We know that many of our readers (including our four weekly bloggers!) are actively aiming for the 2020 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover, to be held at the Kentucky Horse Park on October 7-10, 2020. Accordingly, we are happy to share this update from RRP regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. This post originally appeared on Jumper Nation’s sister site, Eventing Nation.
Photo by Retired Racehorse Project.
The Retired Racehorse Project team is monitoring the COVID-19-related mandates, recommendations and event cancellations and their impact on the equestrian world, including how the cancelation of horse shows and other equestrian events are affecting those preparing horses for the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover.
We know and appreciate that our competitors are not only worried about the status of the Makeover itself, but about the equestrian competitions and events in the months leading up to the Makeover that most use to prepare their horses for a competition of this nature.
As the country navigates the coming weeks, the picture will become clearer as to what impact COVID-19 will have on events – equestrian and otherwise – scheduled for this summer and fall. We will stay abreast of guidelines put forth by the CDC, as well as state and federal governments, and how they affect our competitors. If a decision to possibly alter the dates or schedule for the Thoroughbred Makeover needs to be considered, we will be proactive and keep our competitors, vendors and other constituents informed.
In the meantime, we’ll do our best to support our competitors as much as possible as they navigate a very unique year in training and preparing their Makeover horses.
As we announced last month, for the first time ever we instituted a waitlist for the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover, which allows equestrians to apply to compete in the event after the January 15 application deadline. With widespread race cancelations and track closures throughout the country, more horses than anticipated will be retiring from racing in 2020 and this will allow them the possibility to compete in the event, if their new owners and trainers so choose. Those on the waitlist will be given a berth into the Makeover as scratches occur, so we encourage trainers who make the decision to scratch from the competition to submit their official withdrawal to the RRP soon after the decision is made so we can afford the greatest number of horses and riders the opportunity to compete.
Please check our website and social media regularly, as well as your email, for updates. If you have any questions regarding this or anything else, please email info@retiredracehorseproject.org.
Thoroughbred Makeover Links: