Horse Illustrated Magazine

The Jockey Club announced today that it has established Tattoo Identification Services, a free resource to help owners identify tattooed but unknown Thoroughbreds in their possession.

For legible tattoos, an owner can use a free tattoo lookup feature available from The Jockey Club’s website, www.jockeyclub.com, and the Registry homepage, www.registry.jockeyclub.com.

For illegible tattoos or partial tattoos, customer service representatives from the Registry will provide free research of a Thoroughbred’s identity using the information contained in The Jockey Club’s database, including color, markings, and photographs.

Information on procuring identification from illegible or partial tattoos as well as tips for reading lip tattoos and a list of frequently asked questions is available at www.registry.jockeyclub.com.

“We hope that Tattoo Identification Services will be a valuable tool for individuals and organizations seeking to retire, re-train and find suitable homes for Thoroughbred racehorses when their racing careers are over,” said Matt Iuliano, vice president of registration services for The Jockey Club. “We view this as an adjunct to our recently implemented checkoff program, and as a service to both the horses and the people who care for them.”

On January 1, 2009, The Jockey Club instituted a voluntary checkoff program enabling owners and breeders in North America to assist the retirement, re-training and adoption efforts of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and Thoroughbred Charities of America when they submit their foal registration applications.

As an incentive to encourage participation, The Jockey Club will match the checkoff on a dollar-to-dollar basis up to $200,000 in 2009. Checkoff proceeds and matching funds are being distributed to those two organizations on a quarterly basis, with over $100,000 distributed thus far.