Belmont Ball Raised $150,000 for Equine Research

The Belmont Ball, hosted by the New York Racing Association on June 6 at Belmont Park, raised more than $150,000 for the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.

The black-tie event featured a live auction with items ranging from box seats for the Belmont Stakes and a bronze sculpture of a colt to a golf weekend in South Carolina, hotel accommodations in Key West and an oil painting of War Emblem, among other items.

Nearly 300 people attended the ball.

“We are very grateful to the New York Racing Association, to those who donated auction items and to those who attended the ball or made private donations,” said Nancy Kelly, the vice president of development for the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. “The money raised by this event will enable additional research to study the various ailments that continue to plague horses.”

The foundation was also one of four charities designated as beneficiaries by the Belmont Stakes Festival and will receive additional proceeds from the festival at a later date. The other three beneficiaries were the Disabled Jockeys Fund, the Belmont Child Care Association Inc. and the New York Special Olympics.

The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation currently is funding 23 projects for more than $800,000 and over the last two decades has supported 180 projects at 31 universities for a total of more than $9.5 million.

The scope of maladies ranges from various infectious diseases and laminitis to an array of soundness issues. One of the current projects underway seeks to develop a means of alerting horsemen to impending bone or joint injury through analysis of serum markers.