Robert Cole, a student and intern for the FTBOA, Alexis Kolasa of Denali Stud, and Aaron West of Bradley Thoroughbreds have been named finalists for the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards' Newcomer Award. A winner will be announced Nov. 5 during a virtual ceremony scheduled for noon ET.
Presented by Godolphin, the TIEA awards recognize and reward the outstanding talent, diligence, and commitment of the farm and racing stable staff who are at the heart of the sport. The Newcomer Award is given to an individual who has been working in any area of Thoroughbred breeding and/or racing for less than five years and who has shown commitment to—and ambition for—a career in the Thoroughbred industry, including a desire to improve and progress their skills and knowledge.
This year's TIEA awards ceremony will be hosted by Jill Byrne and will be streamed live at BloodHorse.com. Finalists for five additional categories will appear in BloodHorse Daily leading up to the event, during which the remaining winners will be announced.
Upon retirement from the Coast Guard after 20 years, Cole's early life passion for Thoroughbreds was rekindled and he enrolled in the College of Central Florida equine program along with an internship at the FTBOA. During his stop there, an attention to detail was exemplified in a variety of areas such as instructional tours, fundraising, seminar ownership planning, and writing. Nominator Tammy Gaant of the FTBOA commented, "He was born with the gene of the soul of horse racing. He doesn’t want to tell you what the industry is, he wants you to feel it.”
WATCH: TIEA Newcomer Award- Robert Cole
Kolasa has been involved with horses her entire life and was the captain of her college equestrian team. She interned at Lane’s End Farm, went on to work for Juddmonte, and then found her way to Denali. From billing to tracking racing and sales graduates, to giving tours and posting to social media, Denali COO Craig Bandoroff describes her as “our swiss army knife; she has lots of different skills and assets rolled into one.”
WATCH: TIEA Newcomer Award- Alexis Kolasa
A native of Arkansas, West was bitten by the Thoroughbred bug attending the races at Oaklawn Park. He followed his passion for Thoroughbreds and moved to Lexington, eventually graduating from the North American Racing Academy where he focused on ground skills and barn management. He was a yearling groom at Lane’s End Farm and then went to Bradley Thoroughbreds, where he does “everything,” said Pete Bradley. He coordinates with owners, organizes seating on race days, provides updates on breezes, races, etc. Bradley further commented, “Aaron comes to work every day with a can-do attitude”.
