NEWS

The Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover will take place at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, October 4-7, 2018. The Thoroughbred Makeover is a $100,000 competition in which hundreds of trainers acquire a recently retired racehorse and prepare it over a period not to exceed ten months for competition in one or two of 10 riding sports. Formats for competition are designed to test the quality and progress of each horse’s training. The Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium is organized by the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP), a 501(c)3 charitable organization dedicated to facilitating placement of Thoroughbred ex-racehorses in second careers.

RRP created the Thoroughbred Makeover to showcase the trainability and talent of off-track Thoroughbreds, and to inspire trainers to secure the futures of these animals through training. In addition to benefiting the horses, the Makeover is intended to help trainers establish themselves professionally or as amateurs in their respective disciplines. Without good trainers, Thoroughbred racehorses cannot become great riding horses.

The Makeover also serves as the only national gathering of the organizations, trainers, and farms dedicated to serving these horses when they retire from racing. The event will evolve over time to meet the needs of these groups. To read more about the requirements to enter a horse, please click here.

Name: Andrea Groubert
Home Club: Darlington Polo Club (Darlington, Pennsylvania)
Horse: Goldhunt

Name: Mike Groubert
Home Club: Darlington Polo Club (Darlington, Pennsylvania)
Horse: Baby Let's Dance and Skylar's a Jiggen

Name: Julie Powers
Home Club: Darlington Polo Club (Darlington, Pennsylvania)
Horse: DM's Exclusive

Name: Mark Powers
Home Club: Darlington Polo Club (Darlington, Pennsylvania)
Horse: Miss Conspicuous

Name: Justin Whitesell
Home Club: Darlington Polo Club (Darlington, Pennsylvania)
Horse: Another Dispute

Name: Harry Caldwell
Home Club: University of South Carolina Aiken (Aiken, South Carolina)
Horse: Hookedatfirstsite

Name: Frank Stubblefield
Home Club: Hickory Hall Polo Club (Whitestown, Indiana)
Horse: Stature

Name: Trey Schott
Home Club: Lexington Polo Association (Lexington, Kentucky)
Horse: Elenathena

Name: Buck Schott
Home Club: Louisville, Polo Club (Louisville, Kentucky)
Horse: Tweeter in Chief

Name: Courtney Asdourian
Home Club: Lexington Polo Association (Lexington, Kentucky)
Horse: Tanyas Pride

Name: Clare Pinney
Horse: Imperial Rose

Name: Kalley Krickeberg
Horse: Sassy Ashley

Name: Amber Longreen
Horse: Alsterone

For more information on trainers and horses, please click here.

On Thursday, October 4, at 9:00am ET, all polo competitors will compete in a preliminary round in which they will do a three minute agility pattern without a mallet and then a three minute stick-and-ball session. Judges USPA President Tony Coppola and USPA Director of Services Carlucho Arellano will score both sessions on agility, willingness, control and movement of the horse.

The top six horses will move on to the Saturday finale where they will compete in an additional schooling session and a one chukker scrimmage. The scores from Thursday will carry over and the cumulative score from Thursday and Saturday will determine the winner. For more information on polo division judging criteria, please click here.