Sales levy and tax on stud fees and other financial transactions among suggestions tabled to address worrying funding issues
The vast majority of those involved in horse racing recognize the nobility of the Thoroughbred aftercare cause. They appreciate the majesty of equine athletes and understand the need to tend to them once they have given their all and run their last.
However, recognizing the aftercare requirement and making sure that adequate funding exists are very different things. Many who work in aftercare believe the racing industry is hardly all-in when it comes to providing steady income streams to complement incessant fundraising.
Maggie Sweet (right), chief operating officer of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF), is among those who emphasizes that much more has to be done.
“There needs to be a sustainable source of income,” she said. “Every aftercare organization needs to know before they do their budgeting, ‘You are going to receive this much money. You are going to receive this amount next year as long as you are accredited.’”
The TRF estimates it has rescued more than 4,500 horses since its founding in 1983, sparing some from the terror of slaughterhouses and removing others from desperate situations. As the oldest and largest Thoroughbred aftercare organization in the United States, it operates from coast to coast and currently promises lifelong sanctuary for approximately 400 horses.
Creative fundraising
Former Boston Globe film critic 
Michael Blowen established Old Friends Farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 2003 with just one horse, a rented paddock and a determination ultimately to rescue horses by the hundreds. His creative fundraising and charismatic personality helped turn his dream into reality.
Old Friends now sits on 236 lush acres and has three satellite locations to accommodate an ever-hungry herd of more than 255 former racehorses and breeding stallions. Old Friends tours have become a popular attraction for visitors who come to see five former Kentucky Derby winners – Silver Charm, Charismatic, War Emblem, I’ll Have Another and Big Brown – and the not-at-all famous who crave their share of snacks and affection.
As proud as Blowen is when it comes to Old Friends’ accomplishments, he pointed to the anguish of placing a horse in need of a home on a waiting list due to financial constraints. He asserted that the industry must create the equivalent of a social security system for horses.
“It’s not an afterthought; it’s part of the whole sport,” he said of aftercare. “If people really wanted to do it, it would get done.”
Admirable programs
On an encouraging note, tremendous gains have been made and many admirable programs exist. For example, some inmates re-discover their softer side while learning skills that can lead to a better life as part of the TRF’s ‘Saving Horses, Changing Lives’ initiative.
Other entities have four-legged retirees working wonders with those facing physical and emotional challenges. Still others take in horses and focus on retraining them for second or third careers – ranging from mounted police to pleasure horses to jumpers – to make them suitable for adoption.
Sweet said the average upkeep for a member of their herd costs $2,500 per year. She would like to devote twice as much.
“I don’t think you should scrimp and save on a horse just because he can no longer perform for you,” Sweet said. “They’re here because of us, so it’s our responsibility to treat them with dignity.”
Donor fatigue concerns many organizations. Some people happily give all they can year- after-year; others donate more occasionally or completely stop.
Blowen, a skilled fundraiser, experienced donor fatigue firsthand. “I would go to Saratoga and people would walk on the other side of the street because they thought I was going to ask them for money,” he said. “It was like the Red Sea was parting.”
Financial obligation
Anita Motion (right), wife of highly respected trainer Graham Motion, is a TRF board member. As expenses continue to rise, she worries about the future and the potentially devastating funding consequences of any economic downturn. After all, anyone committing to provide a ‘forever’ home faces a tremendous financial obligation.
“These animals live until they’re 30 or more,” she noted. “It’s becoming a huge issue because people are weary of raising money or donating money. Depending on the economy, it can become harder and harder to raise money, and there are multiple organizations going after the same thing. You have to get more and more creative to get people to put their hands in their pockets.”
Blowen hailed the establishment of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) in 2012 as a boon. According to the TAA web site, it has granted more than $36 million to organizations it accredits while assisting more than 18,500 horses in all. The TAA currently accredits 83 organizations.
As impressive as those numbers are, Blowen insisted aftercare must encompass every aspect of the industry. “Every time one of these horses is involved in a financial transaction … I’d like to think of a different word but there would be some sort of tax, a small tax,” he said.
“When a consigner sells a horse at a sale, when the horse goes to the farm as a breeding stallion, when a horse is entered into a race, those things go into a social security fund. It’s not a hard thing to figure out.”
Before taking over TRF’s leadership at the start of 2024, Sweet (right) helped to oversee the tremendous growth of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn for 25 years. She urges the breeding industry, in particular, to do more.
Different perspective
“Looking at it from a different perspective now, it’s somewhat of an absurd amount of money spent on unraced horses,” she said. “You just need to take a tiny bit of it and, if you invest it properly, it can generate its own wealth. It just seems like there’s got to be a better way to fund all of this than chasing the individual.”
Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale, for instance, became the highest-grossing Thoroughbred auction in history when it amassed gross receipts exceeding $428 million last year.
Prominent owner Mike Repole (right) is eager to see various elements of the industry step up in a bigger way. He created the National Thoroughbred Alliance with the hope that it might help to unite a fragmented business in shaping a solid future.
Repole is known for his generosity when it comes to equine retirees and he instructed Pat Cummings, executive director of the National Thoroughbred Alliance, to engage in a months-long exploration of aftercare.
“Our number one finding was that nearly every entity across the entire United States aftercare space is underfunded, some chronically so,” Cummings said.
Cummings agrees with Blowen that solutions are rather obvious and believes they can be achieved with minimal financial discomfort. Among suggestions put forth by the National Thoroughbred Alliance that it estimates would generate $28.25 million annually:
• Increase various Jockey Club fees
• Those who stand stallions for $10,000 or more would be required to donate the equivalent of one stud fee. Keep in mind that Spendthrift Farm in Lexington announced a fee of $250,000 for leading sire Into Mischief for this year, while accomplished sire Gun Runner commands the same amount per mating at Three Chimneys Farm in Versailles, Kentucky
• Buyers and sellers at Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton and the Ocala Breeders’ Co sales would pay a 0.25 percent fee to help meet a horse’s needs upon retirement; the house would add 0.10 percent
To all appearances, the study has been an exercise in futility. “We can’t get the industry aligned to do the things that a modern sport based around horses should be doing,” said an exasperated Cummings. “The need jumps off the page.”
Amid economic uncertainty and concerns about public perception as animal rights activists scrutinize racing’s every move, Sweet stressed the urgency of significantly bolstering aftercare funding.
“It will come back to bite the industry,” she warned. “We have to figure out how to do this properly. The industry needs to get its house in order, and I think this is a huge part of it.”
• Visit the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation website and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance website
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