Bob and Jill Baffert announced major donations to four charities that care for racing’s retired athletes. Following American Pharoah’s historic victory in the Belmont Stakes and becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, the Bafferts said donations would be given to CARMA, Old Friends, TAA, and PDJF. “Jill and I are blessed and honored to be in a position to be able to donate a portion of my earnings to these four special charities whose work is vital to our industry,” said Bob Baffert. “We hope these contributions will go a long way toward supporting and bringing awareness to the very important work these non-profit organizations do in caring for our human and equine athletes.”
“I spoke to both Bob and Jill before the race and they told me of their plans to shine a very bright spotlight on horse retirement,” said Madeline Auerbach, CARMA’s Founder and Past President.
“We are very grateful to Bob and Jill for making such a substantial contribution to CARMA,” said Lucinda Mandella, Executive Director. “Their generosity and support means so much. They have demonstrated exceptional leadership for such an important cause in our industry.”
CARMA, (California Retirement Management Account), was founded in 2007 and has granted over $2.5 million dollars to charities that retire, retrain and re-home off-track Thoroughbreds. It is a charitable 501 (c)(3) organization formed to assist Thoroughbred rehabilitation and retirement organizations that facilitate the care and retraining of horses who raced in California and whose racing careers have ended. CARMA ensures the racehorses have retirement options by managing and disbursing funds to qualified retirement facilities caring for such horses.