Long before joining the Canberra Racing Club late last year, Polglase was a judge and then a steward, marvelling at horse flesh around the south-east of NSW.

When his career took him to Sydney, the Queanbeyan Racing Club named a maiden after him as a parting gift.

The winner of that race? Takeover Target.

"It wasn't a race with a lot of form on paper but I'm quite happy to have that picture up on my garage wall for sure," Polglase said.

"He won by seven lengths. As an official you can't bet, so I can't remember the price. I don't think it reflected his ability we saw afterwards."

Takeover Target retired an eight-time group 1 winner having saluted as far and wide as Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Japan, Singapore and the UK. His duels with the distinctively white-faced Apache Cat will forever be a part of Australian racing folklore.

On retirement, trainer Joe Janiak gave his special horse a life of luxury, and was devastated when a paddock injury led to Takeover Target being put down as a 15-year-old.

Not every horse is guaranteed such a comfortable retirement, and that's something Polglase is hellbent on trying to fix.

Recently introduced Racing Australia legislation has firmed up the tracking process of a race horse. Upon being foaled a horse is registered to the national body, and can be traced right through its racing career to the point of retirement.

Trainers and owners must supply the horse's first address upon retiring, but any subsequent move is where the process starts to break down.

"We need to know not just where the horse has gone immediately once it's left it's final racing stable but we want to be able to trace it further through life to ensure the best welfare outcomes," Polglase said.

"At the moment the chain breaks beyond that first location if it doesn't go to a person who we refer to as an industry participant. We need to look at ways to better empower stewards and trace horses in the future."

Racing NSW operates a Retirement Horse Welfare Fund, which the Canberra Racing Club happily contributes to. One per cent of all prizemoney from racing in NSW and the ACT is directed to the fund, which is then used to buy properties which can house retired race horses, while helping fund veterinarian bills and other equine staff.

It's the other side of the horse racing story.

In 2019 the ABC aired a report which showed the mass slaughter and mistreatment of retired Queensland race horses. That led Racing NSW chief Peter V'landys to sue the network for defamation - a battle he ultimately lost just last week.

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And while the report didn't tell the entire story, Polglase said it highlighted the importance of providing retired horses a sustainable post-racing career.

"It's extremely important and racing has to take the ball up and show that what occurred in the 7.30 report doesn't occur in Canberra and doesn't occur in NSW," Polglase said.

"We've got front-line policies and rules in place to prevent that. We need to empower ourselves better with respect to traceability and having that ability to trace those animals further and get the proper access.

"We've got to advertise and show people where these horses go and where they end up. Ultimately, every horse can find a home. Some of them do return back to the racing injury as a stable pony, as an educational tool. Some of them retire to breeding whether it be a broodmare or a stallion.

"There's the obvious one of equestrian and dressage, thoroughbreds are a very athletic and trainable animal, that's why they're quite popular in that regard. We've had instances of thoroughbreds going off to join the police force.

"And there's horses out there that become companion horses or simply a paddock and a pleasure horse."

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