March Trainer Newsletter: Feeling Lucky? Opportunities & Reminders

March 19, 2025

Hello 2025 trainers,

Staying in the loop

Our staff will keep Makeover Trainers aware of any upcoming opportunities or changes primarily through emails like this one. It is very important that you regularly check your email for communications from RRP staff.

If your coach, parent/guardian, horse’s owner, etc. wishes to receive the trainer newsletters, they may sign up for the mailing list here.

Horse Registrations

Have you acquired your Makeover horse? If so, have you submitted your horse registration form? Trainers are to register their horses as soon as they are acquired and must have a horse registered no later than July 29, 2025. If you do not register a horse by July 29^th, you will be assumed a scratch, and your entry will be withdrawn. If you have your horse now, there is no reason to delay. If you end up deciding to bring a different horse instead, you can withdraw your active registration and register a new horse as many times as you would like before the July 29^th deadline without penalty.

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 before your horse is published on the website. We will contact you if there is a problem with your registration.

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 From here you can check on the status of your registration, report your horse as sold or withdrawn, and add photos to your horse’s profile.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.

Scholarships and Incentives

Scholarships and incentive programs are some of the many excellent ways to offset the costs of Makeover registration and entry fees.

If you acquired your 2025 Makeover horse from a Right Horse Partner, you are eligible for the 2025 ASPCA Right Horse Scholarship. Thanks to generous funding from the ASPCA’s 2024 Reimagining Racers grant, up to 50 eligible horses will receive a scholarship with a minimum value of $405. There is no scholarship application; all you have to do is submit your horse’s registration form and correctly identify the qualifying organization that you acquired your horse from. Spots are limited and the sooner you submit your horse’s registration, the more likely you are to receive the scholarship funding. If you believe your horse is eligible for the scholarship or you would like to acquire a scholarship eligible horse, please visit the scholarship page for more information.

There are several other programs that offer our trainers incentives for taking a horse to the Makeover. Check the Makeover Incentive Offers page to see if your horse qualifies!

Earn back your Makeover fees!

Make the Makeover is back and better than ever! This is 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.

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

Raising $1,000 may seem daunting, but since we launched this year’s MTM campaign, 33 of you have already taken the plunge and 2 have surpassed this goal, earning back a $350 refund of entry fees. Time is still on your side, but don’t delay getting started! It’s the perfect time to make some progress before the busyness of spring and summer really set in. Just like in training your Makeover hopefuls, setting small weekly or monthly goals is an effective way to make steady progress and hold yourself accountable over time.

So what are you waiting for?! Start your fundraiser here. 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). Please reach out if you have any questions – we’re happy to help!

2025 Competition Format Changes

As was announced in 2024, RRP has made significant changes to the 2025 competition format that we are very excited to implement, including moving away from the Finale competition to the new Discipline Championships format. Individual disciplines including Eventing, Show Jumping, and Ranch Work have also seen some competition format changes. If this all sounds new to you, it is time to take a pass at the rulebook! Pro tip: Skimming through and reading the red text is a quick way to get caught up on all of the changes.

The Makeover is a unique competition and the format for each discipline often varies from a traditional competition. Please take the time to study up on how each discipline is formatted and judged. This may inform your retraining process and will help you set your horse up for success.

Educational Library

The RRP has an extensive and FREE educational library available online full of information about transitioning Thoroughbreds, from care and nutrition to track life to training tips. You’ll find our past educational webinars recorded here too! (Trainer webinars are linked in your portal.) Check out the free RRP Educational Library at TheRRP.org/library.

Other Reminders

A few quick reminders to note before you close this email:

If you would like to compete more horses than you originally applied for, please email secretary@therrp.org to increase your horse count before June 27^th.
If someone you know wanted to compete this year but thinks they missed the application deadline, there is still time! Late applications are open until June 27^th. Please encourage them to submit their applications through the portal as soon as possible.
If you received a limited non-jumping restriction with your acceptance but hope to jump at the Makeover, do not forget to submit your updated jump videos for review. The deadline to submit new videos is, you guessed it, June 27^th.
As you plan your horse’s spring vaccines, keep in mind our health paperwork requirements. Don’t let an out-of-date EHV-1 vaccine be the reason you cannot participate in the Makeover. Check pages 38 and 39 of the rulebook for more information.

The Retired Racehorse Project staff is here to help you have a successful and positive experience preparing your horse for the Thoroughbred Makeover and beyond. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing secretary@therrp.org.

All the best,

Rayna