The Standardbred Retirement Foundation announced today that it has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the American Society for the Protection of Animals.

The grant is part of the ASPCA’s 'Retraining Racers' program and is to be used exclusively for the assistance needed to secure new careers and homes.

“We are very grateful that the ASPCA has recognized the importance of transitioning racehorses to a new career and the considerable expense that comes with that effort,” said Paula Campbell, president of the SRF. “With the current large number of horses under our complete care, we are in need of new assistance to further enhance and expand our training and adoption efforts that we would not be able to do without this help.”

With the continually growing demand to help harness racing's horses, this grant will fill the need for new advertising and promotion to attract desirable adopters as this is always a struggle. It will also provide for more training hours to ready the large number of horses for riding homes, replace damaged tack from floods, and help update the website to make the application process quicker.

"These needs are not allocated for in our budget this year, and we are full at the Cream Ridge, New Jersey facility where many of our adoptable horses are boarded. We must do all we can to get these horses into homes," explained Judy Bokman, SRF's director. “This is a generous grant, we are grateful to the ASPCA for recognizing these needs and our long-term commitment, and we are especially grateful to those who support us so faithfully for decades."

The SRF has cared for Standardbreds in need of a secure future for 24 years. It has provided nearly 2,500 adoptions and maintains a lifelong commitment to every horse that comes into the program. Presently, SRF has 71 horses that are adoptable and are waiting for homes, and another 108 standardbreds that are repeatedly passed over by potential adopters due to age or injuries which are kept in pasture until they pass, all under the expense of SRF.

For more information contact Jannine Kraus at [email protected] or check out adoptahorse.org.

(SRF)