Let's hear it for..... Prairie Meadows
 

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/app...0388/-1/LIFE04


Excerpt.....


Horse racing: Fund will help injured horses
DAN JOHNSON • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • July 15, 2008

A fledgling program to help injured horses at Prairie Meadows got an earlier start than planned Sunday.

Greatest Token, who fractured a leg at the end of Friday's fifth race, became the first horse to be operated on at Iowa State as the beneficiary of a still-unnamed fund supplied by horse owners.

The fund, which organizers say may be the first of its kind in the nation, is intended to help horses that need surgery for treatable injuries, but whose owners cannot or will not pay for operations.


The details are still being worked on, but along with fund-raisers, the proposal will ask thoroughbred owners to voluntarily contribute $2 per start to the not-for-profit fund.

"It's something the horsemen are looking into to help the horse," said Sharon Vail, president of the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners Association.

The program is expected to apply to two to five horses per year and the goal is to raise $10,000 to $15,000. The horses would be retired and either sent to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation in Newton, or in the case of some fillies, be donated to Iowa State for its breeding program.

Marvelous and unquestionably the right thing to do.