A check for $75,000 was sent to the National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association’s Hurricane Katrina Relief fund to help Thoroughbred industry personnel affected by the hurricane, and a check for $25,000 was sent to the Churchill Downs Foundation to assist employees of CDI’s Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans.

“We wanted to lend a helping hand to horsemen, backstretch employees and racetrack employees who have been affected and we realized that the National HBPA and the Churchill Downs Foundation were closely monitoring the situation and would know how the funds could be best utilized,” explained Nancy C. Kelly, the executive director of the foundation.

Kelly has also been in contact with personnel from the Race Track Chaplaincy of America, who have representatives on the National HBPA’s Hurricane Katrina Relief fund committee.

The Jockey Club Foundation was formed in 1943 to help needy individuals in the Thoroughbred industry and it has distributed, in a confidential manner, approximately $11 million in the last two decades alone. Additional information about The Jockey Club Foundation is available through the foundation’s web site at http://www.tjcfoundation.org.