Racing Club's Warrior's Club to Join Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation at Newly-Funded Sanctuary Farm at Chestnut Hill

May 13, 2021

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (“TRF”) will welcome graded stakes winner Warrior’s Club to the TRF Sanctuary Farm at Chestnut Hall through a generous $30,000 donation from the Churchill Downs Racing Club.

“The Churchill Downs Racing Club has been a real thrill and has generated hundreds of new Thoroughbred owners,” said Gary Palmisano, Churchill Downs Racing Club Director. “Warrior’s Club has taken his members and the club on an incredible journey and he deserves, like all Thoroughbreds, to live out his days in a place where people can visit him and he can enjoy his retirement.”

Warrior’s Club was the first horse for the Churchill Downs Racing Club which was started in 2016 and the son of Warrior’s Reward took the 200 partners involved in his group on a whirlwind ride over the course of four years winning races at marquee tracks across the country with victories at Churchill Downs, Saratoga, Oaklawn and Keeneland. Trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, Warrior’s Club amassed earnings of over $850,000 including a victory in the Grade III Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland Race Course and competed at the sport’s highest level, even participating in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI).

The Churchill Downs Racing Club has a commitment to aftercare. Through the success of Warrior’s Club on the racetrack, the group was able to purchase several other horses, all of whom have gone on to second careers and homes after racing. To date, the club has either claimed back or purchased back all but two horses, both of whom are actively still racing, to ensure safe and happy retirements.

On behalf of Warrior’s Club and the Churchill Downs Racing Club donations also were made to Second Stride, New Vocations, PDJF and Thoroughbred Charities of America.

The TRF Sanctuary Farm at Chestnut Hall opened in April 2021. The farm, a first-of-its kind, was designed to give the Louisville community and fans from around the world a direct connection to the horses at the heart of horse racing. The new TRF Sanctuary Farm at Chestnut Hall will be the permanent home of 11 horses from the organization’s national herd of 500 retired Thoroughbred racehorses. These “herd ambassadors” will serve as educators to tell the story of the long life and diverse second careers that await these equine athletes when their racing days are done. Located on nearly 30 acres of historic farmland in Oldham County and featuring a beautiful farmhouse restored to serve as an event venue, Chestnut Hall has been created for the express purpose of connecting Thoroughbred horses to the people of Louisville, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond. Starting mid-May, the farm will be open to the public for tours through Visit Horse Country and will be available as a unique venue for educational events and fundraisers for nonprofits across the Louisville community.