The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form
and the National Turf Writers Association announced Wednesday that Monique
Koehler, whose tireless work saving retired racehorses through Thoroughbred
retirement programs, will be honored with the 2009 Special Eclipse Award. The
Special Eclipse Award honors outstanding individual achievements in, or
contributions to, the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
Koehler will receive her award at the 39th annual Eclipse Awards on January
18 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
A former advertising executive, Koehler, who resides in Middletown, New
Jersey, became interested in the plight of racehorses that did not have “second
careers” or could not be used for breeding after they were retired from racing.
She founded the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) in 1982 and helped to
transform it into the largest retired equine rescue program in the nation with
more than 1,200 horses in its care. Since its inception, the TRF has been
providing lifetime care, retraining and adoption for retired Thoroughbreds at
TRF-operated farms in Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Florida, Virginia, South
Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, Vermont, Massachusetts, Indiana, Tennessee and New
York.
In the early stages of or the organization, Koehler negotiated a milestone
agreement with the State of New York Department of Correctional Services. In
exchange for land use and labor at the state’s Walkill Correctional Facility,
the TRF would design, staff and maintain a vocational training program in equine
care and management for inmates.
The prison program was recently expanded at Wallkill and has been replicated
at TRF farms located at the Blackburn Correctional Facility in Kentucky, the
Marion County Correctional Facility in Florida, Wateree Correctional Facility in
South Carolina, Putnamville Correctional Facility in Indiana, James River Work
Center in Virginia, Sykesville Correctional in Maryland and the Plymouth County
Jail in Massachusetts.
“I am very honored and humbled to have been selected as a recipient of this
year’s Special Eclipse award,” said Koehler, who is board chairman emeritus of
TRF. “When I established the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation nearly three
decades ago, it was out of my personal concern for these noble animals and for
humane causes in general. I was not involved with racing in any way except as a
casual fan. However, as the years went by, the success of my personal mission
became inexorably linked to that of dedicated members of the racing community
including Penny Chenery, Allaire duPont, Skip and Mary Shapoff, and many others.
Without their support, understanding and guidance, my goals and those of the
Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, could never have been accomplished. Through
this award, I firmly believe that the Committee is recognizing all of us who
have taken part in this life-enriching, life-saving quest.
“It has been a wonderful and fulfilling journey and I am able to take a large
measure of satisfaction in what the TRF has been able to accomplish, and the
thousands of horses we have saved, the many thousands more whose rescue,
rehabilitation or adoption we have facilitated, and the men, women and children
whose lives we have changed for the better through our pioneering vocational
training programs.”
“I can think of no better honoree. Monique took a huge ugly problem and
turned it into a life affirming, positive program in which racing, through its
support and its horses, gives back to society,” said Diana Pikulski, executive
director of the TRF and a volunteer for the organization since 1980. “Only
someone as astute and resolute as Monique could accomplish this especially when
she was so far ahead of the industry in her vision. I am thrilled for her and
for the TRF.”