Compelling Features Make TIEC The Place To Be June 20-22 Demonstration Theater and Yearling Selection Clinic Announced

(Lexington, KY) - Kicking off the conference program for the Thoroughbred International Exposition & Conference (TIEC 2003) will be a clinic on Yearling Selection on Friday morning, June 20. The Clinic will be an opportunity for owners, breeders, farm managers and trainers to learn from successful evaluators.

Conference attendees will be shuttled from the Lexington Center to Keeneland Race Track where they can observe top evaluators such as vets, trainers, consigners and owners as they critique yearlings of varying conformations. Attendees will be ringside for the close-up, individual examinations. Then they will proceed to the sales pavilion where the evaluators will explain to the participants what they should be looking for, including conformation flaws and other features that might interfere with training.

Another TIEC feature that promises to be exciting will be the hands-on Demonstration Theater located in the exhibit hall. One of the clinics will include a session on performance profiling, the scientific testing of equine athletic and genetic makeup. Featuring a Thoroughbred on a high-speed treadmill and overhead monitors, this session among others will be held each day of the show (Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Lexington Center). Demonstrations include:
" Heart rate monitoring
" Upper airway evaluation
" Dynamic hoof balancing
" Weight training

Momentum has picked up quickly for the tradeshow. On display will be products as diverse as exercise saddles to starting gates, wrought-iron handcrafted gates to rehabilitation products, heart-rate monitors to racing plates, barn equipment and supplies to pharmaceutical products.

TIEC advisory board members have been instrumental in the first-year show's quick take-off. The board includes a broad range of industry members, including:
John Asher, Churchill Downs
Stacy Bearse, The Blood-Horse
Ed Bowen, Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation
Keith Chamblin, NTRA
Nancy Cole, DVM
Dan Metzger, TOBA
Pam Michul, Vinery
Tom Riddle, DVM, Rood and Riddle
Dan Rosenberg, Three Chimneys Farm
Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland Association
Mark Simon, Thoroughbred Times
James D. Smith, DVM, Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates
David Switzer, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB)
Jeff Thornbury, Sunnyside Farm
Ric Waldman, Overbrook Farm

Some board members - like John Asher, vice president of racing communications at Churchill Downs - will be involved in conference presentations. Asher will moderate a session entitled "Legends of the Turf." He is assembling a panel of great jockeys, Hall of Famers and owners of legendary Thoroughbreds for a spine-tingling re-telling of their most exciting moments in racing history. Attendees will hear first-hand accounts from the key people who were there.

TIEC is sponsored by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB).

For information about exhibiting or obtaining a visitor brochure, contact TIEC 2003, P.O. Box 7586, Louisville, KY 40257-0586. Phone: 502-896-0436. Fax: 502-896-0467. Or check the website at www.tiec2003.com.

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