Belmont Festival trainers expand pledge for Thoroughbred aftercare

Cherie DeVaux, Tom Morley and Graham Motion have added their names to the Belmont Pledge, turning Belmont week into more than a racing showcase and linking Saratoga’s biggest stage to the sport’s aftercare burden.

The pledge commits a portion of Belmont Festival earnings to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, which says it provides dignified lifetime care for hundreds of retired Thoroughbreds. The new sign-ons build on an existing group that already included Michael McCarthy, George Weaver, Whit Beckman and Amelia Green, all of whom pledged part of their Belmont Festival earnings and are taking part for the second year in a row.

That matters because the money is not symbolic. It creates a direct pipeline from festival success to the horses that have already left the track, and it does it during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, when the sport’s attention is concentrated in one place. The 2026 festival is scheduled for June 3 through June 7 at Saratoga Race Course, with the Belmont Stakes set for Saturday, June 6, at 7:04 p.m. ET. NYRA has also described it as the final Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, which gives this year’s pledge extra weight.

DeVaux was blunt about why she wanted in. She said aftercare is a cause that is incredibly important to her and that racehorses deserve care long after their careers are over. That is the right framing, because the TRF says many of the horses in its care live two decades or more beyond their racing days. This is not a short-term rescue operation. It is a long tail of responsibility that follows the sport well past the finish line.

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, founded in 1983, describes itself as the oldest and largest Thoroughbred aftercare organization in the United States. Maggie Sweet, the organization’s executive director, has said TRF hopes more trainers, owners and jockeys join the pledge. That is the real test for a program like this: whether it stays a one-week gesture attached to a marquee meet, or becomes part of how racing measures success in the first place.

For Belmont Festival participants, the message is simple. Winning at Saratoga can mean more than purse money and headlines. With the Belmont Pledge, it can also mean a measurable lift for the retired horses whose work made the sport possible.