Dr. J. David Richardson

In conjunction with the sixth annual Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards presented by Godolphin, this year's Community Award has been renamed the Dr. J. David "Doc" Richardson Community Award presented by Churchill Downs. The announcement was made following the sixth race Saturday at Churchill Downs as the track hosted a Celebration of Life for Richardson, the distinguished Louisville surgeon who was an owner, breeder and widely respected leader in the horse racing industry. He died Sept. 7 in Saratoga Springs, NY, from complications due to a breakthrough COVID infection at the...

Thoroughbred Charities of America is auctioning off a 2021 Breeders' Cup Stretch Run box at Del Mar to benefit the Race to Give campaign. The box was donated to honor the memory of Dr. J. David Richardson, who passed away in September. The six-person box, 4G, is on Del Mar's third level, and was donated by Richardson's friend, Dr. James B. Threlkel. It is valid for Friday, Nov. 5 and Saturday, Nov. 6, and includes preferred parking passing for Friday and Saturday. Stretch run boxes are located before the wire....

A public memorial for prominent Louisville surgeon, owner, breeder and regulator Dr. J. David "Doc" Richardson will be held at Churchill Downs on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. The celebration of life will be held in the Starting Gate Suites 4th Floor. Guests should enter Churchill Downs via the Executive Gate, which is located next to the Kentucky Derby Museum near the Barbaro horse statue. Saturday's sixth race, with an approximate post time of 3:18 p.m., will be dedicated to "Doc" and the "J. David 'Doc' Richardson...

Three years ago this week, at the September Sale, I was privileged by as powerful a reminder as I'd enjoyed in a long time as to why this is such a great business. Not in the sale ring itself, watching the billionaires puffing out and locking antlers, but just sitting in the pavilion lobby with a guy who had been born in a one-room house to teenage parents--and had spent the intervening seven decades accumulating the kind of riches, being contingent on a mighty intellect and noble heart, that would...

Very seldom does a person make the impact that "Doc" [Dr. David Richardson] made on so many people in so many different areas. He was a quiet genius in the fields of both medicine and Thoroughbred racing, an achievement that is so rare. He combined the qualities of intelligence, communicative skills, and an unparalleled memory with humility, generosity, and empathy. His loss is irreplaceable to those he called "friend." If you were privileged to be among them, as so many of us were, you have a hollow feeling today. A...

The impact of losing David Richardson has taken a tremendous blow to the hearts of the many people that adored him. David was an extremely intelligent, insightful leader who's passion and energy was directed to the greater good of our industry. If you were fortunate to have him touch your life, you ended up a much better person altogether. David died on the last day of his beloved Saratoga race meet.

David Richardson, M.D., a distinguished Kentucky-based surgeon who owned and bred Thoroughbreds for nearly half a century and was known as a thoughtful, cerebral racing regulator whose zeal for the sport shone through in his volunteer service on numerous industry-related boards, died Sept. 7 in Saratoga Springs, New York, after developing pneumonia related to COVID-19. Richardson had been briefly hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Saratoga Hospital; he was believed to be 76 years old. Chauncey Morris, the executive director of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners...