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Pensioned Mushka Comes Full Circle

New Vocations Thoroughbred Program Director Anna Ford will never forget the excitement she felt watching the 2009 GI Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic as 16-1 shot Mushka (Empire Maker) kept passing one horse afer another in the stretch to close for second. As a horse taking part in the first ever New Vocations Breeders' Cup Pledge program, Mushka's performance meant a $36,000 donation from owner Betty Moran. It was a lifeline for a growing charity dedicated to finding second homes for the sport's retirees.

“I'll never forget how excited we were,” Ford said. “I don't know if it hit us right away so far as how large a donation that was going to be. I'll never forget her because she meant so much to our program.”

Twelve years later, Mushka is once again linked to New Vocations.

After finishing her racing career, Mushka, now 16, wound up with SF Bloodstock as a broodmare. Over the years, she produced five foals and had two winners. But she had fertility problems as she got older and was barren in each of the last three years. It was time to find her a new home.

“As time has gone by it's become impossible for her to maintain a pregnancy,” said Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock. “Rather than continuing to force the issue with a 90% chance of the same outcome we felt it was time to let her retire.”

Ryan reached out to New Vocations asking about retirement options. New Vocations itself was not a perfect fit as its focus is on retraining retirees for second careers. At her age, Mushka was not a good candidate for that program. So Ford turned to New Vocations' partners at Mereworth Farm.

Mushka wins the Demoiselle as a 2yo in 2007 | Sarah Andrew

In 2015, New Vocations was given a free long-term lease of 85 acres on Mereworth Farm in Lexington by the Susan S. Donaldson Foundation. When Donaldson, who acquired the farm in 1986, passed away in 2011, Mereworth was home to 130 retired broodmares, all of which she owned. She left money for the farm to be run so that her retired broodmares could spend their lives roaming around the fields.

Soon thereafter, Mereworth opened its doors to outside horses and now cares for 170 retirees. The farm's mission is to provide lifelong care for unwanted horses that would otherwise be threatened with euthanasia because of injury or old age.

Mereworth is still guided by Donaldson's vision, that all retired race horses deserve a home and pampering.

“Mereworth the best kept secret in the horse business,” said Mereworth Farm Manager Jimmy Boyd. “Its like working in a nursing home. But at the same time if we have a 25-year-old mare who is colicking she's going to go to the hospital and get colic surgery. And she'll be well taken care of.”

With New Vocations and Mereworth having joined forces, the farm has the best of both worlds. New Vocations handles the horses that are good candidates for a second career and adoption. Mereworth takes in those who aren't able to go on to another career.

“It's been a great partnership, a dream partnership,” said Ford, who added that New Vocations normally sends about five or six horses a year to Mereworth.

“There are those horses who can't go on to a second career. Mereworth Farm does such a phenomenal job with the long-term lifetime care of these horses. That's something that we, unfortunately, are not able to provide on our own. That they can do this means the world.”

New Vocations was founded in 1992 and has grown into the sport's largest racehorse adoption program. To get there, it has had to be creative and proactive when it comes to raising money. In 2009, it came up with an initiative in which owners of Breeders' Cup horses were solicited to pledge a portion of the horse's earnings from the Breeders' Cup races to New Vocations. They had just five pledges that first year. Among them was Moran's promise to donate 10% of Mushka's earnings.

“I'll never forget the first year that we came up with the idea of doing the Breeders' Cup pledge in 2009,” Ford said. “It was an unknown and we didn't know if it was going to work or how it would be received. Going into the Distaff, we were really rooting for Mushka. Betty was such a great supporter and there was the fact that her pledge was so generous. She ran second and that really meant a lot. At the end of the day, that donation lodged what we've now been doing for 12 years.”

During her career, Mushka won the GI Spinster S. via disqualification as well as the GII Demoiselle S. and the GIII Glens Falls H. She earned $1,067,788.
That New Vocations, which serves more than 600 horses each year is able to take in so many horses has a lot to do with the success of the Breeders' Cup pledge program, which has become its largest fundraiser. Many of the biggest owners and trainers in the sport have come on board. The list of those who have taken part over the years totals more than 150 individuals, stables and farms and includes the likes of Sol Kumin, Bobby Flay, WinStar Farm, Spendthrift Farm, Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Stonestreet Stables. Mrs. John Magnier, Seth Klarman and West Point Thoroughbreds. Last year, 50 Breeders' Cup starters were part of the pledge program and New Vocations raised $150,000.

That's allowed New Vocations to open its doors to thousands of horses. Now, Mushka, who kickstarted the pledge program, is among them, which means she'll live out her life in comfort.

“When SF reached out to us saying they had a retired broodmare for us and it was Mushka we were thrilled,” Ford said. “It's great to be able to give her the special type of retirement she deserves.”

New Vocations and Mereworth Farm are both accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the official aftercare partner of the Breeders' Cup.

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New Vocations Breeders’ Cup Pledge Raises Over $140,000

The early estimate of funds raised during the Breeders’ Cup Pledge for New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program is over $140,000. A total of 50 Breeders’ Cup contenders pledged a percentage of their World Championships earnings, led by Authentic (Into Mischief)’s win in the GI Longines Classic with the whole partnership group participating, including Spendthrift Farm, Starlight Racing, Madaket, and MyRacehorse, as well as trainer Bob Baffert.

Authentic’s Classic-winning pledge was one of seven winning pledges during the Breeders’ Cup with additional pledges and final donations still being received. The Breeders’ Cup Pledge is in its 11th year with over $790,000 raised to date and 100% of funds going directly to support the program’s rehabilitation, retraining, and rehoming efforts.

“We are truly thrilled with the increased participation for this year’s Pledge,” said Anna Ford, New Vocations Program Director. “All of our other fundraising events had to be cancelled this year, so more than ever, we needed the Pledge to be successful and raise funds. To have seven pledged contenders win was incredible. We are very grateful for the support from all the generous owners and trainers who joined the Pledge. All of the funding raised will go directly to support our program and will allow us to serve the increasing number of horses needing aftercare.”

New Vocations has placed over 7,000 horses since 1992. For more information on the Breeders’ Cup Pledge or about New Vocations, visit www.newvocations.org.

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Sparked by Winning Vino Rosso Pledge, Bar Now Higher For New Vocations BC Pledge Drive

The bar is set high for the 11th annual New Vocations Breeders’ Cup pledge drive. Last year’s fundraiser for the nation’s largest retired racehorse rehabilitation and placement program netted $130,000 from owners and trainers of Breeders’ Cup entrants. The exclamation point on that record amount was provided by Vino Rosso (Curlin) winning the GI Classic, because the colt’s two ownership partners–St. Elias Stable and Repole Stable–plus trainer Todd Pletcher, all pledged their support.

Over the last decade New Vocations has raised $650,000 with its annual Breeders’ Cup funding drive, which asks the connections of entrants to voluntarily pledge from one-half of 1% to 10% of purse earnings over the two-day championships. This model is unique because it has zero overhead costs, so 100% of the money raised goes straight to aftercare efforts.

But the industry’s need for New Vocations’ non-profit services grows each year, and re-homing equine athletes got quite a bit more challenging in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A click right here will take you straight to the online pledging page.

St. Elias Stable is the racing operation of Vincent Viola, the founder and executive chairman of the electronic trading firm Virtu Financial and former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange. He graduated from West Point Academy and served in the U.S. Army Reserves. Viola also owns the NHL’s Florida Panthers.

“After meeting the principals at New Vocations, we just felt very, very comfortable that they put the horse before themselves, quite frankly,” Viola told TDN. “They’ll find the right second career for a horse [according to its] disposition. They go the extra mile, and we’ve been trying to support them consistently ever since. That pledge is one of the things you can do in our great sport where you know you are providing a substantial return on investment.”

Repole Stable is owned by Mike Repole, who parlayed a zeal for playing the ponies at Aqueduct as a teenager into becoming a high-profile Thoroughbred owner after selling his company Glaceau, maker of Vitaminwater and Smartwater, to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion in May 2007.

“Usually I’m not vocal about my charity giving. I like to give behind the scenes,” Repole said. “But I think being an owner, and probably one of the biggest-spending owners in the country, I want to make sure that people know that people like Vinnie Viola and people like Mike Repole are firm believers in making sure our horses get great homes post-racing. So I do think that owners need to take more responsibility.

“Sometimes it just surprises me how owners are willing to pay $500,000 for a horse but are not willing to make a $10,000 donation to an agency that makes sure their horses eventually get a proper home and the proper care that they truly deserve,” Repole continued. “I get disappointed when I hear that owners haven’t stepped up.”

Pletcher’s support for New Vocations as a trainer also goes far back.

“First and foremost, it’s paramount that we take care of horses not only during their racing careers, but, just as importantly, after their racing careers are over,” Pletcher said. “The Repoles and the Violas understand how important aftercare is. [With Vino Rosso] those are the situations you love to be in. When you get to win a race of the magnitude of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, you’re more than happy to make those contributions.”

Although the concept of aftercare has progressed markedly since the first New Vocations Breeders’ Cup pledge drive in 2009, Viola underscored there is still more that needs to be done to help Thoroughbreds on a longer-term arc.

“We have come a good way in a short amount of time with aftercare,” Viola said. “But we have to be much, much better than we are. For the sportsmen and women who participate, I consider it a fundamental responsibility to make sure those equine athletes live out a natural life. I won’t be satisfied until we’re monitoring and watching the natural lifespans of the entire foal crop every year.”

Repole is not only a New Vocations donor. He’s watched some of his own horses go through and benefit from the program, and he added that the payback in terms of good karma endures long after those Thoroughbreds left his stable.

“It’s great to get the updates and photos of where my horses have been,” Repole said. “It makes me feel really, really good to know that my horse that won at both Belmont and Gulfstream is now a jumping horse in Pennsylvania for some smiling 13-year-old girl.

“It feels like a win when you get a report like that,” Repole continued. “Maybe not like a Breeders’ Cup Classic win with Vino Rosso. But a definite, good win that makes you feel really happy–and it didn’t come with any anxiety or stress of a big race.”

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