After training horses for more three decades and having his career peak this year with the success of the sensational filly Rachel Alexandra, Hal Wiggins will ride off into the sunset of retirement at the end of Churchill Downs' fall meet in November.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Clever Allemont, a 26-year-old stallion, has been rescued from the road to slaughter and will be shipped to Kentucky to spend the rest of his days at Old Friends near Georgetown.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Ruhlmann, the seven-time stakes-winning stallion and winner of the 1990 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I), died Dec. 24 at the age of 23, Old Friends owner Michael Blowen said.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Multimillionaire Perfect Drift will return to Turfway Park one more time for congratulations and honors as he begins his retirement with a special celebration and ceremony Sept. 27 as part of festivities surrounding the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Grade II winner Elite Squadron, who banked more than a half-million dollars in 14 races, has been retired because of an injury and is expected to stand at stud next year, owner Tom Walters said.
Monday, August 25, 2008
There's a good chance Lava Man may have raced for the last time in the July 20 Eddie Read Handicap (gr. IT) at Del Mar.
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horseman's Association unanimously approved the formation of Turning for Home, a Thoroughbred retirement program for trainers and owners at Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack.
Friday, May 09, 2008
By Robert Laurence - Let me tell you about our Thoroughbred. Feisty, by Acaroid, out of Some One Finer, by Lord Rebeau. It would be generous to call her pedigree "modest."
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Robert Courtney Sr., who bought his first mare in 1941 and the property that became his Crestfield Farm near Lexington in 1956, will retire from the Thoroughbred industry following the Keeneland January sale.
Friday, December 21, 2007
A newly formed non-profit organization, After the Finish Line, has been formed to provide funding assistance to Thoroughbred rescue organizations across the United States, the San Diego-based 501 (C) (3) announced Oct. 10.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Teofilo, last year's champion 2-year-old in Europe who has not raced this year, has been retired from racing. No stud plans have been announced but it is likely he will stand at Darley.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
After Alpena Magic scratched from Wednesday's entries at Ellis Park, track president Ron Geary announced he had privately purchased the 17-year-old from his owner, Kenneth Robinette.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Jockey Mark Guidry will ride through the summer and fall months instead of hanging up his tack Aug. 15 as originally planned.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Jockey Mark Guidry will ride through the summer and fall months instead of hanging up his tack Aug. 15 as originally planned.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Graded stakes-placed Buckland Manor has been retired, and eventually is expected to stand at stud.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
In another aspect of Barbaro's legacy, racing enthusiasts and fans of the colt are making donations to equine retirement programs in his memory.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Phipps Stable's Smuggler, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2005, has been retired and will be bred in 2007 to Awesome Again.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Tranquility Farm, the Harry A. Biszantz Memorial Center for Thoroughbred Retirement, has received a $21,000 grant from assets of the Piedra Foundation, a non-profit program offering equine surgical assistance that dissolved in 2004.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) has approved grants of $1,227,000 spread out to 112 equine charities for the 2005 fiscal year.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Ruhlmann, an eight-time stakes winner who earned better than $1.8 million, has arrived at Alfred Nuckols Jr.'s Hurstland Farm near Midway, Ky., as part of the Old Friends retirement program.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Standing in the lobby of his lawyer's downtown Louisville, Ky., office building, jockey Shane Sellers announced Dec. 15 he has officially retired from racing.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Marylou Whitney's Birdstone, who was retired earlier the week of Nov. 1 after suffering a chip fracture in his left front ankle, will stand at Gainesway Farm near Lexington, Ky., Whitney's husband, John Hendrickson, said Nov. 5.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Marylou Whitney's Birdstone, winner of the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) and Travers Stakes (gr. I) this year, has been retired after a routine radiograph taken Nov. 2 revealed a P-1 medial chip in the colt's left front ankle.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Veteran Illinois-based jockey Ray Sibille, whose career has spanned 3 1/2 decades, said he's retiring July 21 after the fifth race at Arlington Park.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Mary Lou Whitney has donated an additional $50,000 to help fund the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's Secretariat Center at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
An equine surgery fund has been established in the name of the late trainer John W. Russell for the Tranquility Farm, a California-based retirement facility, has established an equine surgery fund in the name of the late trainer John W. Russell.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
By Ray Paulick -- Horse slaughter is the most emotional issue facing the Thoroughbred industry, and there is widespread support within the industry for proposed federal legislation to ban the slaughter of all horses for human consumption.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
It is horse racing's dirty little secret--the big black truck that regularly rolls along the backstretch of tracks large and small, and behind sales rings, picking up the cripples, the too-slow, and horses just plain not wanted by their owners anymore.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
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Tuesday, February 24, 2004
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Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Cliff Nelson, executive director of the Ohio State Racing Commission since 1987 and an employee of the commission for more than 30 years, will retire effective Jan. 31.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
John Stuart, who served as president of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation from 1998 until this summer, was honored Nov 15 with the TRF Champions Award.
Friday, November 21, 2003
Champion Kiwi jockey Lance O'Sullivan stunned New Zealand racing yesterday with his retirement from the saddle.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
The organizers of "Old Friends," a proposed facility for retired Thoroughbreds, held their first formal event at Hopewell Farm near Midway, Ky., on July 23. The group hopes to use equine star power to publicize the Thoroughbred industry.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Chris McCarron, the all-time leading jockey by earnings, retires at the top of his game.
Thursday, June 27, 2002
Chris McCarron, the all-time leading jockey by earnings, retires at the top of his game.
Sunday, June 23, 2002
With jockeys, owners, and trainers surrounding him, an emotional Chris McCarron bid goodbye to the racing world about an hour before his last ride aboard Came Home in the Affirmed Handicap.
Sunday, June 23, 2002
Carl Schloessman named vice president of marketing at Arlington Park...WinStar Farm announces Victory Gallop naming contest.
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
When the Maryland Racing Commission meets in late January, its executive director, Ken Schertle, won't be sitting at the head table -- for the first time in 16 years.
Wednesday, January 02, 2002
By John McEvoy -- No doubt about it, Point Given was the kind of horse that made your heart leap up. So when his injury and subsequent retirement were announced Aug. 31, a great gloom descended on the sport that thought it had finally, at last, produced a star that would continue to thrill people. Wrong again.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
By John Hettinger -- To my way of thinking, one of the most positive developments in our industry in recent times has been the increased concern for the health and welfare of the horse.
Tuesday, August 07, 2001
Padua Stables' Exchange Rate, who won the grade II Tom Fool Handicap at Belmont Park in his last start, was injured in training and has been retired. Exchange Rate would have made his next start in the grade I Forego Handicap at Saratoga in early September.
Thursday, July 26, 2001
Richard, Bertram, and Elaine Klein's Swept Away, a winner of nine of 16 starts for earnings of $550,500, was retired June 26 because of an injury to her left front sesamoid. In her last race, the grade II Genuine Risk Handicap at Belmont Park May 12, Swept Away finished an uncharacteristic eighth.
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has named the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) a horseracing affiliate of its nonprofit branch, NTRA Charities. The TRF provides aftercare and adoptive services for retired racehorses in several states, and is the largest and oldest organization of its kind in the U.S.
Friday, May 11, 2001
A new umbrella organization for ex-racehorse adoption and retirement services has sanctioned its first five groups.
Wednesday, May 09, 2001
By Ray Paulick -- In much the same way that yesterday's news is pushed aside to make way for today's big story, many of us in the Thoroughbred industry have a tendency to forget yesterday's heroes too quickly.
Wednesday, December 27, 2000
Through a joint effort involving input from Thoroughbred adoption and retirement groups across the country, the Thoroughbred Adoption and Retirement Association has been established. TARA will be based in Lexington, Ky., with initial support provided by California Equine Retirement Foundation, Days End Farm Horse Rescue, and ReRun.
Monday, November 06, 2000
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has created a Racehorse Adoption Referral Program to help with Thoroughbred adoptions and retirements.
Friday, July 14, 2000
