THOROUGHBREDS ARE GO RETURNS IN SPRING

Article and photo by Caroline Searcy

While thoroughbred breeders continue to bring the next generation of racehorses to life, there’s also far more focus in recent times on what happens to these horses away from the racetrack, whether they raced or not.

based equine therapy program that assists both horses and humans. And Racing Victoria has developed some great off track programs, particularly helping those hard to place thoroughbreds and TAG will update on some of that work, in an effort to share world’s best practice on a national level.

Thoroughbreds Are Go airs for five weeks in spring from October 30 on Sky Thoroughbred Central, it can be seen on Caroline Searcy’s Youtube Channel and via social media and back editions can be viewed on the The Thoroughbred Report (TTR) website.

Caroline Searcy’s national thoroughbred rehoming program, Thoroughbreds Are Go returns to our screens on Sky Thoroughbred Central (Foxtel Ch 528) in late October, now into its fourth year and fully funded by the breeding and racing industry.

The show has become a regular fixture for racing owners wanting to know how best to rehome their thoroughbreds and it’s also enormously popular, particularly on social media, in the equestrian world, with new thoroughbred owners picking up tips on caring for their horses from leading experts from around the world.

Coming up in series 2 of Thoroughbreds Are Go are a number of practical stories as well as, as the title of the show suggests, some great stories of elite riders such as Olympian Shane Rose who is aiming for the Paris Olympic Games with several young thoroughbreds.

One of Australia’s greatest competitors on board the breed, triple Olympian the legendary Merv Bennett and his son John, both licensed trainers at Nowra in southern NSW, will feature some great insights into how far thoroughbreds can progress in both small scale and in elite competition on a national and international stage. Merv’s daughter Vicki and his grand-daughter Maddi Brighton, already a highly accomplished equestrian on her off track thoroughbreds, will also appear in future programs.

Thoroughbreds Are Go continues to support shows providing great prizemoney for thoroughbred competitors – having sponsored Thoroughbred Sport Horse Association, the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Nowra show and others in the past few years.

In 2023 TAG funded a young rider, Leah Beth Anderton on her son of Rip Van Winkle, Only Tiger as they took part in the inaugural Racing NSW Equimillion. In a great story the love Leah has for her off track thoroughbred shines through as they prepare for the event – but after competing on the weekend they are unable to compete in the show jumping as the horse’s welfare is put first after signs of lameness. More stories will come from the Thoroughbred Sport Horse Association’s National Championships along with a very special story from Queensland about “Life With Horses,” a Queensland