PORTUGAL: GREAT HOSTS WITH HIGH HOPES
Since its inception in 2010, the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation has held two principal gatherings each year: a General Assembly and an Executive Council Meeting. Our long-standing policy has been to meet in as many member countries as possible, giving each host Racing Authority the chance to showcase its racing and allowing our members to experience the remarkable diversity of the sport across our region.
On every previous occasion, the host organisation has been able to present a mature racing industry with established income streams. The scale of activity has varied enormously—from the powerhouse industries of France, Britain, and Ireland to the more modest operations in Slovakia or the Channel Islands—but racing in each nation has existed for decades, if not centuries, and operates within a stable betting environment.
Portugal, which hosted the 2026 reunion, is the exception.
TRAINING AND RE-TRAINING – THE INTERFACE
There is little doubt that, in the discourse on aftercare, the volume is, slowly but surely, being turned up.
The International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR), an organisation of just 10 years’ standing, whose mission it is to advocate for lifetime care for retired racehorses, and to raise awareness of and encourage best practice in their aftercare, recently introduced a membership and supporter scheme.
Already, its website boasts no fewer than 42 member organisations and 50 supporters worldwide in a list that is ever growing. In May, in Newmarket, the Jockey Club hosted a seminar focussing on preparing racehorses for retirement and retraining.