Spendthrift Farm and My Racehorse bringing fans and breeders together
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Spendthrift Farm and MyRacehorse.com have launched a weekly foal contest on social media called #FoalDerby, which will showcase foals from the first crop of their Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby winner Authentic.
The contest begins this week and will run weekly leading up to this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 7th. Breeders are encouraged to submit photos each week as their foals arrive and continue to submit as they grow over the course of the next 10 weeks. Weekly photos are due by end of day on Wednesday for voting through Thursday.
Submissions will be posted to Spendthrift’s Twitter and Facebook platforms where fans will be asked to like, retweet, and share their favorite foals. The top two foals by fan engagements each week will earn berths into the Foal Derby, which will include 20 total entries – like a full starting gate in the Kentucky Derby. Upon the actual 2022 Kentucky Derby draw (slated for Tuesday, May 3rd), a Foal Derby draw will occur and each of the 20 foals will be assigned to a real Kentucky Derby entrant.
Spendthrift is offering grand prizes to the breeders of the three foals associated with the first, second and third place finishers in this year’s Kentucky Derby. The winning breeder will get $20,000 to put towards a season to Authentic in 2023, and the runner-up and third-place finishers will get $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, towards a season to Authentic in 2023. Spendthrift will also match the same amount for all three to donate to an accredited Thoroughbred aftercare charity in those breeder’s names, totaling $35,000.
Foal Derby will also offer weekly prizes for both breeders and voters. Spendthrift will be awarding the 10 weekly winning breeders Authentic apparel, and MyRacehorse will be doing the same for the voters of the weekly finals on Fridays by giving away official Authentic 2020 Breeders’ Cup Owner caps along with MyRacehorse gift cards every week.
“There is significant interest surrounding Authentic’s first foals, which you would generally expect from a Horse of the Year with his pedigree. Authentic is unique in that there is an anticipation among the breeding community and his 5,300 microshare owners and fans,” said Spendthrift’s Ned Toffey. “We wanted to be able to celebrate him with MyRacehorse during this year’s run up to the Kentucky Derby in a way that would engage and benefit everyone. We look forward to seeing the foals.”
Michael Behrens of MyRacehorse said: “The joy Authentic’s foals have brought to the MyRacehorse community is incredible and the buzz on social media among his fans has been electric. We’re thrilled to partner with Spendthrift to bring Authentic owners, fans and breeders together in an innovative way to celebrate our Champion.”
What Is #Foalderby? A chance for Authentic breeders to win a grand prize and a chance for Authentic fans to win weekly gifts.
Breeders: Every week, Authentic breeders submit foal photos to us (we encourage sending at least 3 photos, no videos will be accepted). You can do this by emailing your photo to FoalDerby@spendthriftfarm.com, messaging it to us on twitter or messaging it to us on Facebook.
Submissions will be due every Wednesday. Any submissions sent after Wednesday will roll over to the next week. We also encourage breeders to continue to resubmit their foals each week, as updated photos through the foals’ growth could make a difference in getting the weekly winning vote and/or into the #FoalDerby. On Wednesdays, we will tweet all submitted photos to the Spendthrift Twitter account & post all photos on the Spendthrift Facebook page for voting.
*Note: If there is a week with a LOT of entries, we may roll a foal over to the next week to allow for more equitable chances to win.
Fans: Your job is to LIKE, RETWEET, or SHARE your favorite foal on Wednesdays & Thursdays – interactions count for a vote except retweets & shares count for 2 votes.
The 2 foals with the MOST interactions will make it to the weekly finals. On Fridays, we will post the 2 finalists on Twitter & Facebook along with a poll link via SurveyMonkey on www.spendthriftfarm.com/FoalDerby for online voting. You will vote for which one is your favorite weekly foal.
The breeder of the weekly winner will receive their choice of an Authentic polo, vest, or windbreaker courtesy of Spendthrift. We will also randomly select 1 voter from Friday’s finals each week to win an official Authentic 2020 Breeders’ Cup Owner cap along with a $100 MyRacehorse gift card. Winners will be contacted the following Monday.
It Gets Better… Grand Prize: The two weekly finalists will be entered in the #FoalDerby, correlating with this year’s Kentucky Derby. All 20 finalists will be randomly assigned a post position number and whichever post position wins the 2022 Kentucky Derby will be the winning foal! The winning breeders will get:
- 1st: $20,000 credit towards Authentic’s stud fee for the 2023 breeding season
- 2nd: $10,000 credit towards Authentic’s stud fee for the 2023 breeding season
- 3rd: $5,000 credit towards Authentic’s stud fee for the 2023 breeding season
AND we will MATCH those winnings and donate to an accredited industry aftercare charity of the breeder’s choice!
*Note: If 20 are not entered in this year’s Kentucky Derby, some entrants would be associated with two foals, thus any potential winnings by those entrants would be split evenly. If an Also Eligible (AE) draws in, the foal associated with the scratched horse will transfer to the AE in the order of the scratches and subsequent AEs that drawn in.
Spendthrift Farm Press Release
