by Debbie Little

Amateur drivers will be professional philanthropists on Saturday night (Nov. 11) at The Meadowlands as they will donate a total of $50,000 to five worthy charities.

The Meadowlands Amateur Driving Club (MADC) accumulated the donations from the five per cent driver fees earned from races contested at The Big M during the second and third quarters of 2023.

The five charities chosen by the MADC board — New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, Purple Haze Standardbred Adoption Program, Racing for Home, The Standardbred Retirement Foundation and 13 Hands Equine Rescue — are all equine aftercare facilities.

MADC president Jessica Otten knows firsthand how necessary reputable aftercare places like these are.

“I think it’s so important to have facilities like the five that we’ve chosen because I’ve been put in a position where I rehomed a horse to somebody and he ended up in a very bad place and I was fortunate enough to get him back,” Otten said. “But that is why we have these facilities. So that each and every horse is able to have a second home and a second career, because that is so important.”

Otten got a call on Meadowlands Pace weekend that there was an issue with a horse that had been hers.

“I’m fortunate enough where I was able to rescue mine out of the kill pen and give him the life he deserves,” she said. “But he was given to a family off contract who was supposed to do that and that didn’t happen. 

“These horses have given me my life and they deserve to have a life lived out happy and fat. That’s what I always say. They gave me my life and I want to give them theirs. So that’s why I think it’s very important that these aftercare facilities are able to get this donation.”

Each charity will receive $10,000 and their representatives in attendance at The Big M will be treated to a VIP night at the track including dinner, presentation of their checks after race 5, as well as an interview in the winner’s circle.

Acacia Clement, TV host for the New York Racing Association, is best known to The Meadowlands viewership as the anchor for the track’s broadcasts on the Fox network.

Clement founded Racing for Home, a non-profit, certified 501(c)(3), in 2010, as a senior in high school after seeing a news special about horses being abandoned in the Everglades after they were done racing.

“And I just remember sobbing. I think I was 16, and my mom said, ‘Well, if it really bothers you that much, then, you know, why don’t you look into seeing what you can do?’ And that’s kind of where it all started,” Clement said.

Clement — married to thoroughbred trainer Miguel Clement — is excited to be making her first visit to The Meadowlands on Saturday with her parents, Brian and Sherrie Courtney, and is so honored that her charity was chosen.

“I was completely blown away, to be honest,” Acacia said. “I had heard about the amateur driving club and the charity challenge from Jessica. You know, we are a small aftercare organization. So, we always work really hard at fundraising, but it’s definitely not something that we’ve been able to do on a really large level as of yet. So, this is just absolutely huge for us. And I’m so grateful to The Meadowlands, to Jessica, to the amateur driving club, and to everybody that’s involved with making this happen.

“My parents and I — who run Racing For Home together — are just really humbled, really honored. We have a lot of horses that have some significant issues after their racing days. We’ve taken three from Puerto Rico and are rehabilitating them here. So, [this donation] will go to veterinary care and making a better life for the horses that we look after. We are so, very, very grateful.”

Racing For Home’s mission is to “help transition retired racehorses, one thoroughbred at a time, for a second career.” They are one of only 74 facilities in the country accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

Tonight, to kick off a busy weekend at The Big M, Otten’s sister Jenna will be joining her on the desk for the pre-game and in-house simulcast show.

“It will be interesting,” Jessica, 26, said with a slight laugh about her sister Jenna, 23, joining her at The Meadowlands. “I am very excited, but we are sisters, so, we do think a lot alike in a sense when it comes to a lot of things, but we both also watch a race kind of differently and stuff like that. We both have the same knowledge and the same background, so I think that will be kind of cool, but we do still totally disagree on a lot of things like the way horses race, even with our own horses when we watch them race. I’m like, ‘He got locked in too long’ and she’s like, ‘He didn’t have any pace.’

“I think she’ll enjoy it. She’s going to jump on the desk with me one night and then be in the paddock another night. So, she’ll get her feet deeper in the water. She did a really good job at Scioto all summer long.”

Jenna joined Scioto Downs in May of 2023 as their on-air harness racing host. She also had some on-air spots at The Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day with both her sister and Dave Little.

The Meadowlands chief operating officer/general manager Jason Settlemoir grew up in Ohio watching Jenna and Katie, “the Beulah twins”, who helped put Beulah Park on the map.

“I always thought that it would be nice to have two sisters together and that opportunity presented itself, so I snatched it up,” Settlemoir said.

Michael Carter, manager/assistant race secretary at Ohio’s Northfield Park, has also been added to The Big M roster. He started last weekend on Saturday (Nov. 4) doing commentary remotely for FanDuel TV and next weekend, Nov. 17-18, he will be live at The Meadowlands as a co-host and paddock interviewer/FanDuel commentator, respectively.

“He, obviously, is one of the people who got me started,” said Jessica of Carter, who hired her to do interviews on Post Time with Mike & Mike. “So, I’m really looking forward to having him here. I think he really presents himself well. He’s always, always, always well prepared, and he truly does love the sport and broadcasting it and I think it’ll be really fun to work with him.

“He’s going to get a little taste of everything, so that will be cool. I know I can always rely on him whether he’s in the state of New Jersey or Ohio because that guy always has my back, which I’m so appreciative of.”

Since the death of Big M TV host Dave Brower in October of 2022, The Meadowlands has had several guest hosts and co-hosts.

“That’s been a hard void to fill,” Settlemoir said of the loss of Brower. “But at the end of the day, I kind of like the different people and the different personalities getting mixed around.”