The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) held its annual Animal Welfare and Integrity Conference last week in Louisville
Kyle Rothfus doesn’t use the term aftercare to describe finding safe, long-term homes for racehorses after they retire from the track.
“I try to think of it as continuing care, so it’s not so much a matter of an afterthought,” said Rothfus, a Thoroughbred racehorse breeder and owner who co-founded Mareworthy, a 501(c)(3) organization that specializes in caring for and rehoming retired broodmares at his farm in Georgetown, Kentucky.
“We look at it from a foal-to-forever mindset. From the moment that foal is born until their last day, this is continuing care. We just all have a different part, a different role in that.”
Rothfus was part of last week's final session of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) annual Animal Welfare and Integrity Conference, which featured panels, presentations and briefings on a variety of subjects Wednesday through Friday at the Seelbach Hilton and Churchill Downs.
“Our particular niche in the aftercare world, we celebrate the sport and we ask our retired athletes to be ambassadors for the sport.”
“By the way, Kyle, I hope you haven’t trademarked or copyrighted ‘foal to forever,’” said fellow panelist John Nicholson, who last year assumed the very big shoes of replacing founder Michael Blowen as president of Old Friends Equine, also headquartered in Georgetown.
“I love that,” he went on. “With your kind permission, I think all of us should use that as a kind of mantra of aftercare.”
Old Friends was created in 2003 by retired Boston Globe movie critic Blowen and his wife, former Globe columnist Diane White, to take in retired stallions and geldings – most of them notable such as current resident Derby winners Silver Charm, I’ll Have Another and Big Brown, but each with a unique story – and make them accessible to the public as horse racing’s living history museum.
“Aftercare is not only providing the sanctuary for retired racehorses, but it’s also celebrating their lives,” Nicholson told the ARCI audience. “It also is a vehicle to promote and celebrate enthusiastically the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
Panelist Janice Towles represented the transformative Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, which since 2012 has granted more than $36.04 million to accredited aftercare organizations, which have retrained for second careers, rehomed or retired 18,500 thoroughbreds. Currently, 83 organizations with approximately 175 facilities are accredited by the TAA, for which Towles is the accreditation and grants manager.
The panel was moderated by Cathy Shircliff, Churchill Downs Inc.’s director of equine industry relations and who is on the advisory board of Louisville’s Second Stride equine adoption program.
Funding challenge
Everyone agreed the biggest challenge facing aftercare organizations is funding and finding donors. “It’s always funding,” Towles said. “The more money we get, the more horses we can help.
“One of the other challenges is convincing everyone that the problem is not solved, although the TAA has done a wonderful job. We’ve made great strides, we’re doing great work and things have changed dramatically since 2012.
“But we have to let everybody know that the problem has not been solved and that the focus needs to be ongoing. We need to do more as an industry so we can help these Thoroughbreds when they come off the racetrack …getting awareness, promoting education, fund-raising, participating in our events. We all have to work together. I think the more we can do this as a unit, we’ll be more effective.”
Nicholson said a major breakthrough is that “everybody recognizes that aftercare is a pillar of our industry. It is an automatic thing we think about when we enter the industry. I think the next phase is education within our industry about exactly how aftercare works.”
For example, he said, “for most of our facilities, the veterinary care is not free. Our hay, feed, worming, vaccinations – all those things that every horse facility, every farm has to do, we have to do as well.
“I think there’s been a certain assumption that all of that is paid for,” he explained. “Horsemen know how expensive horses are. I think we have to remind them that horses in aftercare have those same expenses.”
Social media: a great tool
Rothfus said social media is a terrific way to market aftercare facilities. “Social media is a great tool for us to educate without actually putting out that we are going to educate you,” he said.
“It has to be those little moments. I get nine or 10 million views a month on my page – and the ones that get the most views are the ones of a horse rolling or a baby kicking its mom.
“I take it for granted, but the general public builds a bond with that, and that gives us a chance to educate them. Why does a baby kick its mom? Why is that horse rolling? What is a fly mask? All the things we run into, but they need to first trust me and know that my horses have their own personalities.”
Nicholson added: “When people interact with our horses, it’s a big win for our sport, for our industry. I witness that every day at Old Friends.
“It’s the feeding of carrots and Mrs. Pastures cookies. Once you feel that, to the uninitiated who haven’t seen that before, they are won over to our sport. It makes it that much easier to extol the virtues of Thoroughbred racing.”
Lasting impression
ARCI president and CEO Ed Martin said he wants the conference’s last panel to leave a lasting impression. “What you do is integral to the survival of the industry,” he told the panelists. “It’s the right thing to do, period. But it plays a larger role in the survival of horse racing in general because the public is looking at what we collectively do.”
Martin predicted that, either through court action or because of politics, Congress at some point will revisit and redo parts of the enabling legislation that created the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority (HISA), although no money was appropriated to pay for the federal mandate placed upon Thoroughbred racing states.
The ARCI was not at the table when it was first put together, Martin said. “This needs technical corrections, not to decimate it but to make it work,” he added.
“We’ve seen the numbers that have been raised through their revenue-generating Authority, and they’re big numbers. I would seriously advocate that before they rewrite this that there’s some kind of funding responsibility to support aftercare. There are some states where the state legislatures could do that, too.
“I think it’s important that the issues be raised. HISA is a regulatory agency but the industry, when lobbying for this bill, did not include this. Hindsight is always 20-20, and I think there will be another opportunity at some point. I don’t know when, but I think there will be.
“The ARCI should be at the table, because we want it to work as much as anybody else does. I would ask for the Authority to advocate for some kind of funding stream that would take care of our equine athletes when they’re ready to retire.”
About ARCI
Originally formed in 1934, the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) is the recognized authority on racing integrity and public policy matters. The association exists to assist in the coordination of the collective efforts of its members who are responsible for ensuring compliance with government laws and regulations designed to protect the general public and racing industry participants. Recognizing the multi-jurisdictional nature of the regulated sport, RCI provides a mechanism for collective policy formation, the exchange of information, research, education and training, integrity advocacy, and the development of reforms and services designed to assist its members to operate more effectively and efficiently.
• Visit the ARCI website and the Old Friends Equine website
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