Discipline selections, stabling reservations, and clinic registrations are open NOW! Log into the Trainer Portal now to complete your form. The Final Entry form will close at 5pm EST on Friday, August 29^th. If you do not submit the final entry form and payment by the deadline, your entry will be WITHDRAWN. If you have issues with the form, you must email us BEFORE the deadline. Extensions will not be offered under any circumstance.

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

If you missed the July newsletter, catch up here.

Final Entry & Clinics Webinar Recording

If you missed last night’s Completing Your Final Entry webinar, the recording will be uploaded to this playlist shortly. In this webinar, Molly and Rayna will walk you through the Final Entry and clinic registration forms step-by-step as well as share some important reminders that you do not want to miss. If you did not tune into the live webinar, please watch the recording before completing your form.

Clinics for 2025 Participants AND Graduates

We are so excited to be bringing back clinics this year and expanding the opportunity to Makeover graduate horses! If you want to maximize your 2025 horse’s educational opportunities or give a graduate horse the chance to learn and show off their growth in the Makeover environment, you will want to get those clinic registrations in. The clinic registration form, which can be found in the Trainer Portal, opens today at 10am EST and closes on September 5^th at 5pm EST. Spots are limited and will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. Please visit the Clinics tab on the General Event Information page for more information.

Makeover Marketplace Tips

If you are planning on listing your horse in the Makeover Marketplace, please watch the recording for last year’s Setting Up Your Marketplace Listing webinar here. This webinar will walk you through the Marketplace form step-by-step as well as give you tips and tricks for creating a high quality horse listing. Please watch this webinar recording before competing your horse’s Marketplace listing. Signing your horse up for a Marketplace listing is part of the Final Entry process. However, after you have selected your Marketplace listing type on your Final Entry form, you will need to complete the ad separately.

The Makeover Marketplace is a listing service exclusive to 2025 registered Makeover horses. Marketplace ads are due at 5pm EST on August 29^th. If you do not submit your ad by the deadline, it will not appear in the print catalog. A good sale ad needs good photos! Do not wait until last minute to snap a photo of your horse. Read this article for tips on how to take good sales photos and avoid other horse listing pitfalls. The Selling OTTBs section of our Education Library has a great collection of articles and previous webinars all geared towards successfully marketing your TB for sale.

Microchips

All horses competing in the Thoroughbred Makeover must have a Jockey Club-registered microchip number recorded on their Final Entry which will be validated during their Arrival Exam. Failure to meet this requirement will result in the horse’s dismissal from competition. Trainers need to know their horse’s valid (registered and scannable) microchip number before completing the final entry form August 5^th-29^th as they will not be able to submit the form without the microchip number.

Please follow these steps to ensure your Makeover horse has a valid microchip number:

1. Scan your horse thoroughly with a microchip reader. This can be done by a veterinarian, or by the trainer themselves, with a microchip reader. Most North American horses will have their microchip inserted in the nuchal ligament on the left side of their crest. Some other countries (including Canada) insert the chip in the horse’s upper lip. Microchips can migrate so it is very important to scan the whole horse for any existing microchips. Microchip readers are available for purchase online and an example of a ISO 11784/11785 compliant reader can be found here.
2. If a microchip is found, use the Jockey Club’s microchip lookup tool to confirm whether or not that number is registered to your horse.
   1. If it is, you are all set! Be sure to save the microchip number.
   2. If it is NOT registered with the Jockey Club, use the Jockey Club’s microchip reporting tool to complete this step. A how-to video can be found here.
3. If a microchip is NOT found, and your horse was born BEFORE 2017, purchase (and insert) a compliant microchip and register it with the Jockey Club.
   1. Trainers needing to purchase a microchip may do so from whatever source they choose, as long as the serial number is 15 digits (ISO 11784/11785 compliant). The RRP shop and The Jockey Club both sell compliant microchips. Note that microchips, from whatever source, are not pre-registered to any databases. It is the responsibility of the owner to register them with the Jockey Club once inserted.
   2. Once the microchip is inserted, use the Jockey Club’s microchip reporting tool to register the microchip to your Makeover horse. A how-to video can be found here.
4. If a microchip is NOT found, and your horse was born IN OR AFTER 2017, please email secretary@therrp.org right away.

If you encounter any issues with your horse’s microchip number, email secretary@therrp.org and inquiries@jockeyclub.com immediately. Do not wait until August to complete this process.

Final Entry Basics

There is one form per trainer, and the team captain is responsible for completing the Final Entry form for team entries. Trainers with two or more horses will have ALL horses populate on the same form. Trainers who have individual entries AND a team entry will enter all horses on the same form. The form pre-populates some information, including your horse’s Jockey Club name. Please verify that this information is correct before proceeding.

Stabling

Select your planned arrival date: Stabling does not open until noon Monday, October 6^th. If you will not be on show grounds by 4 PM on Tuesday, October 7^th, you must contact the show secretary to make arrangements for check-in and completing your arrival exam.

Select the number of horse stalls and tack stalls you require: If you are sharing a tack stall with someone, please order that stall on one person’s entry. The person who reserves the tack stall should input the name(s) of whoever they are sharing the stall with on the Final Entry form when prompted.

Stabling for the week is a flat-rate of $255 per stall. Horses must vacate their stalls by 8 AM, Sunday, October 12^th. You may forgo a stall and instead pay the $60 Horse Park ship-in fee to work from your trailer. The ship-in fee is $60 per trailer for the duration of the event (not a daily fee).

You may enter a “stable-with” request, but please limit this to those participants with whom you are traveling or sharing a tack stall. Choose ONE group name (ex: Team RRP) that all members of your stabling group will enter in this section of their final entry forms. If the supplied group name does not match the rest of your group, we cannot guarantee you will be stabled together. Due to complex move-in logistical issues, we cannot accommodate large “stable-with” requests. We will NOT be accommodating requests to be stabled in specific barns.

Non-Compete Horses
All non-compete horses will be assigned bridle numbers and are required to provide the same proof of Coggins, health certificate, and required vaccinations as Makeover horses. You will be required to provide a non-compete horse’s name and gender if the number of horse stalls you reserved is more than the number of Makeover horses you are bringing. You can upload documents now or later in the portal prior to check-in. For each non-compete horse, you will be assessed a $20.00 grounds fee.

Discipline Selections

The Final Entry form is where you will enter your horse in up to two of the ten disciplines we offer. Please enter your horse in the discipline(s) they are adequately prepared for at the time of Final Entry submission. Once the Final Entry form closes, you CANNOT change your discipline.

A common mistake we see trainers make is entering a discipline their horse is not yet ready for in hopes that they will make enough progress in the final 6 weeks leading up to the Makeover. There is really not as much time between Final Entry close and the start of preliminary competition as we like to think. Rather than having to scratch because your plans to prepare your horse in the final month of training did not come to fruition, enter your horse in the discipline(s) they are prepared for at this stage. (For example: If you planned to enter in Show Hunter, but they are not yet jumping 2’6″ courses, plan to pivot to Dressage.) You are much more likely to find success in fine-tuning your horse’s current skills in your final weeks of Makeover preparation than you will in attempting to introduce new skills. The Makeover is just the beginning of your horse’s new career and the discipline you compete in at this event does not need to reflect your ultimate goals for the horse’s future.

FIELD HUNTERS: Trainers entering the Field Hunter division at Final Entry are required to submit a letter from a Masters of Foxhounds Association-recognized hunt certifying that the trainer has hunted first or second field at least twice in one formal hunt season within the past two years. The letter is due by August 29 and must be signed, dated, and on letterhead. A new letter must be provided each year for all participating individuals, team captains, and team members.

POLO: Trainers that enter Polo on their Final Entry form but did not originally indicate polo as their primary discipline on their application will be required to submit video demonstrating polo-specific skills such as short work and stick and ball work.

Final Entry Edits

When you have submitted your Final Entry, you will get an email confirmation summarizing your selections. Until September 5^th, you may edit the following fields on your Final Entry:

• Discipline jump heights, Dressage test, and Freestyle info
• Horse sale status
• Stabling needs

If you would like to make edits outside of this, please email secretary@therrp.org for assistance.

Final Entry Refunds

Refunds are not automatically processed or issued. Refund requests must be made in writing to secretary@therrp.org. In order for the refund request to be considered, it must be received by 5 PM EST on the corresponding deadline, and the trainer must have already withdrawn the entry and horse registration through the Trainer Portal. Requests for a refund of Final Entry fees may be made on the following schedule:

• Marketplace fees may be refunded if the horse is withdrawn from the Marketplace prior to August 29^th, 2025. Marketplace fees are non-refundable after August 29^th, 2025.
• Clinic fees are refundable minus a $15 processing fee if withdrawn prior to September 5^th, 2025. Clinic fees are non-refundable after September 5^th, 2025, unless the spot can be filled from the waitlist, or the horse or rider has qualified for the championships.
• 100% of stabling and discipline fees if prior to September 5^th, 2025
• 100% of stabling and discipline fees minus a $75 processing fee per horse if after September 5^th, 2025, and prior to when stall assignments and ride times are published (approximately 10 days prior to the start of competition)
• No refunds on stabling and discipline fees will be considered after ride times and stall assignments are published.
• This refund schedule does not apply to registration fees, which are non-refundable

Save $350 on Makeover Entry Fees: Fundraise with Make the Makeover

We get it: everything feels really expensive right now (we’re feeling the pinch too!). Let us help: through our Make the Makeover fundraiser drive, any individual trainer or team captain that raises $1000 for the Retired Racehorse Project through their personal networks will have their $350 registration fee for the 2025 Makeover refunded.

There are also some awesome additional prizes for our top fundraisers, including a brand-new zero turn lawn mower, a PEMF machine, and cash! Get started now at Give Lively.

Important to note: Only those entered as team captains or individuals are eligible to create a Make the Makeover fundraising page; team members are encouraged to share their team captain’s fundraiser to help achieve the team’s fundraising goal. Additionally, fundraising for Make the Makeover MUST be done through Give Lively.

Volunteer Sign-Ups Open

Our volunteer sign-up is live! The Makeover has always run off a small but dedicated army of volunteers; will you be one of them? Shift and positions are available to suit all schedules and experience levels. Please encourage any friends or family members that are coming to cheer you on to pick up a shift. Volunteer shifts can be scheduled around your ride times too!

All volunteers receive a hat, t-shirt, refreshments, lunch for all-day shifts, a discount in the RRP booth, and more! Sign up for your shift here.

Silent Auction Donations Needed

Do you have something you would be willing to donate to the silent auction? Our Makeover silent auction has become a meaningful fundraiser for the RRP and each year it has expanded its unique and diverse offerings of gifts, experiences, art, memorabilia, and more. We very much appreciate any donations you can offer or solicit from your community. More details about the silent auction are available here.

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 Erasmus | Program Manager & Show Secretary
3357 Hazelwood Road, Edgewater, MD 21037
Increasing demand for Thoroughbreds beyond racing.

Social Media and Important Links

Our Website
2024 Rulebook
Trainer Portal (restricted, must be logged in to access)
RRP Store
RRP Facebook Page
TB Makeover Public Facebook Group
TB Makeover Trainers Closed Facebook Group
TB Makeover Volunteers Facebook Group
Instagram: @RetiredRacehorseProject
Twitter: @RRP_TBMakeover
TikTok: @retiredracehorseproject