Posts Tagged ‘ntra charities’

By Ray Paulick
Permanently disabled jockeys got a huge boost today with the announcement that the Williams Stamps Farish Fund has pledged $1 million to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, the organization currently assisting 60 former riders who have been seriously injured in racing accidents.

The president of the Farish Fund is William S. Farish, the owner of Lane’s Farm and vice chairman of the Jockey Club. His pledge, to be annualized with equal payments over four years beginning in 2009, was accompanied by a message of hope that others in the industry will also step up on this issue.

“I’ve made a lot of friends over the last 30 years who are riders,” Farish told the Paulick Report. “They are in a position that if something happens to them, they don’t have the support financially to move forward. There’s a void. I think this is something that everybody connected to our sport ought to be contributing to: owners, breeders, everyone who is involved in some way or another with racing. These are independent contractors, they’re not protected once they go down, and there’s nothing for them to fall back on.”

The PDJF was formed in 2006 with the assistance of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA Charities) and several racetracks, including those owned by Magna Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc. A number of racetracks, owners, corporate sponsors and organizations have supported the PDJF.

It was necessitated after the former Disabled Jockeys Fund administered by the Jockeys’ Guild ran out of money during the disastrous administration of Wayne Gertmenian, who was ousted in November 2005 after virtually sending the organization into bankruptcy over the previous four years. The PDJF now stands alone as a 501(c)3 charity. Nancy LaSala is executive director of the Fund, overseeing its annual operating budget of approximately $800,000.

For more on the PDJF, click here to see the May 29 feature on the organization that was part of the Paulick Report series, Good News Friday Sponsored by Liberation Farm.

Farish said the PDJF has “been on my radar for a while.” There is a separate endowment, created by the Guild, that Farish hopes can be built up to $10-million to $12-million. It currently has about $2 million, but the money cannot be used until it reaches a certain level.

The Williams Stamps Farish Fund has actively supported numerous community and racing organizations, including Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky, the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the Kentucky Derby Museum, among others.

“I’m hopeful and feel like by putting our name behind this very, very important organization, we can help financially and draw attention to the need,” he said.

“We are deeply grateful to Mr. Farish for his commitment to the PDJF and the disabled athletes it supports,” said executive director LaSala said in a press release. “Thanks to his generosity and leadership the PDJF can now focus more attention on building the endowment that will ensure that financial assistance for our disabled riders will always be available.”

Contributions to the PDJF may be directed to: PDJF, P.O. Box 803, Elmhurst, IL 60126. All contributions are tax-deductible. For inquires contact Nancy LaSala at (630) 595-7660. For more information visit www.pdjf.org.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
If Barbaro had been euthanized immediately following the 2006 Preakness Stakes in which he suffered a catastrophic injury to his right hind leg, there probably would be no books written about the Kentucky Derby winner, no television specials, no statues and memorials, no group known as the FOBs (Fans of Barbaro), and no Nicanor watch, a long-running web diary devoted to his younger full brother. If the injury had occurred 10, 15 or 20 years earlier, it’s very likely that’s what would have happened – a quick decision to inject the horse with a fatal mixture of drugs to take him out of his misery.

That isn’t what transpired with Barbaro. Veterinary science has come a long way from the days of a cursory on-track inspection and the realization that nothing could be done to save a horse suffering from a massive leg fracture. Unlike humans, horses can’t rehabilitate in bed while their leg heals.

So owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson, along with Barbaro’s trainer, Michael Matz, made the decision to do everything possible to save Barbaro’s life. He was vanned – followed by news helicopters — from Pimlico race course in Baltimore to the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center near the small town of Kennett Square, southwest of Philadelphia. The colt was put in the care of Dean Richardson, a surgeon who would soon become the closest thing the equine veterinary community has ever had to a rock star.

The news coverage, fueled by public interest from hard-bitten horseplayers to people who had never been to a racetrack, was unprecedented. Richardson’s surgical team miraculously put Barbaro’s shattered leg back together with metal plates, screws and more than a little hope that it would all hold. The big colt chilled out following surgery,hoisted into a recovery pool specially designed for large animals that would prevent him from thrashing about and destroying the repair work. Two previous high-profile surgeries – on Ruffian following her 1975 match race and on Alydar after his mysterious stall accident in 1990 at Calumet Farm – ultimately failed during recovery after the horses had regained consciousness and reinjured themselves.

Richardson dealt patiently with inquiries from members of the media who were trying to quench the thirst for information from the public. Television and radio news and talk shows carried numerous Barbaro stories, and many horse racing Web sites crashed from the surge in traffic, including one operated by the University of Pennsylvania that provided daily updates with photos of racing’s tragic hero.

It was a time for the horse racing industry, and particularly those in the veterinary community, to feel proud for the care given and the advancements made in treating injured horses. The outpouring of concern for Barbaro from the general public was reassuring to an industry that feared a high-profile injury might be its worst nightmare. This much we learned: people still loved horses. Thousands of them made visits to New Bolton, sent get-well cards, flowers, letters and carrots. 

There were critics (aren’t there always?) who said keeping Barbaro alive was cruel to the horse, that he would never have anything close to a normal life. But only a couple of months after the surgery, I was invited by a veterinary associate of Richardson’s to visit New Bolton and see Barbaro. His hind leg was twisted abnormally, but he was bright-eyed and seemed like a happy horse, though on the day of our visit Richardson (pictured, left, with Barbaro and me) had concerns early signs of laminitis were beginning to appear. It’s the No. 1 fear many veterinarians have for their recovering patients; that circulation problems will develop in the foot on an injured leg, causing the horse to distribute his weight unevenly, which can lead to further problems in the other feet. The old axiom “no foot, no horse” really is true.

Barbaro’s laminitis condition improved and the injured leg continued to heal, leading the Jacksons to begin considering a life after New Bolton for their Derby winner. There was even some speculation that he might be able to cover mares some day and pass along whatever special ingredient he had that carried him to six straight victories, including a dominating, 6 ½-length victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Ultimately, and sadly, the laminitis returned. Richardson and his New Bolton team, along with some outside advisers, tried a variety of treatments and special shoes to ensure circulation to the right hind foot. The condition worsened in January 2007, however, leading Richardson to try more radical treatments, including an external brace on the right hind leg to take weight off the foot. After those efforts failed, more than eight months following his injury, the decision was made on the morning of Jan. 29 to euthanize Barbaro. A nation mourned.

I wondered at the time how the saga of Barbaro would affect the popularity of racing. I have no doubt that we have new fans because of him, though many of them have to be considered “light users” when it comes to supporting the game at the mutuel windows. His gallant struggle to survive created enormous interest, and in some ways what almost seems like a cult of followers who have now transferred their interest to Barbaro’s 3-year-old full brother, Nicanor. The latter makes his long-awaited debut in the eighth race on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, a maiden test going a mile on the dirt. Barbaro’s regular rider, Edgar Prado, will be aboard the colt, who will be shouldered with the heaviest burden of expectations that any horse in my lifetime has ever carried.

We learned a great deal from Barbaro. Some outsiders discovered what many in the horse industry already knew: that the level of advancements in veterinary science is enormous. But we also learned that some maladies, including laminitis, remain a mystery despite the ongoing efforts of researchers and those who provide financial assistance to them.

The eyes of the racing world will be on Nicanor tomorrow as he makes his racing debut. Many people will be betting on the colt in hopes that he can rise to the level of his older brother. Others will look at that race as a great wagering opportunity, figuring that Nicanor will be one of the most overbet first-time starters ever, and they’ll look for betting value in his opposition.

Here’s a suggestion for anyone that plans to bet on Nicanor or on someone else in that maiden race. Put aside a few bucks that you were going to bet, and take a few more if you wager successfully on the race, and make a donation to equine research, specifically to help find a cure for laminitis.

Here are two worthy causes:
NTRA Charities – Barbaro Memorial Fund, c/o Bessemer Trust Company N.A., attention Robert Elliott, 630 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, 821 Corporate Drive, Lexington, KY 40503  or click here to donate.

Let’s do more than remember Barbaro and cheer for his brother. Do something to make a difference in the future of other horses that may suffer a similar fate.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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