Saturday is the biggest racing day of the year for Tampa Bay Downs, which hosts the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, a Grade 2 fixture that has become and important stop on the road to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby.

The night before the Tampa Bay Derby is Festival in The Skye, one of the biggest events of the year for Thoroughbred Retirement of Tampa, better known as TROT, the official retirement program for the Tampa area racetrack. Festival in The Skye is a reception from 6-8 p.m. in the clubhouse Skye Terrace dining room at the track and features the music of The Baron Sisters. The event, which will also include a book signing by Natalie Keller Reinhert, author of “The Head and Not the Heart,” along with horse portraits by artist Anna Hamilton of Murals for Mutts, is the chief annual fund-raising gathering for TROT.

Tickets are available at the door for $35 per person and will go a long way toward benefiting this organization throughout the year.

TROT was founded in 2003 under the banner Thunder Bay Horse Rescue, and renamed in 2009 when Christine Carroll and Jessica Combs took over the 501(c)3 organization.  Later that year, after meetings with management of the track and the Tampa Bay Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. TROT became the official retirement program for Tampa Bay Downs and is funded in part by a per start fee. TROT is dedicated to the safe retirement, rehabilitation and adoption of horses who have competed at the track.

Fifty horses have been accepted into the program since 2009, with 39 of them adopted into what TROT calls “forever homes.” Ten are awaiting adoption at this time. The average stay in the program is 197 days.

The organization is run by a board comprised of:

 Dwight Back, President;
 Christine Carroll, Vice President;
 Christine Tutcher, Secretary/Treasurer;
 Margo Flynn, Director;
 Vanessa Nye, Director
 
A separate and unique fund-raising ongoing until the end of the 2012 race meeting at Tampa Bay Downs is an online gadget drive. The goal is to raise $5,000 by May 6, 2012.

Gadget drives are a relatively new phenomenon that allows people to donate their used electrics, such as laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc. Visit the gadget drive webpage to learn how easy it is to turn those used electronics into cash in support of TROT. Gazelle, the company handling the gadget drive, pays for shipping, and donors will receive confirmation by email of their donation.

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Thanks to the generosity of Three Chimneys Farm, the sponsor of Good News Friday, a donation of $100 will be made in support of TROT. Three Chimneys will be donating $100 each and every week we bring you a story of people or organizations making a positive difference in our world.