Those that were accredited in 2022 or any new organizations need to apply for accreditation this year. Others that were accredited in 2023 need not apply as their current status extends through 2024.

Accreditation is determined after a complete and thorough review of the organizations' operations, education, horse health care management, facility standards and services, and adoption policies and protocols. Organizations that pass the initial application review will be subject to an onsite inspection of all facilities housing Thoroughbreds.

“Applying for accreditation is an incredible opportunity for organizations dedicated to the welfare of retired Thoroughbred racehorses,” said Janice Towles, Director of Accreditation and Grants at TAA.

Click here for more information on the process.

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Just about everyone in the Thoroughbred industry understands that most OTTBs are runners who served as the backbone of racing, filling the smaller-money races at tracks across the country, so it's rare when a horse who competes at the very top of the game ends up in a second career that doesn't include a breeding shed or broodmare barn. The OTTB graded stakes winner–even a Grade I horse–is like the elusive Big Foot or UFO of racehorse second careers. We know they're out there, yet they're rarely seen.

So imagine, if you will, having not just one or even two, but three Grade I winners in your backyard.

Maggie House-Sauque has spent much of her life competing at the elite level in the hunter/jumper world where highfalutin and expensive Warmbloods have–for the most part–taken the place of solid OTTBs. But that's not to say she hasn't advocated for second careers and hasn't had a good amount of success in the show ring with former runners. Over the past three decades House-Sauque's father, longtime California owner Mike House, has campaigned a number of top horses either alone or in partnership, including 2022 champion 3-year-old filly Nest (Curlin), and House-Sauque has adopted and/or rehomed a handful of them, including Bing Bang (Fr) (Marignan), who more than held his own in the hunter/jumper rings for a number of years and after more than 20 years with House-Sauque died peacefully last month at age 27 due to the infirmities of old age.

At the 2012 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's April sale of 2-year-olds in training, House plunked down $160,000 for a handsome bay son of Street Hero he would later name Gabriel Charles. At the time, House-Sauque had recently given birth to her son prematurely and the baby, who they named Gabriel Charles, spent the first few weeks of his life in a San Diego NICU. Like every horse who wears the yellow and purple happy face silks widely recognized as House's, hopes and expectations were high for the horse, but maybe more so for this one who carried a very special name.

“We took the baby to all of Gabriel Charles's races as soon as he was able to go,” House-Sauque said. “It was definitely a family tradition. If I couldn't go, my husband Alex would take Gabe with my dad. If my husband couldn't go, I would. My son missing one of Gabriel Charles's races wasn't an option.”

Gabriel Charles won four of 12 starts for earnings of $604,400 and as if it were some kind of kismet, when he crossed the finish line first in the 2015 GI Eddie Read S. he became the House family's first Grade I winner. Unfortunately the Jeff Mullins-trainee battled a series of issues throughout his career, including a tendon injury and a life-threatening bout with colic, and with little fanfare he was retired in 2016 after a runner-up finish in the GIII San Francisco Mile.

A brief stud career at Dave and Sommer Smith's Nextstar Ranch in California followed, but when the handsome bay failed to attract many breeders, the decision was made to geld Gabriel Charles and give him a different kind of second career. House-Sauque is the owner of Lucky Kid Farms at Bella Terra Estates in Jumul, CA, where she lives and trains showjumpers and also gives riding lessons to kids, so she had space.

“We always said we'd do what was best for him,” House-Sauque said. “We tried to get him some good mares and my dad sent a couple to him and Jeff (Mullins) did too, but he couldn't compete with the other stallions and bigger farms so Sommer and I decided that gelding him and bringing him home and giving him a job was the right thing to do. My son was so happy, he is totally bonded with this horse and this horse loves my son.”

Gabriel Charles, now 13 years old, has transitioned into a riding horse like a champ and he is constantly surrounded by action, from his own lessons and schooling to watching other horses' lessons. But by far the most special thing for Gabriel Charles is spending time with his very own now 11-year-old little boy.

“Not too long ago he got loose somehow, as they do, and ran around like a mad man,” House-Sauque remembered. “And after a couple of minutes he saw Gabe and ran right over to him and stopped. That just shows how much they love each other. He would not stop running until he found Gabe.”

Gabriel Charles's status as the only “big horse” at Lucky Kid Farms wouldn't last, however.

In 2015, House-Sauque's father privately purchased a handsome gray 3-year-old Dundalk maiden winner named Hunt (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and brought him to California for a turf campaign. In the care of trainer Phil D'Amato, for more than a year Hunt raced primarily in allowance company before winning his first stakes, the listed Siren Lure S. at Santa Anita in 2016. And then in 2017, the House family was back in the GII Eddie Read S. winner's circle after Hunt earned his first graded stakes win in the Del Mar turf feature, claiming a second victory in the race for the House family. Wins in the GII Del Mar H., GII Seabiscuit H. and GI Shoemaker Mile followed, making Hunt the official House horse and their most successful runner up to that point.

And all the while the affable gray enjoyed stable visits from his family, especially House-Sauque herself.

“We always visit our horses in the barn area,” she said. “We do it as a family, my husband Alex and my son and my parents and I. Hunt loves people so he loved the visits. And my dad always knew that when Hunt was done he had a home with me, no matter what. And that's exactly what happened.”

In 2019 after suffering a minor injury Hunt was retired with a record of 32-9-5-3 for earnings of $918,156. These days 11-year-old Hunt is now nearly white and spends his time sleeping in the San Diego sun when he's not being ridden or providing entertainment for House-Sauque's camp kids.

“During holidays and school breaks kids come and do camp here,” she explained. “We dress the horses up and paint them and do games and things with them. Hunt loves the kids and he loves the attention. He is the most kind soul and we love having him here and I thank my dad every day for doing the right thing for the Huntster.”

Growing up around the racetrack always creates tight bonds with the families who participate, as everyone knows, and this scenario was no exception for the House and Wellman families. House-Sauque has known Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Aron Wellman since he was nine and she was 12. They used to hang out at former trainer Jude Feld's Del Mar barn as kids and have maintained a friendship ever since. And it was Wellman who brought Mike House in as part owner of Nest.

In 2021, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile winner Ohio (Brz) (Elusive Quality) had been retired sound at age nine and Wellman was looking for a place for him to be let down and get some training with the idea he'd eventually become a riding horse for his daughter, Sadie. Soon after, Ohio arrived at Lucky Kid Farm, where House-Sauque would develop a plan for his post-racing life.

Trainer Michael McCarthy called House-Sauque at the time as he was preparing GI Preakness S. winner Rombauer for the GI Belmont Stakes to give her more insight into the handsome gelding.

“I couldn't believe he took the time during the most important time in his career after winning the Preakness and while he was getting ready for the Belmont to call me and tell me about Ohio,” House-Sauque remembered. “He told me his quirks, some of the little issues he had, all of it. He didn't want me to have any surprises and he wanted Ohio to have a great retirement. He really went above and beyond.”

It wasn't long before Ohio's retirement plans changed, though only slightly.

“Aron came to visit and saw how happy he was,” House-Sauque said. “I told him Ohio could stay if he wanted him to for as long as he wanted him to. And Aron decided that it would make Ohio most happy to stay and be one of the lesson horses here. And Ohio is so happy doing it, too. He loves the kids and he loves his job. He was made to do this.”

The novelty of caring for three Grade I winners isn't lost on House-Sauque, who has always been a racing fan in addition to advocating for OTTBs. But she says the horses' racing accomplishments don't really have much to do with their lives today and shouldn't define their care, or care for any OTTB for that matter.

“They're the same as all of my horses here,” House-Sauque said. “They eat the same food, they get the same care as all of them. Bing Bang was here almost his whole life and there are other OTTBs here owned by some clients. Yes, it's great to have them here and it's special for us knowing what they did on the track for our family and for Aron's, but it doesn't matter.

“We love them all the same.”

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RRP's mission is to facilitate placement of Thoroughbred ex-racehorses in second careers by increasing demand for them in the equestrian marketplace and educating equestrians to provide the training that secures their future. The driving force behind everything RRP does is educating the public–especially equestrians and equine enthusiasts–about the potential and versatility of off-track Thoroughbreds as riding and competition horses via their popular Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium.

In 2018, TERF awarded RRP with a $20,000 grant that supported their expanded 4-day model of the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, increased RRP presence at equine events throughout the U.S., and helped create the popular “Ask a Trainer Anything” feature, in which a panel of experts responded to training questions. In 2019, TERF offered a grant of $5,000 to be put toward the Makeover, followed by 2020 and 2021 where they were once again rewarded $5,000 in grants.

To learn more about the Thoroughbred Education and Research Foundation and/or make a tax-deductible donation to support TERF's mission and programs, please visit their website.

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Awards are available for multiple disciplines, including eventing, dressage, Western and English pleasure, ranch riding, hunter/jumper, endurance, barrel racing, polo, and polocrosse.

T.I.P. Championships in hunters, jumpers, combined test, dressage, English pleasure, and English in-hand will return this year to Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, from Oct. 5 through Oct. 8. T.I.P. Western & Central Dressage Championships will be held Oct. 11 through Oct. 14. at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington during the Retired Racehorse Project's (RRP) Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America.

“The Jockey Club is proud of the expansive number of T.I.P.-approved awards, classes, and championships that showcase the diversity Thoroughbreds have in their second careers,” Kristin Werner, senior counsel for The Jockey Club and coordinator of T.I.P., said. “Our partnership with organizations like Stable View and the Retired Racehorse Project further expand opportunities for Thoroughbreds to excel in multiple disciplines beyond the track, and we are proud to see the continued growth and success of T.I.P in 2023.”

A full calendar of shows offering awards is available at The T.I.P. website and will be updated as dates are confirmed.

The post The Jockey Club’s T.I.P Program Announces 2023 Schedule appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“With the help of the racing industry, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance supports 81 accredited charities and thousands of off-track Thoroughbreds,” TAA President Jeffrey Bloom said. “Outside of the TAA's automatic funding sources within the industry, the Off to the Races auction is a unique and exciting opportunity to support Thoroughbred aftercare while being treated like a VIP on some of the biggest days in horse racing.”

Bidding opens Thursday, Jan. 26, 10:00 a.m. EST and closes Friday, Feb. 3, at 10:00 p.m. EST. For more information or to bid, visit the TAA's auction website.

Featured Packages:
-23 VIP Last Chance/First Chance NHC Qualifier
-2023 VIP Tampa Bay Derby
-2023 VIP Florida Derby
-2023 VIP Arkansas Derby
-2023 VIP Santa Anita Derby
-2023 VIP Blue Grass Stakes
-2023 VIP Kentucky Oaks & Kentucky Derby
-2023 VIP Preakness 148
-2023 VIP Belmont Stakes
-2023 VIP Haskell Stakes
-2023 VIP Whitney Stakes
-2023 VIP King's Plate
-2023 VIP Pacific Classic
-2023 VIP Maryland Million Day
-2023 VIP Breeders' Cup Championships
-2023 VIP Canterbury Park Experience
-2024 VIP Pegasus World Cup

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This “Where Are They Now” story is a bit of a personal one for me. I first met popular New York-bred stakes winner Blindwillie McTell (Posse), affectionately known as Willie, back in 2018 when he was just a 2-year-old.

I was there the day he made his debut, finishing a game second at 19-1 in a state-bred maiden special weight at Aqueduct. The gutsy little bay impressed trainer Linda Rice enough for her to enter him in a stake next out and he proved worthy of her faith, splashing home to a good-looking graduation in the NYSS Great White Way S.

Willie opened his 3-year-old season in similar fashion, taking the Rego Park S. in his next outing, much to the delight of his exuberant owner/breeder Jerry Zaro. He took the Mike Lee S. two starts later and, once again, I stood in the winner's circle with Willie and his proud connections.

Willie's talent on the racetrack made him a fun horse to be around throughout his career, as did his winning personality. A very friendly and happy horse, he always tried his heart out and did so with plenty of enthusiasm, making him a barn favorite during his four seasons in the Rice barn and a personal favorite of mine.

In April of 2021, Willie let Rice know he had enough. She refused to run him for a low claiming price and Zaro agreed, so the decision was made to retire him. Being a gelding, the best option for the three-time stakes winner was finding a new home as a show horse.

I had recently assisted Rice in placing a horse named Mental Model (Into Mischief) with a friend of mine, who now successfully competes him as an eventer. So the conditioner turned to me to find a home for the lovable Blindwillie McTell.

I always knew Willie was special. I also knew he would love to have his own person and would give that individual his all in any discipline they tried together. I wanted to make sure Willie found a person who would recognize how special he was and would give him the best chance to thrive in his new career. So, I turned to one of my best friends, Caroline Letts, a hunter and jumper trainer based in Colts Neck, New Jersey, who had plenty of experience with off-track Thoroughbreds.

Letts was quick to say yes and we brought Willie to her facility in May of 2021. Under her guidance, my favorite little racehorse-that-could blossomed into a talented hunter and jumper. Her 16-year-old working student successfully competed him in Thoroughbred classes at a recognized horse show that September.

Since then he has taught lessons to kids as young as 12 and competed successfully in a variety of horse shows in both the hunter and jumper divisions. He even helped me achieve one of my dreams of climbing aboard one of the racehorses I had the privilege to follow or work with during my career. He is still as much of a perfectionist and overachiever in his new career as he was on the racetrack.

Willie continues to gain fans everywhere he goes. He is a barn favorite at MCL Equestrian and has a leaser, who adores him. His fans from his racing days, those that love New York racing and fans of Bob Dylan, for whom Blindwillie McTell was named, still follow him diligently. As expected, my old friend Willie is still a winner in everything he does and I'm just thrilled to still be a part of it.

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“Denali Stud proudly supports the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance,” said Denali Stud Owner, Craig Bandoroff. “TAA does the due diligence of accrediting aftercare farms and distributing grants to help care for the horses. It's our obligation, not an option, to fund Thoroughbred aftercare. Join Denali Stud and donate to the TAA's Holiday Giving Campaign today.”

TAA's Holiday Giving Campaign commenced Nov. 29 and is scheduled to conclude New Year's Eve. Those wishing to support the TAA, its 81 accredited organizations, and thousands of retired Thoroughbreds, can donate through the TAA's website or text DONATE to 56651. During the Holiday Giving Campaign, TAA is also offering donors the benefit of sending digital holiday cards to colleagues, friends, and loved ones. Throughout the end of the year, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will continue to host special one-day only donation matches with some of horse racing's biggest names.

The post Denali Stud Pledges $5K One-Day Match Donation to TAA Holiday Giving Campaign appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The hard-knocking gelding was a family favorite for Morley, his wife Maggie Wolfendale and their two daughters, Grace and Willow. So, when it came time for him to retire, there was no question that he would remain in the family, becoming Wolfendale's personal riding horse and top toddler babysitter.

“He was very special to both Tom and I because we owned most of him,” Wolfendale said while standing beside the now-9-year-old gelding just after a ride. “When he won his first Louisiana Champions Day Turf S., we were in England. Obviously, it was late there. We all stayed up and watched it, sitting around his dad, who struggled with Parkinson's disease. It was this big eruption of joy when he got up and won. He has truly been our family horse. He is a very special horse to us, so we always knew when it was time to call it quits on his racing career, that he would come home with us.”

The Morleys privately purchased Ninety One Assault in partnership with Paul Braverman after he broke his maiden in his 13th start at Belmont in March of 2017.

“We bought him because he was a Louisiana-bred and we were going down there,” Wolfendale said. “He became this horse that we all loved. He won several stakes at Fair Grounds and most of his other races, except his maiden score, which was at Belmont.”

Ninety One Assault, or Boo as he is affectionately referred to by Wolfendale, quickly became a barn favorite for the Morley team.

When asked if she galloped him in the mornings, Wolfendale said, “If I won the fight to gallop him! He was literally the horse that when you went in and looked at your set list and had him, everyone else went, 'Oh man, you got Ninety today!' Everybody wanted to ride him because he was such a lovely gallop. He was very easy. Everybody got along with him.”

Ninety One Assault thrived on his annual trips home to Louisiana. He won seven times during his five seasons in NOLA, including two editions of the Louisiana Champions Day Turf S. and the 2020 renewal of the Dixie Poker Ace S. The bay made his final start at Pimlico in April of 2021.

“He developed a little bit of a suspensory issue when he was coming back in 2021,” Wolfendale said. “He had already had ankle surgery at that point too. Tom decided that he wasn't going to push on him to get him back as a 9-year-old [in 2022], so that is when we decided to retire him.”

The lifelong horsewoman continued, “It is very expensive to keep horses in Long Island and we didn't live where we do now, which is 10 minutes from the farm. So at first, we sent him to Kentucky with Jamie Hernandez. She turned him out for six months to recover from the suspensory issue. She started him back in early March of this year and did a lot with him. She took him to shows and took him to lessons every week, so he got a nice, well-rounded start and education. I figured I could afford to keep him in Saratoga and, weirdly, have the time there because we had a split schedule with the [NYRA] T.V. [show]. Then we moved to the North Shore and Boo got to come with us.”

Ninety One Assault has been as much of a pleasure to handle in his new career as he was on the racetrack and has transitioned beautifully, according to Wolfendale.

“I've mainly had the war horses throughout my career,” she said. “It is so individual and depends on their personality as to whether the transition will be easy or not. He was an easy racehorse to handle and ride, so the transition was pretty easy for him. The things it sometimes takes a while for racehorses to get used to, like cross ties and mounting blocks, he took to with no problem.”

She continued, “As far as riding him, he is so smart and wants to please. He loves when you tell him he's a good boy. If you show him something once and he messes it up, he is not likely to mess it up again. He's just that kind of horse. Tom and I always joke that he may not come from much pedigree wise, but he is the star athlete, straight A student, prom king-type. Boo has a lot of class to him and he makes all of us happy. The girls can go out and graze him and stuff like that and he is very respectful to them too.”

As for what's next, Wolfendale hopes to take her trusty mount to the show ring, if she can find the time between assisting her husband with his racing stable and working as one of NYRA's on-air analysts.

“I've been taking lessons,” Wolfendale said. “He has been responding so well to that. I think we could get to the point where maybe next spring we could go to shows and be competitive in jumpers or eventing.”

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Champion sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) and Laura Moquett's relationship goes back to when he was just a 2-year-old who refused to go around the racetrack without some coaxing. Fast forward seven years and that cantankerous juvenile is now an Eclipse winner and Breeders' Cup winner and has been retired from racing as Moquett's personal riding horse.

On Thursday, less than 13 miles from the scene of Whitmore's greatest racetrack triumph, the pair had their show ring debut in the Retired Racehorse Project's competitive trail event at the Kentucky Horse Park.

“We had some issues to deal with between the wind and sun creating some scary shadows,” Moquett said. “He looked at the first obstacle and said hard no, but he worked through it and completed the course. I was really proud of him. He kept his composure really well despite that, which was incredible.”

She continued, “He had so many groupies. It was phenomenal. They followed him from the barn all the way up to the course. They were adoring. It was really cool to see. If this gets even one person to give a horse a second shot at a new career, that is so important.”

Whitmore entered Ron and Laura Moquett's barn as a rambunctious 2-year-old and was initially owned by their Southern Springs Stables. While new owners later bought into Whitmore, one thing remained unchanged and that was Laura Moquett, who was the chestnut's regular rider and traveling companion.

“As a 2-year-old, I really had to focus on him because he was a maniac,” Moquett said. “We couldn't get him around the racetrack, not one lap, and would not go the right direction. We did a bunch of schooling on that to teach him to go forward. We kept him company, even breezing, until the last couple of years because otherwise he would stop in the middle of the track and do some shenanigans. But, with company, he did his job and ran other horses down, which is funny because it ended up being his running style.”

She continued, “Basically, if I was in town, I would be on his back every day. If we had to go out of town for a stakes race, I was his companion. Most of it was great, but sometimes he pushes your buttons and he loves doing it.”

With a stallion career off the table for the gelded seven-time graded stakes winner, Ron Moquett consulted his partners about Whitmore's future when it came time for retirement. Everyone readily agreed to leave him in the hands of his lifelong friend Laura Moquett.

“Ron had talked to the partners and everyone came to the consensus we could keep him the rest of his life,” Moquett said. “I still wanted to be around him daily, so thankfully they were totally on board. He got injured at Saratoga last summer and they said he could come back to the races, but the partners agreed he had done more than enough. I was upset when he was injured, but I knew he was going to be okay and I would get to keep him, so it was a weird mix of emotions. It was devastating in the barn for our team because he was the big horse and had that mojo everyone wants to be around.”

That injury came during Saratoga's 2021 meet and Whitmore was given down time for the rest of the year.

“We couldn't bring him back until late December and I was just too busy at Oaklawn to start him,” Moquett said. “It didn't materialize this winter and I was just trying to get his feet back in shape. That will always be a challenge. I thought there was no way we could do the RRP, though that was all I wanted to do. I thought it would be really great for his fans to see him do something else. There are a lot of people that follow him and were upset when he got injured.”

She added, “I worked with him five or six times in the round pen just doing ground work in late March. Then I hauled him to a friend's place maybe four times and did some basic under saddle work. That was about as much as I could do until we got back to Kentucky after the Derby.”

Moquett and Whitmore did manage to fit one other outing in during their winter in Hot Springs, a trip to Oaklawn for “Whitmore Day.”

“The first day at Oaklawn he was actually decent,” Moquett said. “I think he was like, 'I'm back baby!' Days two through four, I was like I might die. One of the jocks went by and was like, 'He's going to drop you.' I said, 'He hasn't yet! Don't worry, I will make it home.' He was just so excited. By the fifth day, he realized we are just going to go out there and walk. I had the outrider next to me in case. He got out there and everyone was yelling for him and he was like, 'Okay, this is for me. That's right. I get it.' I told them if they didn't get me off the track before the gates popped and we accidentally won the race, I was taking the money.”

Once they returned to Kentucky in May, the real work began.

“He is at a barn in Goshen that the mounted police use,” Moquett said. That was part of what inspired the competitive trail idea. When he first got up here, I just legged him up trail riding at first. The first time I went anywhere with him was in June to Masterson Station for a jumper/trail night. It took me like 30 minutes to get him to the course. He was terrified of all the stuff they had set up. It blew my mind too. I was like there is no way I can do this. The mounted police take their horses to Hinkle Equestrian Center in Indiana to prep for competitions. We went over there about 12 times and that helped him a bunch. He is a fairly easy horse to ride and he will only get better. I am lucky.”

Whitmore's age and experience racing at venues from coast-to-coast have aided him in his second career.

“He has been on airplanes and at a bunch of different venues with music and crowds,” said Moquett. “I think that is an advantage, especially for this class, as is his age. He is a lot more settled than a young horse is.”

As for the future, Moquett has a few ideas, but is letting Whitmore dictate the plans.

“I would love to try the hunters with him,” the horsewoman said. “But, I am enjoying every second of it and we will see what he wants to do. It's his world, I am just living in it.”

The post Where Are They Now: Whitmore appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“It's so much fun to see the Thoroughbreds from all over the country competing,” MVP's owner/rider Tess Fortune said. “This is my third year doing the Finals, and I have a great time every year.”

MVP raced briefly without success under the name Kit's Captain before retiring through the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association's Galloping Out program. He was adopted by Fortune as a 3-year-old in 2014. The reserve champion in the TAKE2 Hunter Finals was 11-year-old gray Mo Bandit, who was retired through After the Races, a Thoroughbred rehabilitation and rehoming center in Maryland. The popular Cozmic One, son of Zenyatta, finished 11th in the jumper division with Hidden Brook's Sergio de Sousa in the irons.

Cyanea Robine and Riley also had one rail and earned the championship sash once again. Robine was also named this year's top TAKE2 Junior Rider, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, in the Jumper division. Riley, whose Jockey Club name is Pic Me First, had a couple of less-than-impressive workouts at Delta Downs before it was decided he was not cut out for a racing career.

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