Longtime horseplayer Scott Shapiro has pledged to donate proceeds from five Belmont Stakes bets to Thoroughbred charity ReRun, Inc.
Longtime horseplayer Scott Shapiro, in an effort to raise awareness of Thoroughbred welfare among race gamers, has pledged to donate proceeds from successful days at the track to a top Thoroughbred charity.
At the Belmont Stakes, third jewel of the Triple Crown, Shapiro has pledged to make five, $5 wagers on race day and donate all winnings to horse charity ReRun, Inc.
Shapiro got the idea after he was invited to participate in Cappers for Causes—Triple Crown Handicapping Challenge & Fundraiser, a fundraiser sponsored by Danonymous Racing.com. When Shapiro was invited to choose a charity to receive proceeds, he selected ReRun, Inc. And soon after, decided to take his charitable work for the Thoroughbred training and re-homing organization a step further.
“The Danonymous Racing idea peaked my interest, and after I picked ReRun, Inc., I started to read up on them. That’s when I go the idea to try to do more for them,” Shapiro says. “Where a horse ends up after racing is something you don’t think about everyday when you’re a horseplayer.”
ReRun, Inc. Board Member Brian Zipse, the managing editor of Horseracing Nation, hopes more horseplayers will donate to horse charity.
But the 40-year-old who grew up riding horses as a young boy always has warm thoughts for the animals who work so hard on the track.
“I like to make contact with the horses at the barn, and when I hear sad stories about them, it hits home,” he says. Noting that horse-welfare awareness among handicappers is, in his opinion, low, Shapiro says he hopes to help raise awareness—and funds for horses— through his effort.
ReRun, Inc. board member Brian Zipse, the managing editor of Horseracing Nation who also blogs at Zipse at the Track, says it’s an idea whose time has come.
“Dananonymous is the brainchild behind the concept … and they were doing a lot of good things raising money for causes,” Zipse says, adding that he’s thrilled Shapiro not only elected to give to ReRun, Inc. via Dananonymous, but is continuing to fundraise for the horse charity. “It’s kind of unique, and I hope more handicappers follow suit.”
That is awesome!
Susan- the “degenerates” as most horseplayers jokingly refer to themselves, were really happy that you wrote this article. These guys are really the best and we all hope that Scott has a great day at Belmont come Stakes Day and that both he and the horses benefit greatly from his top notch handicapping skills.
Excellent!!!
Thank You Scott! Maybe you can shame Penn Nationaland the other big corporations ,who are making millions, to do the same !
What a great idea as a way for handicappers to help contribute to Thoroughbred Aftercare! It is so important to support this critical phase in the life of retiring racehorses.
As President of the North East Thoroughbred Sporthorse Association, which holds the NETSA Jockey Club Affiliated Horse Show for OTTB’s each year here in Mass, I see new and old friends from the track successfully competing in new careers.
Thank you Scott Shapiro!
MTS
Thank you for doing this Scott!
Dan T at Dananymous Racing has always supported OTTBs and other good causes connected to racing and its extended “family”. He started The Monzante Fund and raised every penny for the retirement of Skippy Due. You don’t hear about him as much as you might because he is a very humble individual. It is great to see that his efforts to encourage others to remember what is important about racing are really catching hold. Brian has always given back as well. Congratulations to Greg I hope he hits big- he deserves it! These horseplayrs remember it is the horse that makes it all possible!
Thank you Susan for finding this story and giving us horse lovers another day of renewed hope that, indeed, there ARE many good people out there in the industry who go above and beyond. And thanks to Scott Shapiro and wishing him the beat of luck — then everybody wins!