Kick Up For Racing

15/10/2026

“Do racehorses only matter while they’re making money?” 👀

Hear from Nina and Yona Lloyd about what happens after racing and the people helping retired racehorses find their next career.

Got questions about life after racing? Let us know in the comments section 👇

13/10/2026

08/10/2026

How high-tech medical scanning helped to fix one of the biggest mysteries in horse racing 🐎🔬

We’ll be exploring how these scans work in upcoming videos. Got questions on the tech or the science? Drop them below!👇

17/09/2026

Last night, Marnie’s “forced cycle of pregnancy” produced a lovely filly - Nellie.

Thirty-two minutes after being born, Nellie was wet, blinking, breathing properly and attempting to solve a problem no foal has ever solved elegantly… Standing up.

Before she got there, Mikey and the team had already checked the basics. She was alert, breathing well, her gums were a healthy colour and she could hold herself upright on her chest. Her heart and lungs sounded as they should and her navel was treated with iodine.

Marnie was being watched too, for bleeding, pain, injury and to make sure she passed the placenta normally. As soon as she did, the placenta was checked by the team to make sure it was intact and no bits had broken off, as they can be very toxic when retained in the mare.

Horse people have a useful shorthand for these first few hours: 1, 2, 3.

Foal stands within about 1 hour.
Nurses within 2.
Mare passes the placenta within 3.

Nellie didn’t need much help.

She got one front leg underneath herself, lost the other, tried the back end instead and discovered she had made the situation worse.

Then she tried again, and again. Four legs eventually pointed in roughly the same direction and Nellie stood.

Not elegantly - but elegant wasn’t the goal. Getting out of the way of predators is. Which is why a foal can gallop in a couple of hours.

In the wild, there is no Mikey checking her breathing, no treated navel, nobody checking Marnie for passing the placenta and nobody noticing if the little filly isn’t getting up.

But Nellie didn’t pay attention to any of the checks anyway - she had found the udder, so there were very important things to do!

16/09/2026

Marnie’s “forced cycle of pregnancy” ended at 1:43am on Wednesday.

Eight days late.

This will come as disappointing news to anyone under the impression the Thoroughbred breeding industry has complete control over these things.

Marnie had spent the previous few weeks being checked, watched, discussed, written on the night-watch board and generally surrounded by people attempting to predict when she would foal.

Marnie declined to participate.

Then, at 1:32am, she changed her mind.

She became restless, walked, lay down, got back up and looked at her flank. Mikey made the call, the on-call staff came in and Marnie was quietly moved into a small outdoor foaling yard.

Thoroughbred mares in Australia generally foal outside. The yard is deliberately small, clean and well-drained: enough room for Marnie to move and foal safely, with people close enough to help if things stop going to plan.

Her waters broke.

Two front feet appeared, one slightly ahead of the other, then a nose.

The Superman pose - exactly what everyone wanted to see.

So everyone did something humans occasionally find quite difficult… Nothing.

If there had been one foot and no nose, a leg or head in the wrong position, strong contractions without progress, or the red membrane that can signal the placenta has separated too early, that would have changed very quickly.

But Marnie knew her part. Eleven minutes after her waters broke, a wet bay filly landed on the ground.

Meet Nellie.

The cord was left to break naturally when Marnie moved. Marnie stayed down for a moment, turned towards her, nickered, then got up and began licking her clean.

Her mate Pippa watched from the adjoining paddock.

A wild mare does exactly the same job without Mikey, the night watch, the on-call staff, the foaling kit or a vet if something goes wrong.

When everything goes right, those people mostly stand there and watch. The difference is what happens when it doesn’t.

Marnie, however, demonstrated that she required none of them.

Nellie was breathing.

Pippa went back to eating.

Marnie remained unavailable for social media comment.

08/09/2026

EventStars doing what they do best - promoting the realities of the industry in transparent language and being super real about it! 💪

I thought this was a timely story to reiterate what we do and our relationship with the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Anything that is sent to us for retraining and rehoming - the decision made to send this horse down to New Zealand hasn't been made on a whim. Unlike private horses, these horses ARE sent to us for athletic futures and to be rehomed - with vet approval, even if they have 'something' on their vet history (lets face it - all horses do - the difference is with the HK horses that it's all documented). Obviously the vets don't have a crystal ball, but they do have a vet degree....something most of you on FB don't possess!

In the case of this chap KIMBERLEY, who arrives tomorrow, he's NOT for rehoming. He's with us for permanent retirement due to proving himself unsuited as a ridden horse due to his temperament - he's been in the Racing Training Centre for aspiring jockeys since his retirement from racing in late 2024.
He was bred in Brazil and was no star on the racetrack, winning only 1 of his 20 starts.

While I'm not generally a fan of Thoroughbreds living out their days as paddock mates (because often they're not cared for appropriately in terms of feeding and feet - generalising but it's often true), I know this horse will have a good life as he WON'T leave our hands. We can provide him with space and friends and variety in terms of some big open rolling paddocks, and ensure he'll have a good life with all his needs met.

I thought this was a 'feel good' story to show some of the things that go on behind the scenes - some of the good stories about the Thoroughbred industry, who are taking responsibility for this horse and his life post-racing (though knowing FB, someone will probably find a way to drop a negative comment).

07/09/2026

Nature has had millions of years to refine the newborn foal, but it has retained some fairly unreasonable deadlines.

The first is breakfast. A foal has only a matter of hours to get something it may need for the rest of its life.

Humans, fortunately, have become rather good at improving the odds.

A foal is born with very little useful antibody protection circulating in its blood. The mare has it instead - concentrated in the thick first milk she produces after birth: colostrum.

The foal has to stand, find the udder, latch properly and drink it, and it needs to get on with it. Its ability to absorb those large antibodies through the gut is highest in the first few hours, then falls rapidly until very little can get through.

Nature’s system is clever, but it is also unforgiving.

Which is why breeders don’t simply admire a newborn foal, decide mother nature knows best and come back in the morning.

They watch it nurse. They make sure it is actually swallowing. Colostrum is tested for quality, and the foal’s blood can later be tested to make sure the antibodies actually made it into circulation.

If they didn’t, there is still a chance to do something about it. Stored colostrum may help while the gut can absorb it. If that window has closed, a vet can give plasma.

A wild foal gets the same small window, the same biology, the same rapidly closing window and considerably fewer backup plans.

There is a particular sort of confidence required to look at all of this and decide the human involvement is the cruel part.

Nature makes magnificent animals, but it has never been particularly sentimental about the ones that don’t make it.

06/09/2026

After several weeks of not providing much feedback, Marnie has offered the humans a clue about her foaling.

She waxed up.

Rachel found two little beads of dried colostrum on her teats, a common sign that foaling is getting close. Some mares wax days beforehand. Some don’t bother at all.

Broodmares remain committed to making an exact science of foaling difficult.

Rachel checked Marnie wasn’t leaking milk, made her notes and handed over to Mikey, who had 62 mares on his night-watch board. Six looked particularly close.

Marnie was now one of them.

Mares have a strong tendency to foal at night, when things are quieter and they are less likely to be disturbed. It is a perfectly sensible arrangement for the mare and a fairly inconvenient one for the humans.

So someone is physically there all night.

Cameras and the day team’s notes help, but ultimately Mikey has to decide whether a mare is having a sleep or starting to foal. The six get particular attention. The other 56 still get watched, because the seventh mare is generally the one who hasn’t read the notes.

Other staff are on call. The foaling kit is ready with towels, gloves, lubricant, tail wrap, navel disinfectant, torch and colostrum gear. Stored colostrum is there if needed. The vet is a phone call away.

Last night, Marnie lay down at 11:40pm.

Mikey looked up.

Pippa kept eating.

Marnie rolled, got up and returned to the grass.

At 1:15am she wandered away from Pippa, circled, then came back.

Mikey checked her again.

By dawn another mare had foaled and her name was off the board.

Marnie was still pregnant, having spent the night eating, sleeping and occupying a completely unreasonable amount of Mikey’s attention.

For Marnie, nothing happened.

For Mikey, that was a normal night’s work.

31/08/2026

Activist: “September 1. It’s the day you start forcing mares to get pregnant again.”

Breeder: “You’re talking about live cover?”

Activist: “Yes. I’ve seen the videos. It’s brutal.”

Breeder: “It can look rough. They’re two half tonne animals - that’s why there are experienced handlers with both of them.”

Activist: “And the mare gets no say.”

Breeder: “Oh, she has a say. Try bringing a stallion near a mare who isn’t in standing heat.”

Activist: “What happens?”

Breeder: “She can clear a breeding shed remarkably quickly. Pinned ears, squealing, swinging her hindquarters around. Two back legs that can accurately find a target - hence the padded boots. Nobody in the breeding shed is left wondering what she thinks.”

Activist: “So you force it on her.”

Breeder: “No, she’s covered when she’s in heat. That’s the short window in her cycle when she’s receptive to being covered.”

Activist: “It’s still brutal.”

Breeder: “Go watch the brumbies. A wild stallion doesn’t stop at one cover - he’ll cover her repeatedly. Sometimes eight or ten times in the same day. We aim for one cover and a vet has checked she’s about to ovulate first.”

Activist: “That’s still not natural.”

Breeder: “Well yes, nature has fewer vets, less padded equipment and considerably less paperwork.”