Irish-bred The Deputy, trained by Jenine Sahadi for Team Valor and Gary Barber to win the $1-million Santa Anita Derby in 2000 and second choice in the Kentucky Derby, is now safely ensconced in Texas after some maneuvering to rescue him from a “kill pen” on a feedlot about an hour north of Dallas week before last.
When intrepid horse lovers used their Internet monitoring skills to learn that the now 24-year-old stallion had been bought cheaply at a sale in Iowa and transported to the feedlot in Texas, word spread fast and Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin quickly managed to buy him on behalf of his longtime partner Barber and ex-trainer Sahadi.
Utilizing networking through the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the old connections contacted TAA activist Donna Keen, who was able to rapidly pick up and move The Deputy to her TAA-approved Remember Me Rescue.
“We decided to have Donna quarantine The Deputy for a while, do some diagnostic work including bloods and a fecal and not reveal anything about the rescue until we were certain that he was healthy, as Donna warned us that horses from feedlots can contract diseases quite readily,” Irwin said.
“When the tests all came back negative today and the vet- check proved unremarkable, we decided it was time to tell the story, not to portray ourselves as heroes, but to put an end to the salacious, untrue and unfounded tales that had been circulating online. We want to thank those horse lovers who helped us in our endeavors.”
Donna Keen (left) said “We are thrilled to have been able to help the original connections and to be able to take care of the horse and share him with visitors to our rescue. He is, as could be expected, a bit underweight at this time, but when he fills back up and once again looks the part we look forward to showing him off here in Texas. We are very honored and proud to have been selected as his forever home.”
The Deputy, bought by Team Valor and Barber after he won a maiden race in England at two, enjoyed a brief but meteoric rise to stardom in the winter of his 3-year-old season at Santa Anita, where the dark-coated colt rattled off victories in the listed Hill Rise Stakes, Grade 2 Santa Catalina Stakes (defeating subsequent Breeders' Cup Turf Mile hero War Chant) and the G1 Santa Anita Derby, while running second in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes to the Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus.
As the first starter for a female trainer in the 2000 Kentucky Derby, he was second choice, but bowed a tendon in the race and never ran again.
Barber, who won the Preakness with War of Will, said “I have always had a soft spot in my heart for The Deputy. He was my first Grade 1 winner.”
“He was the easiest horse to be around. All class. He meant a lot to me and my barn,” said Sahadi.
The son of Petardia was originally syndicated to stand at Margaux Farm in Midway, Ky., after which he did stints at farms in Michigan and Iowa.
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