The Turfway Aftercare Program (TAP), a joint effort funded by Turfway Park and owners who race their horses at the Florence, Ky., track, awarded $13,740 to four aftercare organizations that work to rehabilitate and retrain Thoroughbred ex-racehorses and transition them into second careers.

The funds were split between the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, New Vocations, Second Stride, and CANTER Kentucky. The checks were presented on Turfway Park's marquee day, as the track held the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes, a Kentucky Derby points qualifying race, on Saturday, March 23.

If you want to catch up with Ted Bassett, you have to move at a brisk trot. The former Keeneland Association chairman, now trustee emeritus at age 91, has a full schedule, starting with an important morning ritual: feeding the family pets at Lanark Farm, the Midway, Ky., property that Bassett’s wife, Lucy, inherited from her father in 1983.

Artificial racing surfaces at North American racetracks trace to 1966, when Tropical Park in Dade County, Fla., introduced a rubberized surface called “Tartan Turf,” developed by Hall of Fame trainer John Nerud and Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. (3M), whose chairman, William L. McKnight, owned Tartan Farm. One race per card was held on the Tartan Turf, but the vast majority of horsemen and jockeys refused to compete on the hard surface, even after tweaks were made to soften the ground.

When the first major racetracks began converting their dirt main tracks to synthetic surfaces in the mid-2000s, it added a new element to the sport. While it seemed as if synthetic was just a substitute for dirt, that was not the case, as all observers of racing quickly found out, and it put every stallion in North America at the same starting point: Who would be a good sire of runners on synthetic surfaces?

The best all-around American sire of the first decade of the 21st century, especially on dirt, was 1992 Santa Anita Derby winner A.P. Indy. Seattle Slew’s best son led the North American sire list twice (2003 and 2006), sired two classic winners and nine champions, and established a thriving sire line.

Photo courtesy of Hill 'n' Dale FarmsMidnight Lute

Davidson’s Tracks-N-Time in Midland, Mich. has added new sire Zulu Magic to its stallion roster for 2013.

The 8-year-old son of Johannesburg was retired at the end of 2012 after a five-year racing career where he won four of 17 starts for earnings of $73,653.

Multiple Group 1 winner Bushranger was represented by his first winner on Wednesday in England, when his daughter Outback Lover won a maiden race at Wolverhampton.

It was the second start for the 2-year-old filly, who is the first winner out of the winning Mujadil mare Lady Thyne. Outback Lover finished fifth in her debut effort at Lingfield three days earlier.

European Horse of the Year Frankel, currently standing his first season at Juddmonte Farms' Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket, England, will be available later this year to cover a limited number of mares on Southern Hemisphere time.

The Maryland Horse Breeders Association has honored Not For Love as its stallion of the year; Poised to Pounce as its broodmare of the year; and Tom and Chris Bowman as breeders of the year.

Not For Love, who stands at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md., earned his 10th title as the state's stallion of the year. He earned his latest honor by leading Maryland's 2012 general and juvenile sire lists by progeny earnings. The 23-year-old son of Mr. Prospector is the state's all-time career leader in both categories.