The Racing Biz announced today the debut of its Partners for Happy Endings program. Through the program, The Racing Biz will work with two mid-Atlantic nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of retired Thoroughbred racehorses.
The Racing Biz will provide the organizations free advertising space year-round and will highlight worthy efforts to retire, retrain, and rehome Thoroughbred racers on a page dedicated to those stories (here).
The first two organizations in the program are the Virginia-based, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation at James River (www.jamesriverhorses.org) and Maryland’s Thoroughbred Placement Resources, Inc. (www.goodhorse.org). “We at The Racing Biz are excited to work with these two outstanding organizations who are doing so much to take care of the equine athletes at the heart of our sport,” said Frank Vespe of The Racing Biz.
The program kicks off with a Partners Challenge. The Challenge is simple: for each person who goes to the website’s Happy Endings page (here), likes The Racing Biz on Facebook, and signs up for The Racing Biz newsletter — all of which can be done at that same page — The Racing Biz will donate $1 to be shared by the two organizations, up to a total of $500 this year. Or you can simply do those things on this page, below.
The James River chapter of TRF was founded in 2007. Its horses live at a correctional institute, the James River Work Center, and inmates there care for the horses and become certified in the nationally acclaimed Groom Elite program in the process. “The retired racehorses at James River Work Center are definitely partners in happy endings,” said chapter president Anne Tucker. “Each horse trains two men every year in the Groom Elite Program and in the process these men have turned around their lives. They leave prison with a different way of thinking than when they arrived, and our success stories speak for themselves.”
She added, “We are excited to participate in the Partners for Happy Endings program, and we look forward to working with The Racing Biz to promote our important work of helping horses and men.”
Thoroughbred Placement Resources works to improve the lives of Thoroughbred racehorses through a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach. The organization seeks to help owners to transition, retrain, and rehome their retired racers, and it encourages the racing industry to adopt “Responsible Racehorse Retirement” as a core principle.
“The Partners for Happy Endings is important because it provides a venue to showcase and appreciate the owners and trainers who believe in Responsible Racehorse Retirement,” said TPR founder Kim Clark. “These honorable members of the racing industry deserve some acknowledgement for their care and commitment to Thoroughbred racehorses.”
“The Partners Challenge is a fun way for The Racing Biz and our Partners for Happy Endings to engage the racing community in their important work,” Vespe added. “These organizations are showing all of us who own Thoroughbred racehorses how to be more responsible owners. We are looking forward to working with them to help spread the word.”
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I have a private rescue..the winter farm in Aiken,s.c. I’m interested to help have 11 OTTB now we love and try to give loving forever homes to thes e magnificent horses.
Thank you for your kind offer. Please e-mail our adoption coordinator, Jennifer Ernst, at [email protected].