Second Stride launches $50,000 challenge for Churchill Downs aftercare campaign

Second Stride set a $50,000 target around Churchill Downs’ Gallop for Good campaign, making aftercare part of the conversation on a day built around one of racing’s biggest cards. The Horsemen’s Challenge, launched June 21, is aimed at raising money by the end of Saturday’s Stephen Foster Day program, when Churchill Downs will stage seven stakes and head the card with the Grade 1, $2 million Stephen Foster.

The timing matters. Gallop for Good, announced by Churchill Downs Incorporated on June 2, is a national online giving campaign for Thoroughbred aftercare nonprofits, centered on a one-day giving event June 27 at Churchill Downs Racetrack. The track says the campaign uses a centralized peer-to-peer fundraising platform and is designed to connect nonprofits, donors and industry partners around the lifelong welfare of Thoroughbreds. Donations made during the one-day push may also be matched or boosted through additional fundraising incentives.

For Second Stride, the campaign is not a symbolic gesture. The Oldham County, Kentucky-based nonprofit has moved more than 2,100 retired Thoroughbreds into second careers and safe forever homes since its 2005 founding, and it describes its work as rehabilitation, retraining and placement for retired racehorses. It also serves non-racing Thoroughbreds in need, including broodmares and unable-to-race bloodstock, giving the operation a wider reach than the typical racing retirement program.

Kim S. Smith, the founder and executive director, said the organization’s objective is safe, lifelong homes for the horses in its care, with particular appreciation for the owners, trainers and breeders who trust Second Stride with that responsibility. The Horsemen’s Challenge is aimed squarely at the people who know the sport from the inside, including horsemen, owners, syndicates, horseplayers and fans, because the aftercare issue sits closest to the racetrack community that benefits from these horses in the first place.

The stakes extend beyond one fundraiser. Second Stride has been accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance since 2014, became an ASPCA Right Horse partner in 2021 and launched its Broodmare & Bloodstock program in spring 2022. In 2024, horses came to the program from 19 racetracks and training centers in 15 states, and 176 horses were placed with adopters across the U.S. and Canada. Churchill Downs also hosted Thoroughbred Aftercare Day in 2024 with nine organizations onsite, underscoring how the track is increasingly using marquee race days to make aftercare visible, measurable and part of racing’s business of staying credible beyond the wire.