Di Arbuthnot, chair of the IFAR Steering Group, said, “For the past two years, our conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am looking forward to being able meet again in person as we all work together to share success stories and best practices when it comes to equine welfare. The question of what happens to racehorses after they leave the track is a global one, and the importance of IFAR only continues to grow.”

For more information and how to register, please visit the ARC website.

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Farrington, who presented an overview of the transitioning of racehorses off the track in Hong Kong, said, “The transition here of the retiring racehorses starts well before the date of their actual retirement. All the racing stables and the associated professionals, including vets and farriers, operate under the auspices of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, and that allows us to have close oversight and centralized medical records of the health and welfare of all horses in training. Ultimately the aim is to identify horses with subtle performance-limiting issues before they become irreversible changes at the time of retirement.”

The session also featured a young professionals' panel moderated by Searcy and composed of Godolphin Flying Start trainees George Broughton and Elinor Wolf; Caoimhe Doherty, co-founder of Treo Eile and stud manager at Forenaghts Stud; Natasha Rose, Equestrian Affairs project manager and Retired Racehorse Unit manager for The Hong Kong Jockey Club; and Tom Ward, trainer. For recordings of both virtual sessions, please visit IFAR's website.

Eliot Forbes, member of the IFAR Steering Committee and chief executive officer of Racelab, said, “The decisions that we make today will shape the industry of tomorrow; the industry that this generation of young professionals will inherit. They know the world has changed, and that a sustainable industry will be one that is responsive, transparent, and compassionate.”

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“Our first webinar attracted viewers from nearly 20 countries and resulted in engaging discussions with our speakers about global aftercare issues,” said Di Arbuthnot, chair of IFAR. “With the diversity of speakers and panelists that we have assembled for next week, I am looking forward to continuing the dialogue around effective Thoroughbred aftercare programs, which, as mentioned in our first session, are critical for the sustainability of our industry.”

To view the Apr. 5 session of the IFAR conference, please click here. To find out more about the conference, including speakers, moderators, presentation topics, bios or to register for the free Apr. 19 session, please go to the IFAR website.

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The lineup of speakers features experts addressing key topics including equine traceability, equine therapy, and veterinary science. A key highlight will include a Young Professionals Panel, where Australian racing presenter Caroline Searcy will explore the attitudes and views of emerging industry leaders regarding current and future aftercare strategies. The speakers are as follows:

The Apr. 5 IFAR session will be moderated by Rishi Persad (UK)

Speakers:

• Annamarie Phelps (UK) (Keynote): Chair, British Horseracing Authority
• Di Arbuthnot: Chair, IFAR
• Jeff Berk (US): Equine Medical Associates PSC; Past President, American Association of Equine Practitioners
• Meredith Flash (Aus): Lead Researcher, Australian Thoroughbred Wellbeing Project
• Jock Hutchison (UK): President and Co-Founder, Horseback UK
• Angela Schuster (Aus): Managing Director, Schuster Consulting Group

The Apr. 19 IFAR session will be moderated by Caroline Searcy.

Speakers:

• Michael Drapac (Aus): Owner/Breeder
• Adrian Farrington (HK): Executive Manager, Veterinary Clinical Services, Hong Kong Jockey Club
• Kirsten Green (US): Executive Director, Retired Racehorse Project
• Jennifer Hughes (Aus): General Manager, Equine Welfare, Racing Victoria

Young Professionals Panel

• George Broughton (UK): Trainee, Godolphin Flying Start
• Harry Derham (UK): Assistant Trainer
• Caoimhe Doherty (Ire): Co-founder, Treo Eile; Stud Manager, Forenaghts Stud
• Natasha Rose (HK): Equestrian Affairs Project Manager / Retired Racehorse Unit Manager, Hong Kong Jockey Club
• Elinor Wolf (US): Trainee, Godolphin Flying Start

“We are delighted with the group of speakers we have compiled for this year's IFAR conference,” said Di Arbuthnot, Chair of IFAR. “Between the formal presentations and allocated time for Q&A with our audience, the two sessions are sure to spark engaging conversations about Thoroughbred aftercare.”

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The conference theme is “Many paths – One goal”, and topics to be covered are expected to include traceability, transitioning horses off the racetrack and assessing suitability for other careers, the use of Thoroughbreds in unique careers, responsibility in making end-of-life decisions, and the next generation's perspective on aftercare.

“After the positive feedback from last year's virtual IFAR, our team is excited to host another virtual series that will be easily accessible to anyone who works with or benefits from the Thoroughbred,” said Di Arbuthnot, chair of IFAR. “The theme we have chosen for this year's forum highlights the wide diversity of paths after racing, all with the consistent goal that the welfare of the horse is paramount. The topics assembled will be of interest to all stakeholders in the Thoroughbred industry, and we are assembling an expert group of speakers to discuss these issues.”

Recordings of the events, which are being staged in conjunction with the Japan Racing Association, will be made available on the IFAR website.

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The final panel, “Aftercare for Racing Industry Participants: Owners, Breeders, and Trainers,” was moderated by media personality and aftercare advocate Francesca Cumani, who expertly led the discussion and provided rich insights based on her many years of training and handling horses.

Presenters were Dr. Mark Fisher, Kotare Bioethics Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand; Dr. Eliot Forbes, member, IFAR Steering Committee; Tom Reilly, chief executive officer, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia and Aushorse; and Dr. Christopher Riggs, director, Equine Welfare Research Foundation, and chief advisor, Veterinary Science, The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Reilly talked about horse racing's respected status in Australia but that the industry is still subject to intense criticism, as evidenced by the fallout of a 2019 investigative journalism piece that showed former racehorses being treated inhumanely at an abattoir. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Welfare Working Group was established with the support of industry stakeholders following that video, and the group will soon be releasing recommendations for the industry.

Reilly warned that while “Racing is well-accepted in society, there is a small subset in parliament that is opposed to it. The animal welfare lobby has proved to be incredibly effective.”

Fisher discussed the complexity of the animal welfare debate and that different people view an animal's lived experience differently. He highlighted that perhaps the most important parts of animal welfare are enabling animals to be in their natural environment and ensuring that they are treated with dignity and respect.

Fisher cited that two ways of losing the animal welfare argument with the public are to be reactive rather than proactive and to shy away from building coalitions that include consumers and the public. Keys to public support are being transparent about welfare practices.

“Get your house in order and show it,” he said. “What sort of life do your animals have? How do we know? Can we trust you?”

Riggs' presentation focused on the “one last race syndrome” – to squeeze one more race into a horse before retirement – and the risks associated with that mentality. He also warned of the impact of legal therapeutic medications because they can create a false sense of security as to the state of a horse's joints and should be used judiciously. Riggs called for horsemen to consider all of these factors when contemplating that “one last start.”

Forbes spoke on the aftercare toolkit developed by IFAR, including supply- and demand-based strategies for promoting Thoroughbreds beyond the racetrack. He stressed that aftercare should be a priority for all stakeholders, and a comprehensive aftercare plan includes transition strategies, effective traceability measures, community engagement, advocacy of the Thoroughbred breed, and networking.

“We want to see aftercare structurally embedded in the racing business model of every country and in the heart of every racing participant,” said Forbes. “A caring industry will be a sustainable industry.”

Di Arbuthnot, chair of IFAR, closed the conference.

“We are delighted by the global reception to this year's IFAR Conference,” said Arbuthnot. “All of our speakers and moderators offered valuable insights to share with our audience, and we are thankful for their participation and commitment to aftercare.

“The wide range of viewers who tuned into each of IFAR's sessions indicates the interest from the Thoroughbred industry in prioritizing aftercare on a global scale, and the IFAR team is here to assist jurisdictions who wish to develop or enhance their programs.”

Recordings of all four sessions of the 2021 IFAR Conference can be viewed at internationalracehorseaftercare.com/help-resources/conference-resources/ifar-conference-2021/.

IFAR has previously been held in conjunction with the Asian Racing Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, in February 2020; the European & Mediterranean Horseracing Federation's General Assembly in Oslo, Norway, in May 2019; the Asian Racing Conference in Seoul, South Korea, in May 2018; and the Pan American Conference in Washington, D.C., in May 2017.

IFAR is an independent forum that recognizes geographical and industry differences among racing countries and is designed to enhance Thoroughbred aftercare worldwide. Working with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, IFAR will raise awareness of the importance of welfare for Thoroughbreds, improve education on lifetime care, and help increase demand for former racehorses in other equestrian sports. For more information on IFAR, click here.

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Aidan Butler, chief operating officer for 1/ST Racing and owner of four off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs) himself, said that inventory control will be a critical part of The Stronach Group's aftercare strategy going forward. Now that horses are microchipped, Butler said it will be easier for track ownership to verify identities when they enter and exit track premises. Previously, not only was it difficult to verify horses' identities, but whatever gate records existed were on paper, and Butler said there was often a delay in that information being transmitted to officials. The Stronach Group is working on a software program called Racehorse 360, now in beta testing, which will give the racing office direct access to data taken at the gate, as well as allow the office to see which stall a particular horse is kept in and provide alerts when a horse leaves the property.

Butler also said that funding mechanisms are critical to the success of aftercare, pointing out that Stronach Group tracks host fundraiser days, work with horsemen to match per-start contributions to aftercare funds, provide mutuel machines that give horseplayers the option of a donation to aftercare, and also keep on-track aftercare liaisons to help trainers place horses that are ready for retirement.

The Stronach Group has also struck partnerships with nearby equine hospitals to help provide surgery or other salvage medical procedures in cases where an owner or trainer can't afford it. The goal in those cases is to help a horse suffering a major injury in racing or training become sound and able to do some kind of second career, even when returning to the track isn't going to be an option.

“There is no need and no point anymore in people not taking all of the offers we have and all of the abilities for aftercare,” said Butler.

Of course, improved traceability for horses would make all of these efforts easier, and the need for better traceability is something racing officials in other countries have also struggled with. Through the years, many American equestrians have pointed to the European equine passport system as a potential solution to better identify horses and inform subsequent owners about the horse's health and history. The passport is meant to contain information about a horse's registration status, identifying markings, vaccination history, catalogue for public sale, and race history. Simon Cooper, director of the Weatherbys General Stud Book, says however that the passport system has not done much to improve Thoroughbred traceability.

“The biggest problem I have is paper,” said Cooper. “Paper disappears. Paper is not on a database. For 250 years, we've been tracing our horses using paper.”

Cooper is often asked about the whereabouts of a particular Thoroughbred; while he can sometimes pull up their information in a few minutes, there are other times when he finds a horse has fallen off the regulatory map. He pointed out one case of a horse whose papers were turned in to his office by a slaughterhouse in another country. Three different sections of the passport were clearly faked, missing embossing, holograms, watermarks, and more. Additionally, the marking information didn't match the horse who'd arrived with the passport, making Cooper question which horse had actually been sent to slaughter, and where the horse was whose identity matched the paper passport.

There is now a push to digitize paper passports to provide regulatory and sport authorities with real time data on horse movement and health information. Cooper points out however that there will still be certain types of information that isn't necessarily recorded digitally under current guidelines. A horse's private sale, transition to a new career, a spell or rest, or time with a pinhooker/breaking farm are all likely to happen without a check-in from a regulatory authority that would appear on a digital passport. Filling in those gaps is crucial to keep a horse from falling off the radar.

Cooper said that the new digital passport will also include GPS location for a smart card to be kept with a horse's identification papers, but the stud book can only require that for Thoroughbreds in active careers as breeding horses.

To harness the power of digital passports for Thoroughbred aftercare, Cooper said racing authorities will need to issue new requirements for owners, mandating notification through the digital passport smartphone app of a horse's retirement, vaccination, movement, ownership changes, and death.

Catch the full replay of the IFAR session below.

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The webinar, “Global Insights on Aftercare (Aftercare Providers, Equine Charities),” was moderated by Donna Brothers, who is part of the horse racing coverage team for NBC Sports in the United States. The list of speakers consisted of Stacie Clark, operations consultant, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (U.S.); Lisa Coffey, founder and director, Racing Hearts (AUS); John Osborne, director of Equine Welfare and Bloodstock, Horse Racing Ireland; Dr. Ignacio Pavlovsky, veterinarian, owner, and breeder (ARG); and Kristin Werner, senior counsel, The Jockey Club, and administrator, Thoroughbred Incentive Program (U.S.).

Clark and Werner described the path from the racetrack to placement into accredited aftercare programs. They emphasized the importance of these organizations' promoting themselves and communicating to the Thoroughbred industry that they exist so that horse owners are aware of the retirement options for their former racehorses.

“The biggest disconnect that we have is that people don't know what's out there,” Clark said.

According to Werner, “Part of any aftercare program should be the permanent retirement of the horse's racing eligibility. This is accomplished through The Jockey Club's Transferred as Retired from Racing process. This ensures a horse will no longer be eligible to race, while maintaining eligibility for breeding and second careers.”

Coffey's Racing Hearts retrains off-the-track Thoroughbreds for use in equine-assisted therapy and other careers. It is the first charity of its kind in Australia and currently has a waiting list of about 50 clients. Coffey stated that Thoroughbreds are especially suited to therapy due to their willingness to please.

“Horses and other animals offer a genuinely non-judgmental relationship. They have no other agenda other than actually wanting to be with us,” she said.

Osborne indicated that aftercare has become a priority for the Irish Thoroughbred industry relatively recently, as perspectives have shifted from viewing horses as commodities to viewing them as individual, sentient beings. Last year, Treo Eile was founded in Ireland to assist racehorse trainers and owners who wish to rehome and retrain horses once their racetrack careers are complete.

“Ultimately, our catchphrase is that ownership comes with the responsibility to the animal, not just on the glory days but in the dog days, too, where things are not so promising, where the dreams are behind those horses, but the responsibility still remains to look after that horse properly and do what's best for that horse at all times,” Osborne said.

In Argentina, Pavlovsky indicated that Thoroughbreds are in high demand due to their versatility to be retrained in disciplines such as polo, jumping, and pulling carriages. Compared to other jurisdictions, it is much easier to place racehorses in homes following their retirement from racing.

“Today, the welfare of horses is something that we have to be extremely dedicated to and think about,” Pavlovsky said. “Horses are more than our business. They are our way of living.”

The 2021 IFAR Conference concludes 27 April with a final panel, “Aftercare for Racing Industry Participants: Owners, Breeders, and Trainers.” It will begin at 12 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. in the U.K.) and be moderated by Francesca Cumani, horse racing presenter in the U.K. and Australia. Speaking will be Mark Fisher, Kotare Bioethics Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand; Dr. Eliot Forbes, chief executive officer, AniMark Ltd. (AUS), and member, IFAR Steering Committee; Tom Reilly, chief executive officer, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia and Aushorse; and Dr. Christopher Riggs, director, Equine Welfare Research Foundation, and chief advisor, Veterinary Science, The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The full schedule of webinars, including speakers, moderators, presentation topics, bios, and the link to register can be found here. All sessions are free, but registration is required. Those who attend each session live will be able to ask questions to presenters. A recording of the first three sessions is available here.

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Irish trainer Jessica Harrington, American trainers Graham and Anita Motion, Aga Khan Stud racing manager Nemone Routh and former British eventing team coach Yogi Breisner gathered to offer their thoughts on the state of aftercare and its interaction with other equestrian sports.

A few key takeaways:

• Breisner, who has worked with many former racehorses, believes a language shift is in order when discussing off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs). Often, the process of transitioning a horse from the track to another discipline is framed as “retraining,” but Breisner points out that conveys an implication that the horse's earlier training was somehow wrong.”Actually most racehorses I've taken don't need much true retraining,” he said. “They've already learned a lot.”
• Routh said that aftercare in France, where the Aga Khan Stud is based, now receives financial support from France Galop, racing's regulatory body there. Previously it had been dependent on charitable donations, but Routh said after a certain point that was no longer sustainable. France Galop now encourages people to share their stories of their OTTBs as part of its tactic to market racing.
• Also in France, racing connections are expected to pay for a horse's castration and transport to an accredited rehoming center. That can be a tough pill to swallow, especially for owners who are also discovering the horse that once had value as a racing animal may be retiring with very little market value. Routh suggests owners who set aside as modest a sum as two weeks' training fees could be enough to make sure the owner doesn't feel surprised by those retirement costs later.
• Harrington believes education is key for new owners, especially those who join in as part of a large syndicate where they are able to approach racehorse ownership with no equine background or racing experience. Many don't even know a horse can live another 20 to 25 years after its racing retirement, let alone that they will need to find a new vocation for that time. “I think people don't think about it,” she said. “I think it's ignorance rather than willfully saying, 'I'm not going to look after my horse.”
• Motion believes part of the key to making aftercare sustainable — particularly in the United States, where it's still so reliant on charitable giving — is to think twice about whether a horse needs to go to a retirement organization, where they will be on the organization's books for many years. Motion believes that many horses are suitable for some kind of active job where they might be useful as privately-owned animals, and that retirement sanctuaries are often asked to shoulder the burden of horses who could find vocations elsewhere.
• Breisner said there could be more exchange between the racing and sport horse world as far as the education of riders. As stable help has become more difficult to find in Britain, Breisner said he sometimes has racing staff who ask to spend time training with him to improve their overall horsemanship, which benefits the racehorses they'll work with on and off the track. Likewise, he suggested that the many international racing schools that train jockeys and exercise riders could also include education on the basics of transitioning OTTBs off track. Riders who have the skills to be versatile will benefit the horses they work with.

The next IFAR virtual session will focus on aftercare for racing administrators and regulators and will take place April 13 at 8 a.m. Eastern. Registration is free and is available here.

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“With nearly 300 registrants already, we are excited by the enthusiasm demonstrated by the Thoroughbred industry for what will truly be a global event,” said Di Arbuthnot, chair of IFAR. “Between educating on aftercare best practices, offering case studies on aftercare programs in various jurisdictions, and showcasing the versatility of racehorses in second careers, the four sessions that compose the 2021 IFAR will be 'must-see' viewing for all who are impacted by the Thoroughbred.”

The opening session, entitled “Aftercare-Racing's Responsibility,” will provide an update on IFAR's activities from Arbuthnot and feature perspectives from Yogi Breisner MBE, equestrian coach (U.K.); Irish trainer Jessica Harrington; Graham and Anita Motion, the owners of Herringswell Stable; and Nemone Routh, racing office manager for the Aga Khan Studs. The discussion will be moderated by international racing broadcaster Nick Luck.

The schedule of upcoming webinars, including speakers, moderators, topics, biographical information and the link to register may be found here. All sessions are free of charge, but do require registration.

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