Boyd Martin on OTTB Neville Bardos at Burghley this year
Such is the power and reach of Eventing Nation these days, that as soon as I heard about this new incentive launched last week by the Jockey Club I knew I wanted to find out more, and Dr Laura Werner, who I’d previously interviewed for an article about stem cell therapy, happens to know someone closely connected to it rather well…
Laura’s sister Kristin Hix works at the Jockey Club here in Lexington, and the T.I.P initiative is primarily her baby,
“I’m one of the people who came up with the idea, it’s been one of those things I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I don’t actively show myself, I did when I was younger, and now of course my sister events regularly (on her OTTB!) so I tag along with her. We worked with some folks here who ride, there’s a couple of people here in our office who are very dedicated to the aftercare initiatives, and a lot of the people who work here ride thoroughbreds and show them, so I sort of spearheaded the idea with lots of support from folks in our office.”
It almost sounds too good to be true: $100,000 has been set aside – $90,000 to be given to horse shows and the remaining $10,000 to be divided between two scholarships,
“One is a five thousand dollar award to a thoroughbred in a non-competitive career, so that would be perhaps a horse that’s doing equine assisted therapy or a police horse, or I’m sure there are plenty of other options out there. The other five thousand dollar award goes to a young rider (under 18 years old) who rides a thoroughbred, either in 4H or pony club, or just competes and that money can go towards a college scholarship or towards a national competition if they need assistance.”
Hamish Cargill on OTTB Sandhills Tiger at Rolex this year
The prize-money in the first instance will be donated to the non-profit organisation related to the winning horse and if there isn’t one, to a charity or non-profit chosen by the Jockey Club. In the second case, the winner will be decided by an essay contest judged by a committee consisting of three Jockey Club employees, Jockey Club Steward Dell Hancock, and Ellen Veitch a Horse Show Secretary.
“I wanted to recognise that thoroughbreds aren’t just doing competition. There’s a horse called ‘Rich in Dallas’ who was a racehorse, and then he played Seabiscuit in the movie, and now he’s doing equine assisted therapy in Oklahoma. Clearly thoroughbreds are versatile and they aren’t just doing sports, they’re doing lots of other things too. I’m involved with 4H so I have a big soft spot for youth, and they’re the next level who are going to be talking about thoroughbreds and choosing to ride them, so I wanted to make sure that we encourage those youth who have made the choice to ride thoroughbreds because we have to make sure that they are rewarded for their decisions. Hopefully that will make them thoroughbred owning adults as they move forward in their lives.”
Which leaves a huge chunk of change – $90,000 – even I can do that maths.
“As far as the competitions are concerned, we have two categories. One is a high points award for thoroughbreds in open competitions, and we also have classes where shows can offer a thoroughbred restricted class. In both categories we offer prizes and ribbons for the class, and in some cases purse money. The purse money will vary on how many horse shows apply and what level the show is – a higher level show will get more funding. It could really be any kind of show; we have classes and awards that we’ve outlined for eventing, dressage, combined training, hunters, jumpers and then some flat classes so English Pleasure, Western Pleasure and even one In-Hand class, but we’re open to anything within reason. If a show had a trail class for thoroughbreds for example, and they wanted to offer it as a T.I.P class, they can apply for that as well. In addition to the menu of classes that we came up with there’s also an option for other classes and other high point awards that we would be willing to consider if a show would like to hold a thoroughbred class that’s not listed there.”
Michael Pollard on OTTB Wonderful Will at The Fork CIC*** this year
So just to make it clear and simple – shows have two options: either to have a class/division exclusively for thoroughbreds, or to award the thoroughbreds within a regular class/division T.I.P points.
“I think there’s about a million ways we could have done this program but I’m hoping that this way we’ll cover all levels of horses, and all disciplines that they’re being used in because the classes we came up with cover everything from a horse that maybe can’t jump, like a horse that just came off the track, all the way up the high levels in eventing or hunter jumpers like at Rolex or something like that.”
Raising awareness is one of the main reasons Kristin conceived of the idea in the first place,
“What we’re going to do once the shows are approved and we start having the classes is list all the winning horses on our website with their Jockey Club registered name and their pedigree along with their show name, because we find that often when horses go into a second career they change their name and then no-one really knows who they are, and they certainly don’t know what their pedigree is.”
Lauren Lambert and her OTTB Baba Creek, fastest clear XC at Bromont CCI*** this year
The website is up and running, but obviously it’s far from complete because shows have until the end of November to register their interest. Although the initiative is a pilot program for next year, I asked Kristin if I’m being completely dense and missing something obvious, because to me this almost seems too good to be true, surely it will be a monumental success? The Jockey Club is a non-profit organisation but it has some for-profit subsidiary companies, and all of those profits are re-invested back into the industry. That’s where the money for T.I.P has come from, and as Kristin explains, they really want to give it all away,
“We’re really trying to see if this is something horse shows will accept, and that the program is formatted the way it needs to be. I certainly hope we are able to give out all the money, that would probably be one way of measuring our level of success but just also that people are more aware that thoroughbreds can be sport horses, and also that they’re encouraged to go and buy a thoroughbred if they’re in the market to buy a new horse, and also to recognise those who’ve already made that decision. We’re not charging a fee for this, so a horse show only stands to gain entry fees.”
Dr Laura Werner on her OTTB Badger Pass
The only stipulation for entering is that the owners must be able to prove that their horse is a thoroughbred: “Eligibility for the T.I.P program has to be either the horse’s Jockey Club papers or a successful tattoo research plus a five cross pedigree. If neither one of those are available to the person, then we here in the Jockey Club office will be offering assistance with identification.”
It certainly seems that the Jockey Club are doing everything they can to make this incentive work, and I hope now that show organisers and thoroughbred owners will follow suit. Nothing would make me happier than to report on dozens of T.I.P classes next year, and for many years to come. Many, many thanks to Kristin for coming up and executing such a brainwave, for Laura for hooking me up with her, and to you for reading as always. Go OTTB’s, Go T.I.P, and Go Eventing!
Jessica Phoenix on OTTB Exponential at The Fork CIC*** this year
