FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 7, 2017
Contact: Meredith Downey
Director of Marketing & Education
(859) 276-6793
mdowney@toba.org
TOBA Announces 32nd Annual National Awards Dinner
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association announced today that the 32 nd annual TOBA National Awards Dinner will be held on Saturday, September 9, 2017 at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky.
The National Awards Dinner honors owners and breeders from 22 states and Canada. Also honored are the National Owner of the Year, four Regional Owners of the Year, National Breeder of the Year, Small Breeder of the Year, Broodmare of the Year, Rood & Riddle Sport Horse of the Year, Claiming Crown Horse of the Year and recipient of the Robert N. Clay Award.
“We are thrilled to host this year’s TOBA National Awards Dinner at Calumet Farm,” said Dan Metzger, president of TOBA. “Calumet’s history, tradition and re-emergence as a major force is very important to our sport. Calumet will provide an incredible setting for all of our honorees and patrons and we are very grateful to the team at Calumet for hosting what promises to be an unforgettable evening celebrating outstanding achievements in Thoroughbred racing and breeding.”
Tickets for the National Awards Dinner may be purchased at: www.toba.org/2017-national-awards-dinner/ or by calling Meredith Downey at (859) 276-6793.
About Calumet Farm
Located on the Versailles Road major artery running into Lexington, Calumet Farm was founded in 1924 by William Monroe Wright, a successful entrepreneur and owner of Calumet Baking Powder. The farm was developed initially to breed and race Standardbreds, but Warren Wright moved the business toward Thoroughbreds after his father’s death in 1931. Calumet became racing’s dominant breeding and racing establishment in the 1940s and ’50s, sweeping the Triple Crown with Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation in 1948. Even having the stalwart Alydar in the late 1970s, the farm erosion that began in the 1960s became more pronounced until it imploded under financial and legal problems. Bought at bankruptcy auction in 1992, prominent horseman Henryk de Kwiatkowski restored the farm and its fabled white fences and white barns with red trim to their original pristine look. Upon de Kwiatkowski’s 2003 death, the farm passed onto his children through a trust and ultimately was sold in 2012 to the Calumet Investment Trust. Calumet Farm has once again built a stallion band and large racing stable, including winning an 18th Triple Crown race when Oxbow captured the 2013 Preakness.
About TOBA
TOBA, based in Lexington, Ky., was formed in 1961 and is a national trade organization of leading Thoroughbred breeders and owners. TOBA’s mission is to improve the economics, integrity and pleasure of the sport on behalf of Thoroughbred owners and breeders. Projects managed by TOBA include the American Graded Stakes Committee, Claiming Crown, Ownership Seminars, Breeding, Conformation & Pedigree Clinics, TOBA Owners Concierge, OwnerView and the Sales Integrity Program. TOBA provides international representation for U.S. owners and breeders on the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee, International Cataloguing Standards Committee and International Breeders Federation. Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) is the charitable arm of TOBA. TOBA Media Properties, a subsidiary of TOBA, owns The Horse magazine, Eclipse Press and is co-owner of The Blood-Horse LLC. TOBA is represented on the board of directors of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium as founding members.
