Riding For Their Lives

WHY WE'RE DOING THIS, AND HOW YOU CAN HELP

The way I see it, Thoroughbred race horses have contributed to the very meaning of life, so they too deserve to retire with dignity and not be sent to the slaughterhouse just because they now do six furlongs in 1:16 instead of 1:12. 

We invite you to follow our journey, and if you'd like to sponsor us, just click on the link. 

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation currently cares for over 1200 unwanted horses. When you sponsor us, we are helping them in their mission to save ALL unwanted racehorses. 

Two men riding bikes over 620 miles, visiting eleven race tracks in twenty five days and saving 8,000 race horses by doing so. They need your help, they need your support, to find out how you can get involved:

http://www.firstgiving.com/trf

http://ridingfortheirlives.blogspot.com/

Thoroughbred horses give us so much excitement, joy and even heart break. They run their hearts out and all they ask for in return is to be taken care of.   

Free Racehorses at Fasig-Tipton…Come get one…

(Editors note: this is a re-written article I posted some time back however due to the amount of people I encountered that did not know of this important tax incentive, and with Fasig-Tipton this weekend I felt it merited a re-print)

No, I’m not kidding. Section 179 of the Economic Stimulus Package allows for under certain parameters free racehorses. The IRS explains the stimulus package as follows:

The first incentive is the expensing allowance under Section 179, which allows horse owners who purchase horses or other business property and put it in service in 2009 to expense up to $250,000. A limit is in place such that if the total property purchased in the year exceeds $800,000, the expense allowance goes down a dollar for each dollar spent over $800,000.

The next continued incentive brings back the 50% first-year “bonus depreciation” for horses and most other depreciated property purchased and used in 2009. This incentive applies to horses and any other property with a useful life of 20 years or less. To take advantage of this depreciation the property must be “new,” meaning that its original use started with the owner taking the depreciation. “Original use” means the first purpose to which the property is put. Assume that in 2008, a horse business pays $500,000 for a colt to be used for racing and $50,000 for other depreciable property, bringing total purchases to $550,000. The young colt had never been raced or used for any other purpose before the purchase. The business would be able to expense $250,000 as a Section 179 deduction, deduct another $150,000 of bonus depreciation (50% of the remaining balance), and take regular depreciation on the $150,000 balance. As always speak with your tax professional, and if they have any questions the IRS is very willing to help.


This bill equates to a tremendous tax write off and benefit to Thoroughbred racing, which is why I’m trying so hard to get the word out about it. The benefit of this legislation to a sale like Fasig-Tipton could be magnanimous. In tough economic times when individuals tend to hold on to their funds tightly, the impact of knowing that they could take such tax breaks could immensely affect the bottom line at Fasig.