Chernobyl's Hero (in the 1st) and Dakota Milkshake (in the final) at Mountaineer yesterday...
http://www1.drf.com/drfPDFChartRaces...20130820&RN=99
For anyone who doesn't know or who forgot...
“Chernobyl’s Hero” to race for children in need at Aquaduct
Orphan Horse to Race For Orphan Children
Colt will run to benefit Chernobyl Children’s Project International
Like many other young Thoroughbreds, Chernobyl’s Hero will start his racing career this winter at Aqueduct, but he will be no ordinary colt in his maiden race – he will carry with him the hopes of thousands of children who continue to be affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. Karakorum Racing’s president Bill DiScala is contributing a quarter of the earnings of his home-bred colt in a unique move to benefit the work of Chernobyl Children’s Project International (CCPI).
DiScala’s support of CCPI began several years ago after seeing the charity featured in the Academy Award winning film “Chernobyl Heart.” Karakorum became a sponsor of the charity but DiScala wanted to do more to raise both awareness and funds for the children of Chernobyl. According to DiScala, “I decided when the right horse came along, I would get them a racehorse.”
When DiScala saw the way the 2004 Cryptoclearance colt out of his foundation mare Karakorum’s Lisa had developed, he knew that this one was the ‘right horse’. Unfortunately, the colt is Karakorum Lisa’s last surviving foal, as the broodmare was killed by a freak lightning strike in 2005 while standing in a field with her 2005 weanling. DiScala feels that it is fitting that the Cryptoclearance colt, who is in a real sense an orphan, will run for the children of Chernobyl, who all too often are orphans themselves.
Kathy Ryan, US Executive Director of CCPI, sees the donation as a fun and unique way to raise both funds and awareness for the challenges faced by Chernobyl survivors. “Twenty years after the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the plight of the survivors has literally dropped from the headlines – but the health, medical and social support needs of so many, especially children, have not gone away. Many of those children are without families and come from communities that are still devastated by the disaster.”
According to DiScala, “I truly believe that this horse -- Chernobyl’s Hero -- will be an ambassador of goodwill and hope for the future, from the United States to the children of Chernobyl.” And his hopes are high: the colt’s sire, Cryptoclearance, has foals who include Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop, Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Volponi, and many other significant winners of Grade and Group 1 stakes, such as Millennium Wind and Crypto Star. Cryptoclearance himself won many Grade 1 stakes, was second in the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes, and 3rd in the Preakness, earning well over $3 million in the process.
Chernobyl Children’s Project International is a non- profit organization based in the United States and Ireland that provides community development, medical and humanitarian aid programs to children and families affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. Karakorum Racing (
www.karakorum.com) is based in New York and provides racing fans with affordable Thoroughbred horseracing partnerships.
http://www.chernobyl-international.org/karakorum.html
Hope they're both okay.