The Maryland Jockey Club and Adena Springs will host the Totally Thoroughbred
Horse Show on the Pimlico Race Course infield on July 14. Admission is free.
Proceeds from the event will benefit three local Thoroughbred aftercare
programs.
“It is the first-ever horse show that is Thoroughbreds only and the first at
a race track,” Maryland Jockey Club racing secretary Georganne Hale said. “The
idea of having this was to make people aware that Thoroughbreds can have other
occupations after the racetrack.”
The Totally Thoroughbred Horse Show is the brainchild of Hale and Stacie
Clark-Rogers, manager of the Adena Springs Retirement program in Canada. Each
horse will show under its Jockey Club name. The traditional show horse has his
name changed often when it changes owners or circuits.
“It is really important to see how Thoroughbreds can be utilized outside of
racing,” Clark-Rogers said. “Mr. and Mrs. Stronach (owners of Adena Springs and
the Maryland Jockey Club) support this effort and want owners to be held
responsible for finding an aftercare solution because Thoroughbreds are capable
of doing all kinds of disciplines. We have programs at Gulfstream Park and Santa
Anita and hope to change people’s awareness by letting them know there are
options to complete the circle.”
Some of the familiar names already entered are multiple stakes winners
Outcashem and P Day, the latter of whom earned nearly $700,000 during his
57-race career, including a victory in the Grade 3 Baltimore Breeders’ Cup
Handicap at Pimlico in 2003.
“He was such a cool horse who was bred and trained by Charlie Hadry,” Hale
said of P Day. “He won races going long and short, on the main track and on the
turf. He has had a great career as a show horse after retiring in 2005 and it
will be fun to see him again. We also have many horses who were trained by Scott
Lake, Hugh McMahon, Ann Merryman and Linda Gaudet. It will be interesting to see
how many horses recognize the track.”
Oregon Ridge never competed at Pimlico but was purchased by Jeanne Vance of
Taylor Purchase Farm in northern Baltimore County for $810,000 as a Keeneland
September yearling and ran twice as a four-year-old in 2002. The son of A.P.
Indy was retired to the farm after an injury and was gelded. When Vance passed
away in 2003, Oregon Ridge was given to show jumping trainer Betty McCue, wife
of Maryland Jockey Club photographer Jim McCue.
“He is the champion show jumper of Baltimore County,” Jim McCue said. “He is
nothing but class.”
There will be eight different classes during the day, with six ribbons
awarded for each class and more than $4,000 in prize money.
| Class 1 | – | “Old Hilltop” Lead Line (children 6 & under) | $50 | |
| Class 2 | – | “MJC” Walk (children 10 & under) | $75 | |
| Class 3 | – | “MHBA” Walk/Trot (All ages) | $100 | |
| Class 4 | – | “The Jockey Club” Walk/Trot/Canter (All ages) | $300 | |
| Class 5 | – | “HRTV” Trot Over Fences (All Ages, Fence height is 1
foot) |
$500 | |
| Class 6 | – | “MTHA” Trot Over Fences (All Ages, Fence height is 2
feet) |
$750 | |
| Class 7 | – | “Adena Springs” Trot Over Fences (All Ages, Fence
height is 3 feet) |
$1,000 | |
| Class 8 | – | “Pimlico Perpetual” Trophy (1st & 2nd place horses from
classes 5, 6 & 7) |
$1,500 |
“Having the event at the track is a venue where we can show where the current
show horses got started,” Clark-Rogers added. “I’d like to see every racetrack
in North America hold a horse show during its off-season. Most horsemen and
horsewomen love the horse and we are doing this for the horse and letting the
public know what happens to them when they finish racing.”
Prize money will be paid to the owners of the first three finishers in each
class (60 percent – winner; 30 percent – second place; 10 percent – third).
“The money that we make through entries will go to horse rescue charities
that have helped us find homes for horses that raced in Maryland: Kim Clark’s
Thoroughbred Placement Resources, Mid-Atlantic and Angel Acres,” Hale said.
Just Plain Jumps will hold a 50/50 raffle with 50 percent of the proceeds
going to the three horse rescue charities.
The judges will be Rodney Jenkins and Steuart Pittman. Jenkins, one of
Maryland’s top trainers since 2000, dominated the American show ring in the
1960s, ’70s and most of the ’80s, and retired as the sports winningest rider.
The 67-year-old was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1999. He won
more than 70 grand prix classes, rode on ten winning Nations Cup teams from 1973
to 1987 and earned two silver medals in the 1987 Pan American Games as a member
of the U.S. Equestrian Team.
The Totally Thoroughbred Horse Show will begin at 10 a.m. (EDT). The rain
date is July 15. HRTV.com will streamline live from Pimlico with reporter
Carolyn Conley on-site.
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