RTCA to Honor Orantes

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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt

RTCA White Horse Award

Daniel Orantes, a groom at Churchill Downs, is the 2010 recipient of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America’s White Horse Award, which will be presented at a luncheon at Churchill Downs Nov. 4.

The White Horse Award, which the RTCA first presented in 2004, "recognizes someone within the horse racing industry who has done something heroic on behalf of human or horse.”   

Orantes will receive the award for his selfless rehabilitation of partially paralyzed exercise rider Calixtro de Jesus. Orantes helped pay de Jesus' medical expenses, gave him his bed and slept on the floor, and carried him up and down stairs.

“He is an everyday hero,” said social worker Jack Cox, who nominated Orantes and described him as “a respected man with a sense of humor and consistently positive attitude.”

Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day, who has been the RTCA’s national spokesman since his retirement in 2005, will be master of ceremonies for the White Horse Luncheon. The luncheon will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Triple Crown Room of the Jockey Club Suites at Churchill Downs. Tickets are $75, and are available by email at info@rtcanational.org or by phone at (502) 863-8792.

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