abstract concept to some people in racing. You have people who responsibly retire their horses, they may place them with an aftercare organization, they may resell them, responsibly and lovingly. They know the horse gets retrained for something, but they don't necessarily know what that looks like. It gives a whole other dimension and makes aftercare from this thing we check a box for to this whole other phase of a horse's life.”

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Equine asthma, previously called heaves, is also known as recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). This is a chronic inflammatory lung disease in horses that are sensitive to organic particles in dust, including  molds and pollen often found around the farm.

Similar to asthma in humans, heaves can run the gamut from just a cough to being severe enough that a horse must work hard just to breathe, even at rest. Once a horse develops RAO, he is more susceptible to flare ups. The disease is treatable, but not curable.

Equine asthma can end the competition careers of some horses and make even pleasure mounts unrideable if the condition becomes bad enough. In the past, horse owners administered corticosteroids to a horse having an acute asthmatic episode to treat the condition. The condition is irreversible, and if not addressed, will become progressively worse.

Though management changes are the best way to ensure a horse breathes as easily as he can, new research shows that stem cells may also be a possible treatment for the condition. 

Dr. Dorothee Bienzle, a researcher with the Ontario Veterinary College, is working with researchers in Slovenia to investigate whether administering stem cells into the lower airway using an endoscope might be a possible treatment for equine asthma. Endoscopes are commonly used in equine asthmatic patients to examine the lower airways.

Previously, stem cells have been administered intravenously, but it was unclear where the treatment would end up in the body. The ability to place them directly in the lower airway would increase their potential efficacy. Stem cells have no known side effects once administered.

Preliminary investigative work shows stem cell therapy outperforming traditional corticosteroids. Research is ongoing. 

Read more at HorseTalk. 

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