Monique Koehler, a pioneering advocate for retired racehorses, will receive a Special Eclipse Award for her work with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.
Koehler, who founded TRF in 1982, will receive her award on January 18 at the 39th Annual Eclipse Awards ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
"I am very honored and humbled to have been selected as a recipient of this year's Special Eclipse Award," Koehler said. "When I established the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation nearly three decades ago, it was out of my personal concern for these noble animals and for humane causes in general. I was not involved with racing in any way except as a casual fan...."
There are currently more than 1,200 retired horses in the care of the TRF. Koehler's foundation provides lifetime care, retraining, and adoption for retired Thoroughbreds and has farms in 13 states.
"It has been a wonderful and fulfilling journey and I am able to take a large measure of satisfaction in what the TRF has been able to accomplish," Koehler said. "And the thousands of horses we have saved, the many thousands more whose rescue, rehabilitation, or adoption we have facilitated, and the men, women, and children whose lives we have changed for the better through our pioneering vocational training programs." Read more
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The Eclipse Awards should be interesting this year. Especially the great debate over HOTY: Zenyatta vs. Rachel. I truly can't say who I'd vote for; they are both outstanding fillies and you can't really compare their astounding victories. So I'll wimp out and say it's a tie. :p