NTRA launches after-care website

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance launched a web page on Wednesday that contains listings of contacts for horsemen seeking to have retired horses placed with after-care organizations.

The web site, www.ntraaftercare.com, is part of a larger effort by the alliance to promote after-care organizations to address criticism and concerns over the post-racing careers of the sport’s horses. In addition to contact information for after-care representatives at racetracks, the site includes information for after-care organizations on obtaining funding, a video library of alliance-funded after-care presentations, and a listing of best practices for after-care organizations endorsed by the alliance.

The site also includes an interactive map of the United States showing after-care organizations by state. As of Wednesday, organizations in only five states were included on the map. On the site, the alliance was inviting organizations to sign up to be listed on the map.

The Safety and Integrity Alliance was established in 2008 following the public outcry generated by the death of Eight Belles shortly after she finished second in that year’s Kentucky Derby. The alliance accredits racetracks on a voluntary basis using a list of guidelines it has developed. The guidelines include a requirement that accredited tracks have a relationship with at least one after-care organization.