All Thoroughbred show season heats up

OTTB Dustin’s Dreamer is often in the ribbons for owner Fran Burns

Author’s note: This story was originally published on January 25, 2013.

Building on the success of last year’s blockbuster all-Thoroughbred horse show season, an alliance has been forged among Thoroughbred welfare organizations, trainers, and racing officials to collaborate on developing bigger, better show venues for Thoroughbred sport horses.

A series of eight all-Thoroughbred shows will be held from April through October to honor the regal ex-racehorse sport horse, according to Fran Burns, a Thoroughbred advocate and newly appointed member of Thoroughbred Alliance Show Series.

The show series is galvanized by the overwhelming popularity of three signature Thoroughbred shows last year: MidAtlantic Horse Rescue Thoroughbred Show, The Totally Thoroughbred Show at Pimlico Race Course, and the Fair Hill Furlongs to Fences TB Show.

Buoyed by the hundreds and hundreds of entrants, and the positive buzz that has spread throughout the horse world, a roster of new all-Thoroughbred shows has been created.

Shows scheduled for 2013 are:

• June 1— MidAtlantic (MAHR) TB Show, Heavenly Waters Equestrian Center, Bel Air, Md.
• June 7-9, TB Celebration Show, Virginia Horse Center, Lexington, Va.
• July 13—Totally Thoroughbred Show, Pimlico Racetrack, Baltimore, Md.
• Aug. 10-11, Loch Moy TB Hunter Jumper Show, Loch Moy Farm, Adamstown, Md.
• Sept. 7-8, Fair Hill Furlongs to Fences, Fair Hill, Md.
• Sept. 11-15, The Maryland Horse and Pony Show, Prince Georges Equestrian Center, Upper Marlboro, Md.
• Oct. 25-27, TB Celebration Show, Virginia Horse Center, Lexington, Va.

As a committee member for theThoroughbred Alliance, Maryland Jockey Club Racing Secretary Georganne Hale, organizer of the successful Pimlico show, is thrilled to help spread the word about Thoroughbred sport-horses.

Mr. Hennessey and Monica Postma at Mid Atlantic Horse Rescue’s show last year

“We, at the Maryland Jockey Club, are very excited to be part of the first-ever, all- Thoroughbred horse show series,” Hale stated in a press release. “We hope this will bring more awareness that a Thoroughbred’s career does not end at the racetracks.”

Beverly Strauss, cofounder and executive director of MidAtlantic Horse Rescue, is equally excited to join the effort to showcase Thoroughbred talent.

“We are thrilled about the excitement that is building for our OTTBs in the horse show world,” Strauss stated in a press release. “It is time that we got back to the classic Thoroughbred. There isn’t a horse more athletic, intelligent, or willing.”

In addition to Burns, Hale and Strauss, the Thoroughbred Alliance Show Series Committee includes Sue Smith, of CANTER PA; Becky Foster, of The Maryland Horse and Pony Show; and Krista Penny Hodgkin, of Thoroughbred Celebration Horse Shows.

For more information or to register your Thoroughbred in advance for the show series please go to www.thoroughbredalliance.org or to Facebook at Thoroughbred Alliance Show Series.