Rick Violette

The New York Racing Association, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, and New York Thoroughbred Breeders will host the third annual New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day Aug. 17 at Saratoga Race Course. The featured race on Thursday's card will be the $125,000 Rick Violette, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for New York-bred sophomores named for the late trainer and NYTHA President who spearheaded the creation of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program and TAKE THE LEAD Retirement Program. Representatives from Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited organizations will be on-site to educate both racing...

The TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program will recognize the results and count the points earned by TAKE2 Thoroughbred League members competing in the rated Thoroughbred Hunter and Thoroughbred Jumper Divisions at all USEF horse shows. This rule change will be retroactive to the beginning of the current TAKE2 season, which kicked off Aug. 29, 2022, and runs through Aug. 27, 2023. "When we started TAKE2, we required the USEF-rated horse shows to complete an application to affiliate with our program," TAKE2 Executive Director Andy Belfiore explained. "Unfortunately, there were horse...

A total of 32 horses representing 14 states traveled to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington this past weekend to take part in the 2021 TAKE2 Hunter and Jumper Finals at the Kentucky National Horse Show Sunday afternoon. The $20,000 event was created in 2019 to honor late TAKE2 founder Rick Violette Jr. A chestnut named MVP, owned and ridden by Tess Fortune and trained by Chris Bennings, took the hunter final. Teenager Cyanea Robine rode Riley to victory in the jumper final. "It is wonderful to see all these...