Nicole Ruggeri trained the winners of both stakes races at Bally's Arapahoe Park in Colorado on Sunday, June 25. There were also two moments that weekend involving her off the track that are worth celebrating for how the racehorse and sporthorse worlds can come together for the well-being of the horse. One moment was supporting a horse that she used to train who is now in a new career; the other was acquiring a horse so that she could train it for a new career.
What happened is about Arabian racehorses, but the same ideas and events could apply to Thoroughbreds as well.
On the day before RB Texas Hold Em would dominate the Emirates Breeders VIP Stakes by 10 1/2 lengths and Colorado-bred AA Sweet Victory would capture the Emirates Breeders VIP Distaff in her home state, Ruggeri went to the Round Top Horse Trials in Castle Rock, Colo., to cheer on a horse she used to train that is now competing in the equestrian sport of eventing. I had invited Nicole to see AA Two Face and me attempt our first USEA-recognized event at the Beginner Novice level of 2'7”.
Ruggeri was the first to train AA Two Face on the track during the grey gelding's first season as a 3-year-old in 2021. Although he didn't show much talent on the track, AA Two Face made an impression in the barn.
“He was just an angel,” the trainer said. “He never did anything wrong. We kind of always knew he wasn't going to be fast. That would have been a great 'husband horse' is how we always thought of him. I was like, 'Andre, this is the best-behaved horse,'” referring to her husband, Andre Ruggeri.
AA Two Face, whose name comes from how his blaze makes him resemble DC Comics' Harvey Dent character Two-Face, brought the same lovable demeanor from the track to our Super G Sporthorses farm. “Dos,” as we call him in the barn, became a quick learner in the sport of eventing that features the three phases of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping.
He also continued to enjoy galloping like the racehorse he was bred to be, so we decided to combine his eventing training with racing training. (See “Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: The Value Of Cross-Training For Racehorses”
Then, we decided to combine his horse shows with races. My wife, Ashley Horowitz, a sporthorse trainer her entire adult life, got her racehorse trainer's license for the first racehorse we've ever campaigned.
So, after AA Two Face and I finished cross-country at the Round Top Horse Trials last Saturday, Jody Carraway, another racehorse trainer that came to the show to cheer on Dos and me, snapped a picture that includes me on the horse next to Dos's two race trainers.
After AA Two Face and I finished cross-country at Round Top, we got a photo with his two race trainers, Nicole Ruggeri and Ashley Horowitz. Thank you to Nicole and her team for giving him such a great foundation at the track, which now translates to his success as an eventer. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/EcG03XvoYy
— Jonathan Horowitz (@jjhorowitz) June 25, 2023
“It was very rewarding, and I was so happy to see him,” Ruggeri said. “It almost made me want to cry because he was so bright-eyed and jumped with ease, and it's nice to see he has a good life.”
It was a beautiful moment that brought together the race trainer that gave the horse his foundation on the track and the sporthorse trainer that gave the horse his foundation off the track. Bringing these worlds together even more, it was the sporthorse trainer who got her racing license to bring AA Two Face back to the track, and then the day after the show Ashley would be the trainer for two horses in the Emirates Breeders stakes races at Arapahoe. One of those horses, RB Rathowayne, shares the same sire as AA Two Face — Rathowan — another intersection between the racehorse and sporthorse worlds. Our plan is to event RB Rathowayne after he finishes racing.
AA Two Face and I were one of just six pairs out of 21 total entries at the Beginner Novice level at Round Top to jump clear with zero penalties in cross-country and show jumping. We finished sixth in our division on a score of 39.4, just 0.3 points away from qualifying for the United States Eventing Association's (USEA) Area IX Championships. Dos was the youngest (5 years old) and smallest (15.1 hh) horse in his division.
Then, the next day, back in Arapahoe's stable area after saddling two stakes winners, Nicole made plans to help a racehorse that may be ready for a new career. Wikispeedia, one of Ashley's trainees in the races at Arapahoe, pulled up before the finish line of the Emirates Breeders VIP Distaff. Thankfully, there were no signs of injury or bleeding, and by the next day, the 4-year-old bay filly was back to her normal self. We suspect she tied up during the race. Wikispeedia's owners said they are ready for the horse to find a new career to which she may be more suited, and that's where Nicole stepped up ready to buy her because she's started transitioning Arabian racehorses to the sport of endurance.
Whether it's racing or endurance, Ruggeri assesses where a horse is best suited, and that's something from which other trainers can learn. Then, when those horses are in new careers after racing, it makes such a positive impact for trainers like Ruggeri to stay involved in their racehorses' lives.
So, for Nicole to be associated with horses that won stakes race trophies and a horse show ribbon and plan to buy a new horse to be part of that horse's future transition to a new career, that's a weekend worth celebrating, and I hope more trainers will get to experience the same.
Announcing horse races inspired Jonathan Horowitz to become an advocate for off-track Thoroughbreds and Arabians, as well as to learn to event on horses he used to announce at the track. He also serves as Acting Director for the Arabian Jockey Club and runs the Super G Sporthorses eventing barn with his wife, Ashley. He can be reached on Facebook and Twitter at @jjhorowitz.
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