TRF ELECTS WILLIAMS AND LUDT AS NEW LEADERSHIP

Robin Traywick Williams named president, Tom Ludt chairman

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) announced today the unanimous election of Robin Traywick Williams as its President and Tom Ludt as Chairman.

Williams, formerly Chairman of the National Racing Compact and director of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, succeeds Johnathan Miller, who stepped down as President after a three year term. Ludt is president of Vinery, a member of the Breeders’ Cup board of directors, and a member of the TRF’s executive committee.

“I am pleased and honored to be named the next President of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation,” Williams said. “Johnathan led the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation through a period of transition and I’m looking forward to work with the Board of Directors in continuing to move this great organization to the next level.”

Williams’ election as president follows in the footsteps of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s new working relationships with the New York Racing Association (NYRA), Jockeys’ Guild, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NYTHA) and The Jockey Club.

 “It is a new era for horse retirement,” said TRF’s executive director Diana Pikulski. “TRF’s success over the last 26 years is now front and center in racing, and this new executive team is perfect to establish the funding and infrastructure we need to fulfill our mission going forward.”

Williams, a native of Lynchburg, Virginia and graduate of Hollins University, served for 10 years on the Virginia Racing Commission where she helped oversee the advent of horse racing. During that time she also was elected as director of the board of the Association of Racing Commissioners International and on the board of the North American Pari-Mutuel Regulators Association.

Williams is credited with initiating the national racing license project and served for four years as chairperson of the National Racing Compact, which issued the first national license in 2000.

Her involvement with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation dates back several years. In 2007 she organized the James River chapter of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, where inmates at the James River Work Center care for retired Thoroughbreds while learning life and vocational skills.

 Ludt was named GM of Vinery in 2005 before being named president in 2008. He’s currently a member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority and was chairman of the Blue Ribbon Panel of the Jockey’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Committee. He’s also currently a board member of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

 “The TRF is so well respected, and its growing partnerships within the industry says a lot about that respect,” Miller said. “I think with Robin as President and Tom as Chairman, we’re going to take the TRF to new heights. I think the board is now the strongest it’s ever been.”

Founded in 1983, the TRF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to retiring thoroughbred racehorses after they are finished racing. TRF operates retraining and adoption facilities and satellite farms across the country as well as vocational training in equine care for inmates at nine correctional facilities nationwide. TRF currently cares for approximately 1,200 horses with hundreds of others in adoptive homes. Additional information is available at trfinc.org.