2025 Trainer Acceptance Letter

February 18, 2025

Congratulations!

You are one of over 300 talented trainers and team members who are on track to show the world what a Thoroughbred ex-racehorse can do at this year’s Makeover.

Would you like to announce your acceptance on social media? Download the official 2025 Accepted Trainer Badge here and share it on your socials with #TBMakeover!

DON’T STOP READING HERE!

What follows is all the essential information you need to set forth on your journey to Kentucky.

We will have a “Welcome Webinar” TONIGHT which you can access via Zoom Video Conferencing (passcode 854624) at 7:00 PM EST, Tuesday, February 18^th. In this webinar, our staff will review much of this email, provide you with information needed to be successful throughout the Makeover process, and answer any questions.

Communications and Resources

The RRP sends all formal communications by EMAIL and will be utilizing the Trainer Newsletters bulletin board to relay important information between now and October. Please read emails and newsletters thoroughly and be sure to check that they are not landing in your spam folder. NOTE: If you choose to unsubscribe from the RRP’s emails, you will be unsubscribed from trainer emails. We also utilize text notifications on occasion and more heavily during the weekend of the event. You will receive text updates if you opted in on your trainer application.

These communications, along with our Rulebook and Trainer Portal, are designed to be essential resources for you. The RRP has a small staff, and we create these resources in an effort to anticipate and address as many questions as possible and thus serve you better. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the information that’s been made available to you. The more informed you are, the better experience you will have!

How to Contact the RRP

While the entire RRP staff are all available to support and assist you, as a competitor, your primary points of contact are the Program Manager/Makeover Show Secretary, Rayna Erasmus, and Program Assistant/Makeover Show Secretary, Molly Hutchison. Rayna and Molly work a 9 AM to 5 PM EST, Monday through Friday schedule. The best way to reach them is by email at secretary@therrp.org. Facebook messages to staff are not an appropriate way to contact us. The Facebook group is also not meant for rule-related questions; please contact the office or secretary directly.

Schedule of Critical Dates

Below is a list of deadlines throughout the year. All paperwork deadlines close at 5pm EST on their due date, which will always fall on a business day. We will not contact you if you are missing paperwork and missing paperwork jeopardizes your Makeover entry. If we choose to accept late paperwork, we have the right to assess a late fee of up to $100.

February 18, 2025	Acceptances announced
April 6, 2025	EARLIEST date for EHV-1 vaccine compliance: EHV-1 must be administered no more than 6 months prior to move-in at KHP
June 27, 2025	Late applications close: Anyone who missed the January application deadline may still submit an application until this deadline. A $100 late fee will apply. Horse additions close: Accepted trainers wishing to add more horses to their entry must email the secretary to increase their horse count and pay the associated fees. Trainer change close: This is also the latest date to request trainer replacements, team member changes, and entry type changes (from individual to team or vice versa). Jump Restrictions: Video submissions must be submitted by this date for limited non-jumping restriction reconsiderations.
July 29, 2025	Horse Registration close: All Individual and Team Captain entries that have not registered their makeover eligible horses by this date will be withdrawn.
August 5, 2025	Final entry open: Final entry enters you into your chosen discipline(s), jump heights, clinic registration, reserves stalls, and enters your horse into the Marketplace (if desired). Microchips must be recorded by this time as well.
August 29, 2025	Final entry close: Individual and Team Captain entries without a completed final entry form by this date will be withdrawn.
September 5, 2025	Final entry edits close.
September 22, 2025	Latest date for EHV-1 vaccine compliance: EHV-1 must be administered no less than 14 days prior to move-in at KHP
October 5-9, 2025	If clinic registrations meet the minimum threshold on September 5, registrations will re-open for competing horses only until 6:30PM EST on Thursday, October 9. A $15 late fee will be assessed. Clinic registrations are not open for alumni horses after the September 5 deadline.

Horse Registration and Entry Management

Trainers are to register their horses as soon as they are acquired and must have a horse registered no later than July 29^th, 2025. If you do not register a horse by 5pm EST on July 29^th, you will be assumed a scratch, and your entry will be withdrawn.

You may access the Makeover Horse Registration Form by selecting “Register a Thoroughbred” from the actions column dropdown menu next to the appropriate entry in the Trainer Portal. When completing any form in this section you must be logged in to the website using the account that you used when you submitted your trainer application. Once your registration is submitted it is reviewed and formatted to create a public profile on the website. It may take several days (or even longer as we work through the initial influx) before your horse is published on the website. We will contact you if there is a problem with your registration. If you registered your horse before February 18^th, please give our staff some time to review and update your horse’s registration status.

Once your Horse Registration is submitted it will show up in the My Entries grid. From here you can check on the status of your registration, report your horse as sold or withdrawn, and add photos to your horse’s profile.

Team Captains are responsible for registering their team’s horse, uploading health documents, and completing the final entry form. These actions cannot be done through a team member’s Trainer Portal.

ASPCA Right Horse Scholarship

The ASPCA Right Horse Scholarship offers reimbursement of stabling and first discipline fees for up to 50 eligible horses competing in the 2025 Makeover that have been adopted from Right Horse partner organizations. Accepted Makeover trainers must register their eligible horses and identify the qualifying organization that they acquired their horse from on the registration form. Horses that meet the hard-to-place criteria will be prioritized and any additional scholarship funding will be awarded to eligible horses in order of when the trainer submitted the horse’s registration form.

Sale Horses

You will notice that some horses will have a green horse head logo next to their name on the entries list. This icon indicates that the Makeover trainer selected that the horse will potentially be for sale on the registration form. After the final entry period closes, only those that are entered in the ASPCA Makeover Marketplace will have this icon displayed next to their profile.

Discipline Championships

Beginning in 2025, the Finale event format will be replaced by individual discipline championships, welcoming back the top ten highest-placed horses after preliminary competition. Most discipline championships will take place in the same locations as preliminary rounds, and all will call back twice as many horses to participate as the former Finale format; horses will go into the championship round on a clean slate score. Prize money previously awarded to the overall Thoroughbred Makeover Champion will be divided across all ten disciplines and prize money will be paid out through tenth place.

Clinics

The Thoroughbred Makeover Clinics will take place on Friday, October 10^th, 2025, following the conclusion of preliminary competition. The clinics serve as an opportunity for horses and trainers that did not qualify for the division championships to receive additional education from the judges. Clinic opportunities will be available in a select number of disciplines and will be taught by the discipline’s preliminary competition judges. Registrations for clinics will be part of the Final Entry process beginning on August 5^th, 2025. More information on Clinics can be found here.

Code of Conduct

By participating in the Thoroughbred Makeover, trainers become ambassadors not only for the RRP and the event but also for the Thoroughbred breed; therefore, the RRP expects trainers and those associated with them to conduct themselves with the highest degree of horsemanship and sportsmanship before, during, and after the Thoroughbred Makeover. An acknowledgement of this code of conduct was included within the participation agreement which you signed and submitted with your application.

Prize Money

Thanks to a generous donation by James and Shari Ough, prize money for the Thoroughbred Makeover will be increased by $25,000 for the next five years, beginning with the 2025 event. This additional prize money will offer payout through tenth place for the new Championship format that debuts this year, which will welcome back the top ten highest placed horses in the Retiring Racehorse division for a championship round of competition. The Ough’s donation will bring the guaranteed base price money for the Thoroughbred Makeover to $139,000. The updated prize money distribution can be found here.

Microchips and Health Requirements

The Thoroughbred Makeover has become known for industry-leading policies regarding horse identification, as well as soundness and wellness. In addition to current Coggins and health certificates, the Thoroughbred Makeover requires each horse entering a competition ring in Kentucky to pass an Arrival Exam which verifies that the horse meets the following standards:

Is in a minimum body condition score of 4 according to the Henneke Body Condition Scoring System,
Is microchipped with a Jockey Club-registered chip (available for purchase here),
Is vaccinated for EHV-1,
Is sound in-hand,
And has normal vitals and is free of any major swellings or blemishes that would impede performance.

It is also strongly recommended that horses are vaccinated in accordance with the AAEP core vaccination guidelines. Trainers should familiarize themselves with these policies and the Arrival Exam procedure, which are all found in the rulebook, and engage their veterinarian to help them make sure their horses are appropriately prepared for the competition. The RRP staff is always available to support trainers in achieving these requirements.

Lodging and Other Reservations

Competitors are encouraged to make lodging arrangements sooner than later, as options fill up quickly. Information about our host hotel and KHP camping is under the “Travel” tab on the general event information page.

Stabling arrangements are not made until August and will be handled through the RRP. It’s going to be a long week. If turnout is essential for your horse, there are ample layover facilities in the area that you could stable at overnight and ship into the Horse Park during the day.

Round pen rentals at the Kentucky Horse Park are not reserved through the RRP. Trainers are responsible for making their reservations directly with Dever, not with KHP or the RRP. Call 859-233-9702 for reservations.

Make the Makeover Fundraiser

Make the Makeover is back and better than ever! We’re thrilled to announce the return of this campaign, an opportunity for YOU to earn back your registration fees and help produce this year’s Thoroughbred Makeover. All eligible trainers who raise $1,000 or more through peer-to-peer fundraising for the RRP will earn a $350 refund of Makeover fees. Last year, 27 trainers reached or surpassed this goal! To sweeten the deal in 2025, the top three fundraisers will receive additional prizes for their efforts:

1^st place: 52” Exmark Radius S Zero Turn Mower from Equine Equipment ($10,000 value)
2^nd place: HERO Pico PEMF machine and accessory bundle by Magnus Magnetica (~$4000 value)
3^rd place: $500 cash prize from RRP

So how do you get started? Head to GiveLively to create your own fundraiser page, where you can begin by sharing a bit about you, your Makeover horse, and what you’re looking forward to on this journey. Any individual trainer (or team captain) accepted to the 2025 Thoroughbred Makeover is eligible to participate and create a fundraising page; team members are encouraged to share the pages created by their team captain (individual fundraisers cannot be combined). Once created and approved, fundraising pages will be linked to your horse’s profile at therrp.org/entries to help your efforts. Personal fundraiser pages can be shared on external platforms and used to log training updates, document stories about your horse’s milestones, or simply share what this experience means to you. Fundraising closes October 9th, but don’t delay! The year will get busy before you know it, so the earlier you start the more likely you are to reach your goal.

Stay tuned for more details and fundraising tips to help you get started.

RRP Thoroughbred Makeover Trainers Closed Facebook Group

We maintain a Facebook group for Makeover trainers past and present to share news, discuss their work, and get to know one another. This group is administrated by the RRP staff and volunteers who work to make sure it stays on topic, positive, and family friendly. Group admins have the right to remove posts or comments that they believe are not in the spirit of, or distracting from, the intent of the group.

If previous years are any indication, you are likely to encounter some like-minded new friends who share your passion. The Facebook group can help make that happen and is an excellent resource for advice and encouragement from experienced trainers.

Please review the rules posted for this group regarding horse sales, advertising of additional services, and other important notes.

Webinars

The RRP organizes several webinars on key subjects for Makeover trainers throughout the year. Webinars are accessible via Zoom Video Conferencing and are also posted to YouTube for viewing after the fact. Mark your calendars for these upcoming sessions:

TODAY: February 18^th at 7 PM EST: Welcome to the #TBMakeover Class of 2025
RRP program manager Rayna Erasmus, program assistant Molly Hutchison, and communications manager Kristen Kovatch Bentley provide information to get you started successfully on the road to Kentucky. Access via Zoom Video Conferencing (passcode 854624).

Promotion and Press

The Thoroughbred Makeover gets lots of press, and that’s a good thing. The RRP’s mission is to increase demand for these horses, and promotion is a big part of that. You will notice that the stories we pitch to the press tend to have some type of unique or noteworthy angle, whether it’s about the horse or the trainer. If you feel you or your horse have a newsworthy angle, please let us know, as we can only promote stories of which we are aware! If you and your horse are not well known, it doesn’t mean we’re not rooting for you. The official hashtag that we monitor for content is #TBMakeover. Please be sure to use this hashtag if you would like us to see, and possibly share, your posts.

It serves the RRP’s mission when your work with Thoroughbreds is promoted. Whether you are an amateur that trains and sells a horse from time to time or a professional with a large training operation and a herd of students, you are the bridges to second careers that the racing industry and future horse buyers need to meet.

Welcome!

When the RRP began in 2010, our goal was to get more Thoroughbreds into the hands of great trainers who could demonstrate their quality. The Makeover continues to make that happen in a big way! Enjoy the process over the next eight months, listen to your horses, make good friends, and learn something new. This is about so much more than one weekend in October. You are an impressive bunch, and we are proud to welcome you to the Class of 2025!

All the best,

Rayna