Eight Belles to Receive Silver Horseshoe Award
- Author:KDF Press Office
- Date Published:04/14/2009
The Kentucky Derby Festival is pleased to announce that the Silver Horseshoe Award, which is traditionally presented in recognition of service to the community in all walks of life, will be given to the late filly Eight Belles, who finished runner-up in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, a race run by only 39 fillies in the past. The award will be presented at the 53rd annual They're Off! Luncheon on Friday, April 17, at the Galt House East Hotel. Accepting the award will be Ricky and Betsy Porter, owners of Eight Belles. The Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation - the Derby Festival's charitable arm - will present a check for $5,000 to Thoroughbred Charities of America in memory of Eight Belles.
"We are very honored that Rick and Betsy Porter will be on hand at the They're Off! Luncheon to accept the Silver Horseshoe Award and to witness the donation to Thoroughbred Charities of America," said Mike Berry, President and CEO of the Kentucky Derby Festival. "Eight Belles will be remembered fondly by horse lovers from all over the world, and she joins the ranks of the many other distinguished recipients of the Silver Horseshoe Award."
Said Rick Porter: "We'll be making a special trip to Louisville to accept this special award. We're very appreciative of the honor and the contribution. You can't imagine the volume of cards, phone calls, flowers and drawings that we received from all over the world (in tribute to Eight Belles). I've never seen anything like it."
Prior to the luncheon, the Porters will sign commemorative holiday ornaments that were created to honor the memory of Eight Belles. The "Eight Belles" ornament, which will be on sale outside the entrance to the luncheon, was created by the Christopher Radko Company. Ten dollars from the sale of every ornament will be donated to the Eight Belles Memorial Fund, which was established by Thoroughbred Charities of America for continued research into racehorse injuries and the retraining of retired Thoroughbreds for secondary careers
Eight Belles will also be honored by Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day this year with the renaming of the $150,000-added La Troienne. The Grade III Eight Belles Stakes race for 3-year-old fillies will continue to be run on the Derby Day undercard and will be preceded this year by the ringing of a special bell at the track to pay tribute to the memory of the horse. Last August, Eight Belles' remains were interred at the base of a magnolia tree planted within the Kentucky Derby Museum's courtyard near the gravesites of four Kentucky Derby winners. The memorial includes a bronze plaque dedicating the tree to Eight Belles' memory.
"We are very honored that Rick and Betsy Porter will be on hand at the They're Off! Luncheon to accept the Silver Horseshoe Award and to witness the donation to Thoroughbred Charities of America," said Mike Berry, President and CEO of the Kentucky Derby Festival. "Eight Belles will be remembered fondly by horse lovers from all over the world, and she joins the ranks of the many other distinguished recipients of the Silver Horseshoe Award."
Said Rick Porter: "We'll be making a special trip to Louisville to accept this special award. We're very appreciative of the honor and the contribution. You can't imagine the volume of cards, phone calls, flowers and drawings that we received from all over the world (in tribute to Eight Belles). I've never seen anything like it."
Prior to the luncheon, the Porters will sign commemorative holiday ornaments that were created to honor the memory of Eight Belles. The "Eight Belles" ornament, which will be on sale outside the entrance to the luncheon, was created by the Christopher Radko Company. Ten dollars from the sale of every ornament will be donated to the Eight Belles Memorial Fund, which was established by Thoroughbred Charities of America for continued research into racehorse injuries and the retraining of retired Thoroughbreds for secondary careers
Eight Belles will also be honored by Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day this year with the renaming of the $150,000-added La Troienne. The Grade III Eight Belles Stakes race for 3-year-old fillies will continue to be run on the Derby Day undercard and will be preceded this year by the ringing of a special bell at the track to pay tribute to the memory of the horse. Last August, Eight Belles' remains were interred at the base of a magnolia tree planted within the Kentucky Derby Museum's courtyard near the gravesites of four Kentucky Derby winners. The memorial includes a bronze plaque dedicating the tree to Eight Belles' memory.
