Thoroughbred Charities of America online stallion season auction begins

Thoroughbred Charities of America's annual stallion season auction, its largest fundraiser, is underway with an altered format this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online bidding on over 200 seasons for stallions standing in 14 states began online Wednesday and will continue through Friday with staggered ending times. Seasons available in the online auction include consistently prominent sires Ghostzapper, More Than Ready, and Speightstown; successful young stallions Liam’s Map and Palace Malice; Horse of the Year Gun Runner, whose first foals race in 2021; and others.

Along with the online auction, TCA typically hosts an annual party featuring a live auction of stallion seasons. With COVID restrictions on gatherings making that impossible this month, the organization will instead host a live auction of select stallion seasons during the upcoming Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. The live season auction will be held the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 12 in the sale pavilion after the conclusion of Keeneland January’s Book 1. Bidders or authorized agents may bid in person, by phone, or online.

The live auction will include seasons to perennial leading sires Curlin and Quality Road; young classic sire Constitution, breakout freshman sires Laoban and Nyquist, plus Blame and champion Game Winner, who is standing his first season. The season to Nyquist, sire of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist, includes a 2022 breed back.

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A silent auction of other items, including halters worn by champion Enable and leading sire Tapit, is also underway online.

Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) was formed in 1990 to raise and distribute funds to charities in the Thoroughbred industry that provide for Thoroughbreds during and after their racing careers by supporting qualified retirement and retraining organizations and by helping the people who care for them.

Robshams’ estate contributes to New Vocations

The New Vocations racehorse adoption program, which had to cancel many of its 2020 fundraisers, received another shot in the arm as the estate of supporters Joyce and Paul Robsham made a $500,000 contribution to the program’s endowment fund.

The Robshams were two of New Vocations’ founding supporters and instrumental in creating the endowment fund in 2005.

“Paul was a visionary,” New Vocations executive director Dot Morgan said in a release. “He saw the need for racehorse aftercare options long before it was recognized by the industry. He had a vision of New Vocations growing into a first-class charity that would serve racing nationally into perpetuity. The Robshams’ vision and commitment to racehorse aftercare is truly a gift that will ultimately provide sustainability to our program allowing us to serve more horses in the years to come.”

The donation comes during challenging times when all the program’s live fundraising events were canceled due to COVID-19. At the same time, the nonprofit served more than 600 horses - a record number - in 2020.

New Vocations also recently received a $50,000 grant from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The grant will continue to support horses coming into the program in need of rehabilitation time prior to receiving transitional training for adoption.

It will also help fund a pilot program in which New Vocations staff will collect data on the timing and type of veterinary care and soundness exams for 60 horses. The goal is to see how the timing and frequency of veterinarian exams relate to a horse’s length of stay in the program.