Esther Marr, staff writer for The Blood-Horse, follows up on Breeders’ Cup participants’ pledges to support Thoroughbred aftercare. Share your thoughts on Esther’s blog at BloodHorse.com.

New Vocations, which I have highlighted several times in the past on this blog, has received some exciting results from its 2012 Breeders’ Cup Pledge, with more than 17 owners or partnership groups and five trainers committing a portion of their horses’ Breeders’ Cup earnings to the non-profit organization’s mission to rehabilitate, retrain, and re-home retired racehorses.

"We definitely had more pledges this year than any other year," said program director Anna Ford, adding that around $50,000 had been raised from the pledge thus far. "This was the first time I had people calling us, up to the day, saying they wanted to pledge. I’ve never had that happen; I’m normally the one making all the phone calls, so that was good."

Ford said oftentimes owners whose horses did not receive any Breeders’ Cup earnings will still send New Vocations a check following the event, which accounts for some additional funds in the coming months