National Museum of Racing and Hall of FameSaratoga Springs, N.Y. — The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will host an online preview discussion for the 145th running of the Preakness Stakes on Friday, Oct. 2, and will participate in the annual Secretariat Festival on Saturday, Oct. 10 with a virtual Museum tour highlighting the institution’s connections to Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner and Hall of Fame member.

Brien Bouyea, the Museum’s Hall of Fame and Communications Director, will be joined by Michael Veitch, the Museum’s Historian, for a look at the Preakness, which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 3. The discussion will take place at 1 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Oct. 2. To register for this free program, please go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mvuck6W1TwKLXh0dc37xaw

This year’s Secretariat Festival will provide several virtual opportunities to celebrate America’s ninth Triple Crown winner and 1974 Hall of Fame inductee, as well as his popular Hall of Fame connections. Free sessions of the festival will be streamed via Facebook Live on the @SecretariatFestival Facebook page, while ticketed fan forums will require pre-registration and will use Zoom.

The Museum’s virtual tour will take visitors through the newly refurbished Museum and Hall of Fame and allow viewers the opportunity to see and learn about specific Secretariat-related artifacts within the Museum collection. Tour highlights include Secretariat’s original Jockey Club registration papers, the new Hall of Fame interactive displays for the Meadow team members, and the famous John Skeaping bronze monument of Secretariat located in the Museum’s Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney courtyard. The Museum portion of the program will take place on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 1:45 p.m. Eastern. Complete information can be found here: https://www.secretariat.com/fan-club/secretariat-festival/

Breeders’ Cup and Maker’s Mark Champions For Charity to benefit Museum

Breeders’ Cup and Maker’s Mark®, have announced the 2020 Limited-Edition Maker’s Mark bottle from the Charity for Champions program, which began in 2015, with the goal of raising money for thoroughbred industry charities.

Now in its sixth year, the partnership continues a tradition of creating limited-edition Maker’s Mark® bottle collections featuring legendary Breeders’ Cup figures that are auctioned off in conjunction with the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. The third bottle in the latest collection of limited-edition Maker’s Mark® bottles will feature James E. “Ted” Bassett III, a former Keeneland and Breeders’ Cup President who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019 as a Pillar of the Turf.

Proceeds from the 2020 auction will support the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farms, and the Race Track Chaplaincy of America’s COVID-19 relief efforts supporting industry stakeholders most in need.

To purchase this year’s commemorative bottle, please visit the Breeders’ Cup website at: https://www.breederscup.com/charity-for-champions

Museum partnering with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation for Blackburn 2020 Horse Show Oct. 20

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will be an industry partner for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Blackburn 2020 Horse Show on Oct. 20. Streaming live, this worldwide event will shine the spotlight on the horse handling skills, equine health and anatomy knowledge acquired by the men in the program, and the powerful ways in which the horses of the TRF have changed their lives for the better.

The event will stream live, at 8 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 20. The TRF and Kentucky’s Blackburn Correctional Complex have had this extraordinary partnership for 20 years. The TRF-Blackburn Horse Show is an event in which Blackburn collaborates with the Lexington community and thoroughbred industry to witness the work of the horses and the men who participate in the TRF Second Chances Program.

For more information about the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, including upcoming events, please visit www.racingmuseum.org or call (518) 584-0400.

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Contact:

Brien Bouyea

bbouyea@racingmuseum.net

 (518) 584-0400 ext. 133