New Vocations Has 'Charitable Link' to KEEJAN

Charitable Link | New Vocations

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Every horse sale has its share of interesting back stories, but next week's Keeneland January sale has one particular story that is quite unique in a 3-year-old filly named Charitable Link (Data Link), who, in keeping with her name, is being sold to benefit New Vocations.
Charitable Link was donated to New Vocations last September by Ocala horseman Barry Eisaman.
“We have been getting horses from Barry and his clients for over 10 years,” said New Vocations Thoroughbred Program Director Anna Ford. “He called and said he had two fillies for us and mentioned that they had decent bloodlines in case anyone was looking for broodmares.”
“We bought her as a yearling in a group of horses we buy every year to resell as 2-year-olds,” Eisaman explained. “Things didn't work out to sell her as a 2-year-old and we don't race. She had a very sweet personality and we thought she would make a great riding horse. Anna is so good at finding great homes for these horses. I sent her to Anna and said, 'She will be fine as a riding horse, but she has plenty of pedigree if someone wanted to breed her also.'”
While New Vocations prefers to rehome racehorses as riding horses, the program will adopt out a horse as a broodmare under certain conditions.
“Our first goal is to find every horse a second career home for a riding career,” Ford explained. “We have had some mares that, due to soundness or behavioral issues, being a mom was the only option and then we will look into that. It is not that we don't do it, we just don't do it that often because we prefer to find them a home as a riding horse if possible. That is our focus.”
The two fillies Eisaman donated soon began their re-training as riding horses and the older filly, who was three, was adopted in just a few weeks.
“We started working with Charitable Link, who at the time was called Rule One, her dam's name, because she didn't have a name,” Ford said. “The other filly progressed a little bit faster because she was older and she got adopted pretty quickly. We started riding Rule One, but we hadn't put her up for adoption yet.”
This proved to be a stroke of fate as just a short time later Charitable Link's pedigree got a major update when her “TDN Rising Star” half-brother Diversify (Bellamy Road) won the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Oct. 7.
“I just happened to notice in the TDN that the half-sibling had won the Jockey Club Gold Cup,” Eisaman said. “I wanted to make sure Anna was aware of that because it was luck that I saw it so the chances of them seeing it were a longshot. They were happy to know and offered to send her back to us. We wanted her to stay with New Vocations and if this pedigree update brings any income, it would go to New Vocations to support their program.”
Eisaman did not get a hold of Ford right away. Ford was a bit worried when she got to her phone the Sunday after Diversify's big victory and saw four missed calls from Eisaman.
“Barry called me on a Sunday and it was weird because he called four times,” Ford recalled. “I am automatically thinking the worst because Barry wouldn't normally call four times on a Sunday, so I assumed something majorly wrong was happening. When he called he said, 'Do you still have those two fillies I sent you?' I said, 'Well we still have Rule One. The other one we found a home for.' He said, 'Oh good. I just want to let you know that her pedigree just got an update. Her half-brother just won the Jockey Club Gold Cup yesterday.'”
She continued, “He has been such a supporter of ours that my first instinct was to say, 'Do you want her back? I can't imagine you would have sent her to us if you thought her value would increase that quickly.' He said, 'No, absolutely not. I am letting you know because I think New Vocations should capitalize on her new value and raise funds to help more horses.'”
Coincidentally, Diversify's connections, trainer Rick Violette and owner Ralph Evans, are also big New Vocations supporters.
“The other cool thing is that Rick Violette and Ralph Evans are also New Vocations supporters,” Ford said. “I called Rick and let him know that he was giving in a way that he didn't even know he was giving.”
Ford met with the New Vocations team and they decided to take Eisaman's advice and enter the filly in a sale.
“Thankfully, Tony Lacy, who sits on our board, runs the consignment Four Star Sales,” Ford said. “He came out and looked at her and agreed she had great value as a broodmare. It was too late at that point to get her in the November sale, so we opted to put her in the January sale at Keeneland with Four Star Sales as her consignor.”
She added, “All the proceeds are going to go to New Vocations, which is great. We are all very excited. The whole team is going to go watch her sell and cheer her on.”
Eisaman is also looking forward to Charitable Link's upcoming sale.
“There are some good adoption programs in this country, but New Vocation has to be at the top of the list,” Eisaman said. “We have been associated with them for 10 plus years. We are excited at the prospect that whatever this filly brings will go towards homing other horses and helping them in continuing the work that they do.”
Ford and her team decided to name the filly before entering her in the sale and chose a name they thought would represent their purpose for offering hip 758 at auction.
“We got the New Vocations team together and said, 'We need to name this filly. Let's give her a name that represents her and what this sale means,'” Ford said. “She is by Data Link so that is where we got Charitable Link.”
The Keeneland January sale gets underway Monday, Jan. 8 at 10a.m. and Charitable Link sells Tuesday, Jan. 9.

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