SECOND STRIDE RECEIVES $2000 GRANT FROM TCA

CONTACT: Kim Smith at (502) 807-6069,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 17, 2009

SECOND STRIDE RECEIVES $2,000 GRANT

FROM THOROUGHBRED CHARITIES OF AMERICA

TO HELP RETIRED RACEHORSES

CRESTWOOD, Ky. — Second Stride Inc. has been chosen to receive a $2,000 grant from Thoroughbred Charities of America to help care for and retrain retired racehorses and place them in new homes.

The Crestwood, Ky.-based nonprofit is one of just 82 organizations out of 243 applicants chosen to receive a grant this year from TCA, a national organization dedicating to providing a better life for thoroughbreds. The amount of the grant is double what Second Stride received from TCA in 2008, even though the organization said it had less to give this year from its endowment.

“We are honored to qualify for this grant from the TCA, especially this year with the economic situation in the country,” said Kim Smith, president of Second Stride. “We feel this shows the TCA, a driving force behind the welfare of the racing thoroughbred, has confidence in the work we do.”

Second Stride is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing professional rehabilitation, retraining and placement of retired thoroughbred racehorses with a goal of ensuring healthy and productive lives after the track. It relies solely on donations such as the grant from TCA to continue its work.

About Second Stride

With thousands of racehorses born in the United States each year, it is important for them to have a place to go after they leave the track. The way horses are handled and trained their first few months away from the track can influence the opportunities they have for the rest of their lives. Second Stride specializes in giving ex-racehorses the proper care and quality training they need in order to succeed in something new.

Former Second Stride horses are now competing in dressage, eventing, and polo, and are working as search and rescue horses, ranch cutting horses, lesson horses and trail and pleasure horses. Just as those horses have been helped, many people have benefited by having a great new companion.

Efforts are made to ensure each Second Stride horse and its new owner are a good match, and the owner’s intended use for the horse suits its health and capabilities. Adopters are thoroughly screened, and Second Stride follows up to ensure horses are continuing to receive quality care.

Since its inception in 2005, Second Stride has placed 107 horses in new homes, with 23 placed in 2008. It is the only nonprofit for retired thoroughbreds operating in the Louisville area that trains the horses for a new career, and many of its horses have come from Churchill Downs and other Kentucky area tracks.

Second Stride also works with racehorse owners and trainers and other equine groups such as 4-H and Pony Clubs to educate people about the needs of retired racehorses. Program horses have competed in shows while in retraining and appeared at other events to showcase the potential of retired racehorses.

Second Stride is currently in the process of completing infrastructure on a new, 103-acre location in Henry County, Ky., to help house more horses at one time, and ensure a comfortable environment for their transition from the track into a new career.

For more information on Second Stride, and to see horses currently up for adoption, visit www.secondstride.org.

Second Stride follows American Association of Equine Practitioners guidelines on ethical care for horses.

Board of Directors: Kim Smith, founder & executive director; Kathy Stim; vice president; Laura Forbes CPA, ESQ, treasurer; Jean Amick, secretary; Jim Asseff; Tom Drury; Tiffany Meredith; Joan Thompson.