Investing in the Thoroughbred’s Future through the Thoroughbred Alliance Show Series
by Jennifer Sponseller Webster Whether you or your Off -T e-Track
T oroughbred (OTTB) have ever been to a horse show, whether he just fi nished racing last year, or whether you have been competing at recognized hunter/jumper shows with your OTTB for years, there is a T oroughbred Alliance Show Series (TASS) show for you. From leadline to cross rails to speed classes for jumpers to hunter derbies and hunter trials to dressage and event horse classes, TASS has it all. Generous sponsors for each show have helped management keep costs aff ordable. T is is not a series designed just for the top 1% of wage earners. T e T oroughbred Alliance Show Series is for everyone; anyone who ever cared enough to rescue a T oroughbred horse from a bad situation or to off er a pensioned runner a second chance at a new vocation. T is is your chance to give back to the next generation of racing T oroughbreds who still need rescuing, adopting, and retirement opportunities. So, Go Baby, Go to the T oroughbred Alliance Show Series!
Brand new this year for owners, riders and fans of the T oroughbred horse, TASS is the brainchild of Beverly Strauss, Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic T oroughbred Rescue, together with Maryland Racing Secretary Georganne Hale and T oroughbred advocate Fran Burns. T e series off ers a fi rst- time opportunity for OTTBs to compete for year-end prizes and recognition among their own kind and combines both new and existing T oroughbred-only shows in Maryland and Virginia.
Off to a Great Start First on the calendar was
the three-day T oroughbred Celebration Horse Show at the prestigious Virginia Horse Center in Lexington on March 15-17. T oroughbred Celebration held its fi rst show in June 2009 and will host two other TASS events in June and October. Show manager Krista Hodgkin says that entries in these hunter/ jumper shows have grown every year and jumped forward again this year since joining TASS. Her focus, she says, is to “listen to her customer” and give competitors what they are asking for in terms of expanded class off erings and
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competition opportunities for riders and horses of other disciplines. Her June show will include a Hunter Trials event on the cross-country course at the Virginia Horse Center, a facility Hodgkin describes as “world class.” In addition, she will off er dressage classes at future shows. Next in the series
came the inaugural T oroughbred Festival at WinterPlace Park on April 6 at the Wicomico Equestrian Center in Salisbury, Maryland. T e facility exists on what was once the Caine family’s opulent Winter Place Farm, home to many a famous T oroughbred show horse in the 1970s, including Jet Run and Gozzi. Primarily a hunter/jumper show, WinterPlace Park off ered a division for T oroughbred dressage horses, an idea TASS Coordinator Fran Burns calls “brilliant.” T is fi rst-time event followed the success of T oroughbred-only shows before it, with large entry numbers and numerous sponsorships. Inspiration for the show came from manager Tami Tritapoe’s love for and dedication to her own OTTB show horses.
Summer Shows In its second year, the Mid-Atlantic
T oroughbred Rescue Horse Show, held at Heavenly Waters Park in Bel Air on June 1, will build on last year’s success by adding more classes for jumpers and a “Sale/Adoption Division”
to showcase
OTTBs presently being off ered for sale or adoption, as well as an Event Horse division, in which eventing tack and attire will be legal for competition. her show’s
About involvement
Hat City, a Maryland-bred by McKendree and out of White Foot Fannie, with owner Lauren Moran winning at this year’s Thoroughbred Celebration Show in Virginia
in the T oroughbred Alliance Show Series, Bev Strauss stressed the charity component of the series as being most important part of the organization. Each show donates some or all of its proceeds to groups dedicated to helping OTTBs fi nd new careers
and homes once they retire from racing. Fran Burns agreed, adding, “What we are doing is all about the horses.” “If you build it, they will come” could have been the trademark for the Totally T oroughbred Horse Show,
held
for the fi rst time last year in the infi eld at Pimlico Race Track.
Georganne
Sax Man (a.k.a Peter the Apostle), owned by Marie Wroten and trained by Nancy Ashway (Country Comfort Farm) was named Best Leadline Horse at the new Thoroughbred Festival at WinterPlace Park where he was the mount for twins Hanna and Haley Corkran.
Hale was in no way expecting in excess of 800 entries to pass through her in-gates that day in mid- July, and spent the fi nal days leading up to the show constructing an additional ring, fi nding a third judge and hustling more prizes to be given to
the winners of her only six classes off ered, some of which had to be divided into three sections. Judges Rodney Jenkins, Steuart Pittman and Lenny Hale had their work cut out for them, but must have enjoyed themselves, as they have agreed to judge again this year, along with Wendy Davis, a T oroughbred horsewoman hailing from Arizona. T e Totally T oroughbred Show management team has “tweaked” this year’s class off erings, still keeping them simple (just eight this year) but adding a $500 In-Hand class as well as the $5,000 Hillwood Stable LLC Jumper Classic at the July 13 show. Loch Moy Farm has become a household
name to eventers and jumper riders throughout the region, but it will be a pleasant surprise to hunter riders and trainers who attend the Loch Moy T oroughbred Hunter & Jumper Show on August 10- 11. Located just south of Frederick and convenient to Interstates 70 and 270, this equestrian paradise nestled among rolling hills has been in operation for over eight years but has never before hosted a hunter show. Not new to keeping internationally renowned competitors such as Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin happy and coming back, Loch Moy owner Carolyn Mackintosh knows how to make a competition successful…you bring in the best management team possible. “I have been chasing Bev Abbott for years!” Mackintosh exclaimed about the person she chose to run her show. Beverly Abbott, from Taneytown, is a highly sought- after show secretary and manager, well known around the Maryland horse show circuit for
continued... MAY 2013 | THE EQUIERY | 27
David Bell
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