Kiki's So Fast

Kikisoblu Wayne Nagai photo

   The first stakes race of the 2015 Emerald racing season was the $50,000 Hastings Handicap. The six-furlong filly and mare stakes was appropriately run as the feature of the May 10 Mother's Day card. Ten more than able distaffers lined up at the post, of which only three had made their prior outing at the Auburn track and half the field was making their 2015 debut. 2014 Seattle Handicap winner City by the Bay, a four-year-old daughter of City Zip who races for Martin W. Bach and Jack B. Owens, went off as the seven-to-five favorite.

  Kikisoblu, who along with early race leader Bee Dees Bid is trained by Tom Wenzel, drew post position three. Ridden by Rocco Bowen, Kikisoblu was allowed to settle just off the early leaders, but then quickly made the lead in the stretch before drawing off to win by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:08.69. City by the Bay finished in second place with Valerie Johnson and John Zervos' four-year-old Lady of the Nile, by Pioneerof the Nile, another 3 1/2 lengths further back in third.

  Wenzel - who now ranks fifth all-time at Emerald with 32 stakes wins - and Bowen have made a formidable team with 11 wins from 19 stakes starts around the Auburn oval. Rider Bowen has ridden to 15 Emerald stakes victories to rank eleventh overall.

  "We wanted to hug the rail early and hope to get through. Julien (Couton) and I were fighting for the same spot," recounted Bowen. "I had a better shot at it, and I really think that made the difference in the race. I started asking her at the three-sixteenths pole and she really exploded the last eighth of a mile."

  A $10,000 2012 Keeneland September Sale yearling, Kikisoblu races for Dr. George Todaro of Seattle and Steve Shimizu of Bellevue. After running third in her only start at two, the Kentucky-bred daughter of Kodiak Kowboy has reeled off three straight victories, including a neck win in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance on February 3 at Turf Paradise in her last prior outing to the Hastings. Kikisoblu has earned $44,524.

  Kikisoblu is one of two foals - the other being two-time stakes winner and 2013 Humana Distaff Stakes (G1) second Burban, a 2008 filly by Speightstown who earned $289,087 - out of the stakes-winning Slewdledo mare Horse B With You, who won three of her seven starts, including a victory in the 2006 Scottsdale Handicap at Turf Paradise and finished third in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes. The $66,949 Washington-bred earner is out of a half-sister to 1989 Washington champion two-year-old filly A Dollar One, $171,783 stakes winner Mr. Easy Money and Longacres and Turf Paradise stakes winner Talk's Cheap.

  Trainer Jacqueline Smith had her first winner at Emerald Downs when her six-year-old Our Boy Ken, a Kentucky-bred gelding by After Market, won the sixth race on May 2.  He was one of three winners for rider Julien Couton on the nine-race card.

  Washington horseman Don Munger, now 91, had his first winner of the meet on May 3 when his homebred Pakokohe, a four-year-old Washington-bred son of Munger stallion Nacheezmo out of Country Sign, by Southern Sign, took the largest purse of the day, a $20,500 maiden/$30,000 optional claiming (N) race, in gate-to-wire fashion. Pakokohe was ridden to his 3 3/4-length win by Natasha Coddington.

  Emerald Racing Club (ERC) 2015, which this year consists of 183 racing fans, has added its second horse to its racing stable. Joining Charlie Thomas (Seeking the Dia-Champion Ride, by Candy Ride [Arg]) in the Sharon and Larry Ross stable is fellow four-year-old gelding Tribal Waters (Tribal Rule-Rio Tejo, by Tsunami Slew).

  ERC members will have the opportunity for morning visits to Griffin Place and Blue Ribbon Farm, both located in Buckley, on May 16, and El Dorado Farms in Enumclaw will host another morning farm tour the following Saturday, May 23.

  Through the first ten days of racing, jockey Julien Couton ranks first in wins and money after his 59 mounts won 16 races and earned $141,697. Juan Gutierrez sits in second place by number of wins with a dozen tallies (from 38 mounts) and ranks third in monies with $102,654. 2014 Emerald leader Leslie Mawing ranks third in wins with nine (from 52 races), but is runner-up in earnings with $120,209. Joe Steiner has had eight trips (out of 28 rides) to the winner's circle to home in on the number four spot in wins and ranks fifth in earnings with $68,343. Francisco Duran's $71,235 rank him fourth in monies and he ranks fifth in wins with six (34 starts).

  2013-14 leading trainer Jeffrey Metz currently sits on top of the trainers' list with nine wins from 31 starters and earnings of $73,342.  Blaine Wright holds down second place in both categories after saddling six winners (from 13 starts) who have earned $62,270. Frank Lucarelli is in third with five winners (15 starters) and earnings of $60,509. Six trainers (Rigoberto Velasquez, Robbie Baze, Chris Stenslie, Howard Belvoir, Alan Bozell and Mike Puhich) have had four winners, with Stenslie's runners placing her fourth in the earnings category with $50,578, followed closely by Baze's $40,279 total.

Washington-bred Honors

  Washington-bred honor for week two (April 25-26) was given to Swag Stables and Gallo Stables' multiple stakes winner Mike Man's Gold, a five-year-old son of Liberty Gold-Chedoodle, by Slewdledo, who took an April 25 allowance/$40,000 optional claiming by a half-length. Bred by Keith and Jan Swagerty (dba Swag Stables) of Auburn, it was the runner's first start back since taking the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic last September. Ridden by Javier Matias, Mike Man's Gold is trained by David Martinez and has earned $187,524 in 22 starts with a record of 8-3-2.

  Other week accolades were given to Jeff Metz (trainer), Cerapio Figueroa (jockey), Woodway Stable (owner), Lance Bullock (exercise rider) and Gordy Nyhus (groom), who works for trainer Martin Pimentel.

  Week three (May 1-3) horse honors went to Alan Bozell-bred, -owned and -trained Mister Breeze, who made his first 2015 start a winning one when he took a $10,000 claiming race by 3 1/4 lengths on May 2. Also owned by Dalton Stecker, Mister Breeze is a four-year-old gelding sired by the winning Deputy Minister stallion Hampton Bay. A winner of four races and $27,092, Mister Breeze is the fourth foal and multiple winner produced out of seven-race winner and $83,256 earner Skylar May, a 1996 daughter of Santiago Peak. Rocco Bowen rode Mister Breeze in the six-furlong race.

  Trainer of the week honors went to Brian Lusk, who saddled two winners. Jimmy Guzman earned the rider of the week title. Partners Shady Valley Ranch and John Keegan were the leading owners. Rafael Melendes, who works for Roy Lumm, was the top groom and exercise rider Jess Saldivar, who rides for Blaine Wright, was named top exercise rider.

Trackattacker Wayne Nagai photo

   2014 Washington champion two-year-old Trackattacker, in his first start back since last September, went gate-to-wire to score a neck victory over Delbert Kelly, Mort Robbins and trainer Roy Lumm's tenacious multiple stakes-placed Private Boss, by Private Gold, in the WTBOA Sales Incentive Program (SIP) allowance held at Emerald Downs for eligible sophomore-aged runners on May 10. 

  It marked the fifth win in six starts for the R E V Racing Inc. colorbearer, a son of Harbor the Gold-Eclatante, by In Excess (Ire), bred by Dr. Duane and Susan Hopp. With the $11,000 first-place money earned in the 5 1/2-furlong allowance, the Frank Lucarelli trainee - who was ridden by Leslie Mawing - has earned $97,347.

   Mark Dedomenico LLC and North American Thoroughbred Racing Company's Legion of Boom, a full brother to Washington two-year-old champions Couldabenthewhisky ($184,695) and Del Rio Harbor ($195,841) and half-brother to Portland Meadows stakes winner Bahati Gold, went gate-to-wire to take a $21,100 maiden/$45,000 optional claiming (N) race by one length at Emerald Downs on May 2. The Mike Puhich trainee was bred in Washington by Bar C Racing Stables Inc. and Desert Rose Racing.

  After breaking his maiden in his first 2015 outing, at Santa Anita on March 11, trainer Mark Glatt and partners G. Jarnig, M. Medley, C. Medley, R. Orr and E. Schweiger's Spin Forty - a three-year-old son of Hard Spin-Sweet Fourty, by Sweetsouthernsaint, bred in Washington by Rick and Debbie Pabst, won a mile starter allowance at the Arcadia track on May 2. The gelding has earned $32,990.

  Darrell Landry's Knight Crossing, a three-year-old gelding by Raise the Bluff-Knight Weave, by Basket Weave, bred in Washington by Nina and Ron Hagen, won the opening race of the Northlands Park season on May 1. The half-brother to 2009 Washington champion juvenile filly Knight Raider and stakes-placed Say Say went gate-to-wire to take the 3 1/2-furlong waiver $15,000 claiming race by 4 1/4 lengths in his first start back since breaking his maiden at the Canadian track last August. On May 8, Landry-owned and Greg Tracy-trained three-year-old Evening Light, a daughter of Harbor the Gold-Ms. Melange, by Slewdledo, bred by Bar C Racing Stables Inc., went gate-to-wire to score a 6 1/4-length win in a Northlands Park maiden claiming race.

  Stakes-placed last year at two, Tom Grether Farms Inc.'s Boss Lori, another daughter of Harbor the Gold bred by Bar C, went gate-to-wire to win a $15,000 maiden claiming race by 3 1/4 lengths at Emerald Downs on May 9. Trained by Robert Lawrence and ridden by Joe Steiner, Boss Lori is out of the stakes-winning Tiffany Ice mare Silver Patrona.

  The 2015 Indian Relay Race Season will be held June 12-14 at Emerald Downs, with 15 of the world's best teams traveling to Washington to honor the Muckleshoot Tribe and their important acquisition of the racetrack.

  Champion Indian horse relay teams from the top horse nations around the country are converging on Emerald Downs for the "Battle of the Horse Nations Indian Relay. Teams representing the top horse nations -  Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfeet, Colville, Shoshone-Bannock and Umatilla -  will participate.

  "This is a historic moment for the Indian horse nations," said Calvin Ghost Bear of the Oglala Lakota Nation and owner of the World Champion Lakota Warpath team. "It is very important that our people and our children do not lose the important place the horse has in our history and our culture; we come to honor them and our ancestors."

  Indian relay racing is America's first extreme sport, as well as the nation's oldest sport - 500 years old by many accounts. Teams dressed in traditional regalia will ride Thoroughbred racehorses around the mile racetrack, exchanging horses every half-mile. Warriors leap from one galloping horse to another creating organized mayhem. Fans are screaming and dirt is flying everywhere from the powerful and traditionally painted war horses!

  The top three teams from each of the main horse nations have been invited by Emerald Downs, the Muckleshoot Tribe and the Professional Indian Horse Racing Association (PIHRA) to compete in this historic event.

  "This may be the best Indian relay races ever run," commented Gary Fellers, one of the PIHRA directors.   "These are 15 of the top teams in the world and they have never really run as an elite group against each other before. This is historic. The Emerald Downs fans are in for a real treat."

  Normally Indian relay teams run head to head against all comers. For the Battle of the Horse Nations there is a  little twist. At Emerald Downs, in addition to prizes for individual teams, there will be awards for each nation with the best aggregate results of their own three teams. It will add an additional element of excitement to the relays.

   Sportech Racing and Digital, a division of Sportech PLC (SPO), announced on April 28, 2015, that it has signed a new contract to provide pari-mutuel betting technology and services to two key, long-term customers: Emerald Downs Racing LLC  and Eldorado Resorts, Inc., owner of Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort, Presque Isle Downs & Casino and Scioto Downs Racino. 

  Under the new contracts, both negotiated with new owners, Sportech will deliver extensive equipment and software upgrades to both customers.  Emerald Downs, the Northwest's premier Thoroughbred racing facility, will receive upgraded field board and paddock display equipment, as well as an update of their entire betting terminal inventory to Sportech's BetJet Series devices. 

  Andrew Gaughan, president of Sportech Racing and Digital, commented: "We are very gratified to have been selected to continue as the tote technology and services provider to these valued customers, and are pleased to further extend our new Digital Link™ mobile suite to three more customer locations."

  For the first time since it opened in 1996, Emerald Downs has begun a search for a new track announcer.

  Robert Geller, who has called nearly 16,000 races in 20 seasons at Emerald Downs, announced that he plans pursue other career opportunities.

  Meantime, Emerald Downs has been taking applications from experienced race callers worldwide, a job, which in addition to announcing races, includes co-hosting the Handicapper's Corner TV show and Emerald AM workout show, and also producing content for the track's website and serving as an ambassador in the community with appearances on local TV, radio and civic organizations.

  The track announcer is an integral part of the Emerald Downs team," said Emerald Downs' Vice President of Marketing Sophia McKee. "The track announcer is the voice of Emerald Downs and represents the track within the community."

  In her first start since finishing third in the Fantasy Stakes last October, Quatre Cat drew clear to take the May 2, $41,126 Ross McLeod Stakes at Hastings Racecourse by an impressive 8 1/2 lengths. The sophomore-aged filly finished the 6 1/2-furlong test in 1:16.88. Winner of the British Columbia Cup Debutante Stakes last year, the daughter of El Dorado Farms LLC's Abraaj out of Four Girls, by Foxhound, has won half of her six starts and earned $84,847.

  Quatre Cat's year-older full sister Four Times Lucky took her fourth 2015 tally, all at Turf Paradise, when she won a  7 1/2-furlong turf allowance race in gate-to-wire fashion at the Arizona track by nearly two lengths on April 29. She has won eight of her 17 starts and earned $47,767

  Both Quatre Cat and Four Times Lucky were bred in British Columbia by Rob Mc Donald.

  The day before Quatre Cat's most recent win, the three-year-old Abraaj filly Atac M April won a $16,000 claiming race at Hastings.

  Sun Downs finished off their six-day stand on May 2-3, running 19 races, ten for Thoroughbred runners and nine for Quarter Horses - which included four stakes for the short-distance specialists.

  The featured Thoroughbred race was a 6 1/2-furlong allowance test. The Bien's Gift finished first, but was demoted to third after causing interference with My Pal Sully. Jaqueline Smith-owned and -trained Megaton Ruler, a four-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Roman Rule ridden by Robert Burney, became the beneficiary of the stewards' decision when he was promoted to first.

  On Saturday, in another disqualification, Pablo Madrigal-owned and -trained Ojango was moved to first place after his stablemate Jacango was placed sixth in the $21,111 Sun Downs Dick Monahan AQHA Maiden Challenge Final Stakes. Ruben Camacho was aboard the winning Oregon-bred. A Tree Dash earned second money and Quematierras ran in third in the 350-yard stakes.

  The $11,800 Sun Downs AQHA Bonus Challenge Stakes was won my Ramiro Cancino's Oregon-bred gelding Cascade Dynamite, a six-year-old son of Mountains Majesty trained by Juan Sanguino and also ridden by Camacho. Bellingham ran second and Tsunami Kid finished third in the 350-yard event.

  Sunday's feature was the $30,000 Sun Downs AQHA Maiden Challenge Finals Futurity at 300 yards. Hayden Brothers Ranch's Oklahoma-bred filly Tickle Ur Fancy, by Dominyun, was a three-quarter length winner over Prize Pearl. For Sweet Jess was promoted to third after the disqualification of Dale N Dash. Jakes Samuels was up on the winner, who is trained by Hector Magallanes.

  The final race and stakes of the 2015 Kennewick meet was the $20,700 Sun Downs Bonus Challenge Stakes, a 400-yard race for older distaffers. Mike and Sherry Reardon's homebred Flyin Lion, a five-year-old Washington-bred daughter of Panther Mountain, took the race by a half-length. The Jose Sanguino-trained runner was ridden by Jose Figueroa. Lil Touch of Dixie finished second and Alota Action ran third in the nine-horse field.

  Final Thoroughbred statistics showed Samuels was the leading rider by earnings with $9,676 and ranked second in wins with six (from 26 mounts). Camacho led in wins with eight (from 23 rides) and was second in earnings with $8,856. Kassie Gugliemino ranked third in wins (five) and earnings ($8,065).

  Among the trainers, Billy Christian led by earnings with $5,850 and was second in wins with four. Robert L. Lawrence led by wins (five) and was runner-up in earnings ($5,296). Alfred N. Peone and Jason Homer tied in third with three wins apiece, with Peone finishing third in the money standings with $4,732.

  Four-time Maryland horse of the year Ben's Cat, a son of Gibson Thoroughbred Farm's Parker's Storm Cat, is due to start in the May 15 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes at Pimlico. The now nine-year-old gelding has won the last four renewals of the five-furlong sprint and is one of ten runners slated to start in the turf stakes.

  Dr. George Todaro, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, et al.'s New Karma, a three-year-old California-bred gelding by Decarchy, took a six-furlong maiden special weight race by 2 1/2 lengths at Golden Gate Fields on May 1.

  Stakes-placed Lucky Views, a four-year-old California-bred gelding by Lucky Pulpit, added a 3 1/4-length tally in a nine furlong allowance/$20,000 optional claiming (N) race over Santa Anita's turf course on May 3, improving his race record to 3-3-1 in 12 starts and upping his earnings to $130,830.

  A week later, Lucky Views' three-year-old half-brother Keegers, by Papa Clem, bred by Marion Kem Christiansen, won a maiden $30,000 race at Santa Anita.

  Wesley Ward-owned and -trained Judy the Beauty, the 2014 Eclipse Award Female Sprinter, finished second by a neck to Bobby Flay's Dame Dorothy, by Bernardini, in the $300,000 Humana Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs in her 2015 debut on May 2. The now six-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper has earned $1,720,822 with an impressive record of 9-8-1 in 19 starts.

  The day before at the Louisville track, Ward-trained Undrafted, a five-year-old gelding by Purim, finished second by three-quarters of a length to Power Alert (Aus) in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes, a Grade 3 event run at five furlongs. Undrafted has earned $569,329.

  Ken and Jan Heidt bred and race six-year-old California-bred gelding Tribal Tribute, a  gelding by Tribal Rule who won a mile $32,000 turf claiming race at Golden Gate by 3 1/4 lengths on May 3. A stakes winner at three at Santa Rosa, the Tim McCanna trainee has won five races and just shy of $160,000.

  Pulse Ranches' Preachinatthebar had yet another winner from his first Washington crop when three-year-old Hawaiian Style, who races for her breeder Terra Firma Farm and partner Don Crow and is trained by Joe Toye, won a maiden/$30,000 optional claiming race by 2 1/4 lengths at Turf Paradise on May 2. The new winner, who is out of the Petersburg mare Tripsy, finished the 7 1/2-furlong turf race in 1:30.91.

  Horseplayers Racing Club, Rebekah Baze, Melvin Hudson and Earl L. Maijala's Best By Far, a five-year-old daughter of Tribal Rule trained by Ed Moger Jr., won her third race of the year on May 7 at Golden Gate and was claimed from the partnership for $6,250. It marked her fifth win in 17 starts.

  Brazilian Triple Crown winner Bal A Bali (Brz), who is a direct descendent of Washington horse of the year Table Hands, won the $100,750 American Stakes - a Grade 3 mile turf event held at Santa Anita on May 9 - in his first start back since suffering from laminitis shortly after being purchased by Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farm. The five-year-old Brazilian Horse of the Year, a son of Put It Back, is now trained by Richard Mandella and has won 12 of his 13 starts and earned $570,078. His last previous outing was on June 8, 2014, in Brazil. Mandella is considering both the June 5, Manhattan Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park and the June 13, Shoemaker Mile Handicap (G1) at Santa Anita as the next race Bal A Bali. 

  Five-year-old Get Happy Mister, Colorado's top earning runner of all time, earned his first graded stakes win and ninth stakes win overall in 14 starts, when the son of First Samurai won the $100,000 San Simeon Handicap (G3) at Santa Anita on April 19. The $384,928 earner's fourth dam was 1978 Washington broodmare of the year Yang, dam of Washington champion and leading sire Knights Choice.

  Three-year-old Madefromlucky, who became juvenile champion Lookin At Lucky's fifth stakes winner after winning the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park on May 9, is yet another direct descendent of Washington broodmare of the year and Reine-de-Course Beadah. His dam, Home From Oz, by Pulpit, is a full sister to 2014 and current leading North American sire Tapit. Madefromlucky has earned $378,700 in eight outings with a 3-2-1 record.

  Mark Dedomenico LLC and North American Thoroughbred Horse Company's Dear Lilly went gate-to-wire to score a 3 1/2-length victory in a six-furlong allowance/$35,000 optional claiming (N) race at Hastings Racecourse on May 2. The five-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Graeme Hall has five wins in eight starts and has earned $53,564.

  The 2015 foal out of Michael and Amy Feuerborn's 2004 Washington Breeders' Cup Oaks winner Bianconi Baby was featured among the first crop of Grade 1 stakes winner Justin Phillips in an ad for the stallion in the May 5, 2015, Thoroughbred Daily News. The bay filly, which was born on February 15, was bred by the Feuerborns. All five of Bianconi's first five foals are winners, including 2014 Longacres Mile (G3) fourth Scat Daddybaby.

  Among the 27 veterinary students - intent on a career in equine medicine - who recently received financial support through the Winner's Circle Scholarship Program, co-sponsored by the American Association of Equine Practitioners' Foundation, Platinum Performance and The Race for Education, was Washington State University student Stephanie White.

   As of May 11, 2015, eight farms in Oregon have been placed under quarantine after an outbreak of equine herpes virus (1) - EHV-1, which is also referred to as rhinopneumonitis virus.

  Oregon State Veterinarian Dr. Brad LeaMaster has recommended that any horse that attended the Oregon High School Equestrian Team Willamette district gathering on April 16-18 be imposed in a self-quarantine at their farm or stable for a minimum of 28 days, as well as any equines they may have been in contact with since the April event.

  So far, seven horses have demonstrated neurological signs of the disease (which symptoms include decreased coordination, hind limb weakness, lethargy, nasal discharge and/or leaning to maintain balance) and several others have developed fevers.

  The disease can be fatal and can also lead to abortion and respiratory disease.

  EHV-1 is spread by horse-to-horse contact and through contaminated equipment, clothes or hands.

  According to a letter sent out from Washington State Veterinarian Dr. Joe Baker, ". . . no Washington horses were at the event. However, three stablemates of an affected horse attended a trail riding clinic at the Oregon Horse Center on April 25-26, 2015. There were a total of 16 participants from Washington State at the trail riding event." He further added, "It is thought that the risk to participating horses at the trail riding clinic is low."

  It was also stated that horses which come into Washington from Oregon "on a six-month passport or a 30-day health certificate will need to include a statement which says that 'the animals are free from clinical signs or known exposure to any infectious or communicable disease.'" Horses will also need an entry permit that has been issued from the Washington State Veterinarian's office. They also recommend that each horse's temperature be taken at time of inspection. 

  Due to the recent outbreaks of vesicular stomatitis in the Southwest, the Washington State Department of Agriculture issued the following statement on May 8, 2015:

  "Any equine entering Washington State from Arizona, New Mexico or Utah are required to enter with a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection, written by an accredited veterinarian [and according to WAC 16-54-068 (2) (ii) and (2) (d] . . . and issued within 24 hours of shipment, an entry permit issued by the Washington State Veterinarian's offices; and the temperature reading of each horse at time of inspection."

   Daily Racing Form, in conjunction with the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), will be publishing a new annual magazine to increase awareness of the TAA's mission and its ongoing efforts to support Thoroughbred Aftercare on a national level and in Canada. The inaugural magazine will be published on October 15, 2015, and distributed throughout Lexington, Kentucky . . . in advance of the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland Race Course. One hundred percent of costs will be underwritten by sponsor support.

  The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Magazine, produced by Daily Racing Form, will be approximately 80 color pages and highlight each of the TAA-accredited organizations. There are currently 42 accredited organizations andover 20 more have recently submitted applications for acceptance. The magazine will include articles on the TAA, its mission, and how it is funded by multiple sources with a low general and administrative overhead of only 7.2 percent of the annual budget. It will recognize the many industry contributors that are sharing the responsibility of providing safe landing spots for these retired athletes. Readers will be treated to several off-the-track Thoroughbred (OTTB) success stories from around the nation -  from sanctuary horses to rehabbed horses that have been re-homed and have had a successful second career. Potential adopters will also learn about retraining an OTTB by a panel of equestrian experts.

  "Part of our mission for 2015 is to get the message out on what we are doing at the TAA," said Jimmy Bell, president of the TAA.  "What better way to inform, share and educate the public than to collaborate with the Daily Racing Form to give real insight into what we are accomplishing. There are so many great success stories that need to be shared and so many initiatives that need to highlighted and supported.  This new communication platform will be of great benefit to us all."

  "We are proud to support the TAA in such a meaningful way," said John J. Hartig, CEO, Daily Racing Form.   "The TAA is tackling an important issue, to make sure that the Thoroughbreds that race for our entertainment and livelihoods are provided a safe and comfortable place to continue their lives after their racing days end. We salute those on the front lines at each of the TAA-accredited organizations and are happy to provide this marketing tool that will showcase the great progress being made every day."