Aftercare After Hours Event to be Held Friday

Fresh off its successful All-Thoroughbred Charity Horse Show this past weekend, New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program is hosting an Aftercare After Hours event at its Mereworth Farm in Lexington on Friday for those who are in town for the Keeneland September yearling sale.

“What we are trying to do is similar to what the stallion farms are doing with open houses, but we opted to do it as a Happy Hour on the dark day of the sale,” said Anna Ford, New Vocations' Thoroughbred program director. “We are hoping we can get some of the Book 1 and Book 2 people who are heading out and some of the Book 3 and Book 4 people who are coming in.”

Two years ago, the organization held a similar event, but that was at the beginning stages of creating its flagship location. The late Susan Donaldson left Mereworth Farm, a 1,200 acre property, in a foundation to be a retirement home for unwanted horses. In May 2015, New Vocations started a capital campaign to build a facility on the property that would accommodate 40 horses in vocational training, and now much of the construction is complete.

“We did something like this two years ago before we even started the project to help launch it,” said Ford. “We had it over at the layup barn, which is a pre-existing barn. We made that a dinner, but this year we have more for people to see, so we are offering cocktails with the horses. People will have a lot more to do this time, whereas before, besides looking at the layup barn, there wasn't too much to see.

“Now, people can look at what all has happened. All the buildings are complete, including our office. There are still some finishing touches that are going on, but we are going to have all the buildings open for people to walk through, and the barn will be full of horses. There will be at least 30 horses out there.”

New Vocations, which was founded in 1992 and has multiple locations, was the first aftercare charity to focus specifically on retraining and rehoming retired racehorses. Since its inception, it has helped transition over 6,500 retired Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds.

Proof of the value of retraining ex-racers was on display this weekend, as more than 250 horses showed up to participate in the organization's All-Thoroughbred Charity Horse Show, which was held at the Kentucky Horse Park. Riders from 22 states competed in both the hunter and jumper disciplines, and all proceeds from the show, which was sponsored by The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.), will go toward helping rehab, retrain and rehome retired racehorses.

“It was amazing, and it went beyond our expectations,” said Ford. “This is our third year doing the show, and we've had around 100 horses in the past years. It was a huge increase, and that's definitely related to the fact that the T.I.P. Championships were on Sunday. The partnership we have with The Jockey Club was instrumental in our numbers growing that much.

“It's really a great partnership. Working together benefited both of us because it gave people a whole weekend of showing. The exhibitors were blown away by being able to show in the Rolex arena, and our judges were blown away by the quality of the horses.”

Now, those at New Vocations are hoping its Aftercare After Hours event will encourage people to come see what the organization itself is trying to accomplish.

“It's a perfect opportunity for people who are in town for the sale to come out and see what we are doing,” said Ford. “They can have a drink, walk around, see the facility, and pick up information if they want to. That's the goal.

“I hope that they are inspired by what our project is all about-trying to help as many horses transition to second careers as possible. We really wanted to create a facility that spotlights what these horses can do. I feel like having this type of facility in horse country, in the heart of Lexington, is important. I hope people leave excited and might want to get involved in some way.”

Aftercare After Hours will last from 5-7 p.m. on Friday at Mereworth Farm. Organizers ask that anyone interested in attending RSVP by emailing [email protected] or calling 603-496-9295.