Fundraising

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has been named an ambassador for the Jockeys & Jeans fundraiser to be held this year at Monmouth Park Saturday, Sept. 11. A winner of better than 6,000 in his career, Velazquez is also chairman of the board for the Jockeys' Guild and serves on the board for the Permanently Disable Jockeys' Fund (PDJF). "Being a Jockeys & Jeans Ambassador is one of the highest honors our organization can bestow on a person and we take it very seriously," said Jockeys & Jeans President...

Racing Welfare in conjunction with Great British Racing (GBR), the Tote and Sky Sports Racing, have launched the 2021 edition of the pop idol competition, Furlong Factor. Introduced last season, the competition is free to enter and first prize is £1,500 in cash and a trophy from Inkerman London. All funds raised from the Furlong Factor will go toward Racing Welfare's Lost Events Appeal. Entries close Apr. 21. To enter, contestants are asked to record themselves singing into their phone and email their videos to communications@racingwelfare.co.uk or send in by...

In memory of the late champion jockey Pat Smullen, Irish racing stars have pledged their support in the fundraising efforts of the Children's Health Foundation Crumlin, which aims to purchase a spinal cell saver auto transfusion device for the children's hospital, CHI at Crumlin. In the coming weeks, jockeys and racing personalities will call on racing and sports fans for donations towards the essential blood transfusion equipment. John Butler, Jockeys' Sports Physiotherapist and Paul Quish, Racecourse Announcer, who spearheaded the campaign in 2019, both agreed: "Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, everyone...

Editor's note, the following is a letter sent from Cancer Trials Ireland to the family of Pat Smullen, who passed away from pancreatic cancer on Tuesday evening. To the family of Pat Smullen It is with a very heavy heart that, on behalf of the staff and members of Cancer Trials Ireland, we put pen to paper in remembrance of our friend, and benefactor, Pat Smullen. Pat was a friend like no other. Almost a year ago to the day, Pat and his supporters raised a game-changing €2.6m for pancreatic...

Officials at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) presented a check in the amount of $20,000 to a handful of non-profit organizations, the result of a joint undertaking with the City of Saratoga Springs to raise funds via the sale of limited-edition Saratoga face masks. The campaign was launched in mid-June and reportedly met with a great deal of interest in the public. The funds will be distributed evenly between AIM Services, Inc.; Franklin Community Center; Shelters of Saratoga and the SNACpack Program (Saratoga Nutrition Assistance for Children). A portion...

The inaugural Virtual Yorkshire Open Day hosted by Racing Welfare will be on Sept. 13. Due to COVID, the event replaces the Middleham and Malton Open Days, which were cancelled. The Virtual Open Day will feature racehorse trainers from across the county providing video tours and other insights into their training operations, as well as equine superstars and horses to follow. For more information, go to www.racingwelfare.co.uk/yorkshireopenday/. There will also be a Virtual Epsom Open Day on Aug. 31 which will also showcase the Derby's rich history through video tours,...

Thoroughbred Charities of America will host a webinar entitled "Fundraising in Challenging Times" Friday, Apr. 3 at 2 p.m. EST to aid nonprofit organizations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "When the pandemic hit, we reached out to our grant recipients to ask how they were doing," said Erin Crady executive director of TCA. "One of the biggest concerns among grantees was about lost revenue due to cancelled fundraisers and events so we thought we could help by providing an educational resource that will assist in making a shift to digital fundraising."...