The Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover has led more people to find their next sporthorse at the racetrack, providing more homes and new careers for OTTBs. It also goes the other way, and the off-track Thoroughbreds are inspiring new people to head to the racetrack.
Like Samantha Fawcett, a lifelong equestrian from Ontario, Canada, who won the Show Jumper discipline for the class of 2020 at last year's Mega Makeover with Canton Comet. In 2021, Fawcett also decided to breed the first OTTB that she ever sourced from the racetrack. Rather than taking Talize to a Warmblood stallion as she originally intended, Fawcett opted to mate the unraced Ontario-bred chestnut Thoroughbred mare with Ontario-bred Thoroughbred stallion Passion for Action. She said her goal is to learn more about horse racing by having her own racehorse before the foal eventually transitions to show jumping.
“This is really jumping into the deep end,” Fawcett said with a laugh.
Fawcett is an example of how participating in the Thoroughbred Makeover has led to trainers with sporthorse backgrounds wanting to become more involved in racing. While the Thoroughbred Makoever primarily focuses on racehorses' viability to transition to new careers, it also sets up a potential for sporthorse trainers to transition to new careers in racing.
This new pipeline can grow the horse racing industry. It can bring the racehorse and sporthorse worlds closer together, united by how incredible Thoroughbreds are as athletes overall, whether that athleticism happens to feature best in racing, eventing, jumping, polo, or any of a number of careers in which the breed can excel.
“Racing has a potential to attract the next member of the industry because of their love for these horses,” said Kirsten Green, executive director for the Retired Racehorse Project. “It could be your next track vet. It could be your next marketing and PR person that works at your farm. It could be any of these people that are out here riding Thoroughbreds and love them. They are all primed to join the industry in some way, shape, or form, whether as a fan or actively working in the industry.”
In November 2017, Fawcett, whose primary sporthorse disciplines are hunter/jumpers and dressage, started training her first Thoroughbred off the track after the connections of Talize decided to forgo a racing career for her following an injury. Until this point, Fawcett's exposure to racing included occasionally attending Woodbine Racetrack as a fan.
She intended to take Talize to the 2018 Thoroughbred Makeover but said her plans changed after her father passed away that year.
However, Fawcett was in Kentucky in 2019 for her first Thoroughbred Makeover with Hemmin and Hawin, a grey Ontario-bred gelding, finishing 13th of 94 in show jumping.
Fawcett was then part of the class of 2020 at last year's Mega Makeover with Canton Comet and won the Show Jumper discipline as part of a field of 38.
Being part of the Thoroughbred Makeover and embracing the racing background of her OTTBs led Fawcett to rethink her original breeding plans for Talize.
“I thought that I would breed her to a Warmblood and cross her to have a nice jumper,” Fawcett said. “I kind of got talking and was like, 'You know, it might actually be interesting to breed her to another Thoroughbred and bring up our own racehorse.' And, I also was really thinking that would be an interesting way to get a different perspective on the racing industry.”
Talize and Samantha Fawcett
Fawcett bred Talize to Passion for Action with the vision that the foal would become a show jumper after racing. Fawcett can cite several racehorse breeding lines that she believes produce strong sporthorse prospects, like Storm Cat, Stormy Atlantic, and Speightstown. Speightstown is the sire of Passion for Action. There's a potential market for racehorse stallion owners to promote their horses as sporthorse sires as well.
In addition to breeding Talize, Fawcett acquired the stallion Muskoka Storm with the idea of introducing prominent racehorse lines for breeding sporthorses.
“We purchased [him] for the Makeover,” she said, “but we were also thinking of being able to offer him as a stallion to cross with Warmblood mares as a way to bring in a very high-quality breeding line into the sporthorses in a way that you're not going to spend $150,000 to breed your Warmblood mare to Medaglia d'Oro.”
Muskoka Storm sold for $235,000 as a yearling at Keeneland in 2018. The bay stallion is a grandson of Medaglia d'Oro by Violence.
Fawcett is an example of how the racehorse and sporthorse worlds can come together. She advocates for understanding horses' racing careers, what they learned on the track, and their race record with the belief this can help people decide which OTTB is right for them. She also believes cross-training in other sports can benefit a racing career.
“That is an intriguing aspect of breeding our own Thoroughbred racehorse that interests me,” Fawcett said. “How could some of that cross-training help them? I've heard of a couple horses, not so much recently. On the offseason, we could bring them home and play around. They really start to condition in a different way, and if you can have the Thoroughbreds have a difference in conditioning and you're not always working the same muscles and joints, maybe that helps with some longevity.”
From purchasing her first OTTB from the track less than five years ago, Fawcett said that now 10 out of the 12 horses in her barn are former racehorses. Fawcett will compete in the Thoroughbred Makeover in 2022. In 2023, she will start to undergo her own “makeover” to a racing career.
Unfortunately, I did not get to compete in the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover because the event was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and because it would have been too much to balance announcing and showing at the Mega Makeover in 2021.
So, in 2022, my goal evolved to something more ambitious and unique—competing in horse shows with a currentracehorse, as well as helping gallop him into condition for his races. My wife, Ashley, also embraced the unique idea of simultaneously showing and racing a horse. She's been training horses off the racetrack for sporthorse careers for the last 12 years and got her racehorse trainer's license in June.
AA Two Face and I have since competed in three United States Eventing Association (USEA) recognized events, including qualifying for the Area IX Championships, and he has raced twice this season at Bally's Arapahoe Park.
Fifth of 16 at the Starter level at the Round Top Horse Trials in Colorado in July.
Fifth of seven in a 5 ½-furlong maiden race at Arapahoe in July.
Fifth of seven in a seven-furlong maiden race at Arapahoe in August.
On between those two races, competing in the USEA Area IX Championships held at Archer and finishing eighth of nine.
More valuable and important to me than the results, as well as the most rewarding part of writing these columns, are the lessons I've learned along the way. So, as Dos and I come to the end of our first season of eventing and racing together, here are a few of the bigger lessons, which I've chosen to introduce through the famous Mister Ed, who happened to be played by a part-Arabian horse named Bamboo Harvester.
Lesson 1: “A horse is a horse of course of course.” (lyrics from the theme song of Mister Ed)
Racehorses don't have identity crises once they finish racing. They're not like college graduates that have to remove the phrases “keg stand” or “beer pong” from their vocabulary. They're horses, albeit incredibly athletic ones, and there isn't this great moment of reckoning where they symbolically shed their skin and become a whole different animal once they've left the racetrack.
Also, what racehorses learn on the racetrack carries over to their next careers, and, for the most part, the foundational skills from racing are quite beneficial for other horse sports. An excerpt from my previous column “Looking Forward To 2022 With Hope For Ex-Racehorses”:
“By the time racehorses finish their racing careers, they will likely have travelled by trailer to multiple locations, been handled by many people, and been exposed to high-stimulation environments. They will have been ridden many times by different riders and, in the process, been asked to go through the different gaits of walk, trot, and canter and change leads. Perhaps of most benefit, a career in horse racing instills a mindset that a horse should go forward.”
Ashley and I were so impressed with AA Two Face as soon as we brought him from the racetrack to our Super G Sporthorses farm in Colorado last October. He came to us the day after his final race of the 2021 Arapahoe season. The day after that, we put our son, Chase, who was eight years old at the time, on the racehorse's back and led them around.
Dos was quick to pick up how to jump and other foundational skills necessary for the equestrian sport of eventing. At four years old this year, he was the youngest or tied for the youngest at every horse show in which he competed.
This all came together because Ashley, Chase, and I could build on the foundation Dos already had from his breeders, Garrett and Lisa Ford of Altitude Arabians in Durango, Colo., and his racing trainers, Nicole Ruggeri and her assistant Hector Castellanos. Castellanos came to visit AA Two Face at our farm one night in August. It was the first time he had seen Dos in person since last year. Dos immediately lit up, and the two of them hugged. The bond between Hector and his former racehorse warmed our hearts.
Hector Castellanos visits AA Two Face at Super G Sporthorses, with Chase aboard.
So, the lesson is that we weren't starting from scratch with AA Two Face, and nobody that gets a horse off the track ever does. It's disingenuous for any reseller of retired racehorses to take credit for how their horse is now able to walk-trot-canter and go over a tiny jump only thirty days after coming off the track and is now on sale for five figures because of how quickly they've accomplished this.
Racing connections should be given more credit and celebrated for developing their horses for careers outside of racing when that time should come. And, when that time comes, because racehorses don't immediately shed their identity when they exit the stable gates, these horses should be embraced for who they are.
AA Two Face was bred to race, comes from breeding lines with previous success on the track, and genuinely enjoys racing. So, we've allowed Dos to continue to be a racehorse. Granted, we're doing something particularly unique because of this by hauling him from our farm to the track to continue training and racing. However, for others, embracing that these are still racehorses can mean making sure their horses from off the track have a job, take on new challenges and goals, get handled regularly, get exposed to new environments, and are allowed to go forward because that's what they do.
Lesson 2: “Don't yell at me, Wilbur, I'm not your wife.” – Mister Ed
We've received so much love and support when bringing AA Two Face back to the track to race. We've also faced challenges.
Surprisingly, the most “yelling” has come from the people that we thought would have been closest to us and our biggest cheerleaders, some of the other trainers that race Arabians in Colorado. It's made us frustrated and sour and has us scratching our heads about how an industry that recognizes that it needs new people to survive would be so condescending and abrasive to those new people.
Don't get me wrong, the Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse trainers, jockeys, and owners in Colorado have been incredibly supportive. We're especially grateful for Kim Oliver and her assistant, Brett Heide. They've allowed us to stable Dos in their barn when he's been at the track and have shown Ashley and me the ropes about what it takes to prepare a horse to race—everything from organizing an official timed workout to entering a race to prerace inspections to saddling in the paddock.
However, we've learned a lesson about how protective some our “competition” can be of their turf. All trainers have a right to advocate for what's best for their individual horses, but there should also be some acknowledgment of the bigger picture. It's ultimately a lesson in the cognitive dissonance that horse racing must address in order to be a viable industry. On one hand, there's the sentiment that “we need change.” On the other hand, there's the pushback of “but, that's just how it is” when faced with change.
This season's Arabian racing program at Bally's Arapahoe Park has included only sprint races through the first two months of the three-month season. That seems absurd to literally everyone with some understanding that Arabians are known for their endurance. Certain trainers, with the endorsement of the Arabian breed rep, have told the racing office what Arabian races they would fill. We've been told to accept things the way they are, usually receive no response when asking the breed rep about what races will be written, or get left out of conversations about the organization of races entirely.
This season has been fraught with changes of which we weren't informed, such as shortening the distance of races on the morning of taking entries multiple times. These changes benefit the trainers that said they didn't start training their horses until right before the Arapahoe season started. However, it's pigeonholed all Arabians into being sprinters and running like Quarter Horses. Dos is not a sprinter, nor do we want him to run all out when the starting gates open.
It's tough being new to the game and trying to inspire changes for the betterment of the sport and the breed.
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Lesson 3:
Wilbur Post: “Ed, what do you suppose made us do all that?”
Mister Ed: “I don't know, Wilbur. There are a lot of things in this world that can't be explained.”
Wilbur Post: “Well, what do you do about it?”
Mister Ed: “Nothing. Just enjoy it.”
Jonathan and Ashley Horowitz's eight-year-old Chase gallops AA Two Face (“Dos”) at Super G Sporthorses.
AA Two Face and I have gotten further than we could ever expect for a 4-year-old horse that's also race training. I'm also still learning how to be an effective rider for a young horse.
One of the reasons we've made it as far as we have is because we took the pressure off and had fun. We never focused on the results, but the results came because we took the pressure off, with placings in the top-quarter and then the top-third at our first two recognized events.
But then we found ourselves qualified for area championships, and my perspective changed. While I knew I shouldn't go down this path and kept trying to convince myself that I wasn't doing it, there became a desire to prove myself on this stage. I froze up during our dressage test and lost sight of the big picture. Dos didn't, and being the great young horse he is, he was ready to do whatever I asked him in the moment. And that wasn't much from me.
I took it hard, but it became a great lesson that the focus should be on how amazing it is to spend time with your horse, especially one as cool as Dos, and everything else is secondary. If you asked me if I thought I would be doing this all eight years ago before I started riding, I never would have imagined this, and I'm grateful to have found a new passion at the age of 30.
Granted it's not a lesson I wanted to learn on that stage and in that moment, but at the end of the day, I'm glad I did because it's not the last time we're going to be back there.
We got it together and finished on a high note with a great show jumping round. Being part of the Area IX Championships was a valuable and fun experience. We came home with a ribbon, and it meant a lot to have Chase present it to us during the awards ceremony.
Dos and I finished the @USEventing Area IX Championships on a high note with this show jumping round. Then, Dos made sure to let everyone know he's ready for his next race and, for any of the skeptics, he is, in fact, an Arabian. It also meant a lot to have Chase pin our ribbon. pic.twitter.com/QEuJj0XM3c
I've learned so much from Dos. He's also become a great ambassador for the Arabian breed and Arabian racing. By continuing to race him while he's eventing, he's teaching a new audience about racing. People that have never been to a horse race have come to Bally's Arapahoe Park to cheer him on. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more popular maiden.
Getting to where we are has been unexpected, and I'm not sure what to do about the next steps.
Sunday, July 24, 2022, will go down as an historic day for Bally's Arapahoe Park — and not just for what took place at the racetrack in Aurora, Colo.
On the track, Collusionist won his tenth career stakes race at Bally's Arapahoe Park in the six-furlong Arapahoe Park Sprint. The 6-year-old dark bay Colorado-bred gelding loves racing in his home state. The stakes milestone was his 14th total victory in 18 starts at Arapahoe since his especially memorable “Silky Sullivan” debut in July 2018.
But that's only part of what the racetrack would celebrate on July 24. That's because 1,000 miles away in Kalispell, Mont., there were two horses from Arapahoe Park competing in international competition at The Event at Rebecca Farm, one of the most prestigious horse shows for the equestrian sport of eventing in the United States. Both finished as the highest-placing Thoroughbreds in their respective levels after show jumping rounds on July 24 that closed out the weekend of competition. They were Outrageous Dance ridden by Katy Robinson in the CCI4*-Short, a stepping stone toward the CCI5*-Long level at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event or at the Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill, and Del Mar Belle ridden by Amy Bowers in the CCI2*-Long, the first long-format level recognized by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI).
It's not the first time that a small group of horses from Arapahoe has taken the spotlight at a major sporthorse competition. At last year's Mega Makeover presented by Retired Racehorse Project, out of the approximately 400 horses that competed in the 10 disciplines offered, there were three that raced at Bally's Arapahoe Park. All three finished in the top 10, and two made the finale as part of the top five, with one of them in the finale in two different disciplines. Mr. Park and Brit Vegas were second in eventing and fourth in show jumping for the class of 2020. Ms. Battlefield and Autumn Sorensen were second in field hunters for 2020. And, Itybityquikasakity and Britany Chism were ninth in freestyle for 2021.
“We race for three months in the summer, but that's only part of our story,” said Shannon Rushton, Director of Racing at Bally's Arapahoe Park. “Our horses make an impact year-round, and that's a credit to our horsemen making a commitment to their wellbeing when they're here, as well as when they're done racing.”
The Colorado Horsemen's Association (CHA), the group that represents the horsemen that race at Bally's Arapahoe Park, has taken a different approach to Thoroughbred aftercare than most racetracks. Instead of partnering with aftercare organizations that oversee the rehoming of horses from the track, the CHA decided to directly support the people who have horses that used to race at the track. That has come in the form of cash prizes at horse shows, like the Spring Gulch Horse Trials, where 13 of the 129 entries in May raced at the event's local racetrack. The track sponsors a prize for the highest-finishing horse that previously raced in Colorado competing at the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover.
Out of the approximately 400 horses at the Mega Makeover, three raced at Arapahoe Park, and all three had top-ten finishes. From left to right, Mr. Park and Brit Vegas, Ms. Battlefield and Autumn Sorensen, and Itybityquikasakity and Britany Chism. Photo by Ashley Horowitz
“There are so many great people that take on the responsibility of working with our horses,” said Kim Oliver, president of the CHA. “The horses give us so much on the track, so we want to give back when they've finished racing, and what better way than to the people that now have them.”
Creating a direct line between the racing connections and sporthorse connections of the OTTBs from Bally's Arapahoe Park gives Colorado's racehorses tremendous support to succeed on big stages around the country.
“There's something to be said for the eventing culture of Colorado,” said Robinson, who rode Outrageous Dance in the CCI4*-Short at Rebecca Farm. “There's a lot of people who are into the horsemanship and starting them themselves, and then they get ambitious. It's the nature of eventing in Colorado that you have to cross state lines, so it means you have horses that come from humble beginnings and get spread throughout the country doing the important things because of what it means for the eventing culture of Colorado to be doing milestone events.”
Outrageous Dance, a 10-year-old bay gelding bred in Idaho, raced nine times from July 2014 to July 2016 with one top-three finish. His first United States Eventing Association (USEA) recognized event was in July 2017. At Rebecca Farm in July 2022, he moved up from 20th after dressage to 10th in the final standings following clear jumping rounds where they only added time penalties to their score.
“Every time I think I've found his upper limit, I haven't,” said Robinson, who has also competed Outrageous Dance up to a height of 1.3 meters (4-feet-3) in show jumping. “I have not picked a limit for him, and I will figure it out when I get there, but I don't think I've found it yet.”
Both Del Mar Belle and Amy Bowers, who were profiled in “Horowitz on OTTBs” last month were moving up to the CCI2*-Long level for the first time at Rebecca Farm. They rose from 27th out of 45 after dressage to 17th in the final standings, ahead of the other Thoroughbreds competing at the level.
These horses from Bally's Arapahoe Park are now inspiring their sporthorse riders to become more involved in racing. For Bowers, that means studying racing breeding lines.
“When I bought Belle, I didn't know who Tiznow was because I'm not in the racing world,” she said, referring to Del Mar Belle's Breeders' Cup Classic-winning sire. “But everything I've researched on Tiznow, when you get a chance to buy one, you buy one. And then the dam side with Fusaichi Pegasus, this is great, they have sporthorse stuff on both sides. They didn't realize they unintentionally bred a great eventing horse.”
For Sorensen, who rode Ms. Battlefield to a runner-up finish in field hunters at the Thoroughbred Makeover, it means taking a position at the racetrack as a veterinarian on behalf of the state racing commission starting in 2021.
“I've gotten so much more perspective about racehorses,” she said. “It's been nice to see how the trainers love their horses and take really good care of them.”
Ms. Battlefield returned to Bally's Arapahoe Park to be a pony horse on July 26, three years after running her last race at the track.
It also came full circle for Ms. Battlefield when the mare returned to the track to fill in as a pony horse during the races on July 26.
“I got her the day after her last race, and this was the first time she's been back to the track,” Sorensen said. “I didn't realize you just don't show up and jump right in as a pony horse. I don't even think she's ever had a Western saddle on before. But she'll do anything I ask her to.”
At the end of the day, these horses never actually lose their identity as racehorses.
“He's the easiest to ride at a dead gallop, which makes sense because he's a racehorse,” Robinson said about Outrageous Dance.
So, it's only fitting that the racing connections that work so hard for the success of their horses on the track get to celebrate it when it comes off the track as well.
Amy Bowers knew she found something special when she first saw Del Mar Belle.
The bay Thoroughbred filly had raced seven times as a 3-year-old in 2018, including a win in a maiden race at Bally's Arapahoe Park, followed by an attempt against the top horses of her age in Colorado in the Encantadora Stakes.
But, with a tenth-place finish in the Encantadora, followed by a sixth-place finish in a $5,000 claiming race, it was pretty clear that Del Mar Belle wasn't on a path to match the racetrack success of her sire, Tiznow, a two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic, or of her damsire, Fusaichi Pegasus, the 2000 Kentucky Derby winner.
Instead, Bowers predicted that Del Mar Belle's success would come in the equestrian sport of eventing.
“The second I met her and saw her move, I could just picture her doing the upper levels,” Bowers said. “This horse at least had the natural talent for it. You never know on the mental side until you start working with them, but I always had the long-term goal of her being an upper-level event horse.”
Horse racing fans and professionals now get exposed to eventing and other equestrian sports with more frequency. The event that has put the brightest spotlight on racehorses in equestrian sports outside of racing is the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover. While it's a competition that ultimately assesses the viability of Thoroughbreds as sporthorses in ten different equestrian disciplines, it is rooted in the fact that these Thoroughbreds are still racehorses because they must have been on the track and will only have less than a year of retraining in their respective equestrian sport before competing at the Makeover.
What the competitors at the Thoroughbred Makeover can accomplish in less than a year of training off the track is truly remarkable—from jumping three-foot courses, to elegant movements like counter canters in dressage, to freestyle routines where they're ridden bareback and bridleless. However, with all the technical aspects that are necessary to excel at eventing, show jumping, dressage, polo, or any of the other Thoroughbred Makeover disciplines, it takes more than a year to truly master them.
“It's such an amazing platform to show how versatile the Thoroughbred is, but really it's just the beginning for most horses,” Bowers said. “It's a great stepping stool and great foundation to step into bigger things.”
The future that Bowers saw in Del Mar Belle and is now realizing as the striking 16.3 hh bay mare moves into the upper levels of eventing four years after running her final career race is similar to the journey racehorse owners get to experience when they see a promising yearling at Keeneland or Fasig-Tipton and years later go to the winner's circle after a stakes victory.
Bowers bought Del Mar Belle in December 2018, four months after her final race. The filly “had just hung out in a field” during those four months, Bowers said, but when turned out in an arena Bowers got to see uphill movement and a gallop that she described as “spectacular.”
Del Mar Belle was a quick learner, as many OTTBs are. She and Bowers competed at the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover and finished 20th of 67 in eventing. Although not in the ribbons or a finish that would make headlines, it was exactly what the filly needed.
“Really, the Makeover for her was just a great stepping stone, a great progression in her training,” Bowers said. “It was a little hard because she was young for the Makeover. She was just four at the time. So, I had to go pretty conservative with her training.”
After the Makeover, the real work began. Del Mar Belle spent most of the next year in 2020 moving up from competing at the Beginner Novice level of 2-feet-7 and the Novice level of 2-feet-11 before the Makeover to the Training level of 3-feet-3. Not only are the jumps higher, but the placement of jumps and the dressage movements are much more technical.
“I feel like in the early stages, it's all about the basics, simply giving them confidence and the ideas,” Bowers said. “[After the Makeover] she had the confidence and the ability, but now it became more about the precision and where to put her body.”
In 2022, Del Mar Belle and Bowers moved up to the Preliminary level of 3-feet-7 and what is considered the upper levels of eventing recognized by the U.S. Equestrian (USEF). They also started competing in internationally-recognized events at levels offered by the Fédération Equestre International (FEI).
“The big thing is being able to balance them at any speed and also pick any speed,” she said. “Like with your canter, at the beginning, you kind of have three canters, a slow, medium, and fast. When you get to Prelim, you should probably have about 20 different canters. I would say a really mature horse should have about 50 different canters. You should be able to get to that canter within seconds of asking for it.”
At The Event at Skyline in Utah on Kentucky Derby Weekend in 2022, Del Mar Belle and Bowers won the Preliminary level, marking their first blue ribbon in 23 events over four years. They followed that up with a first-place finish in their next event, the Spring Gulch Horse Trials in Colorado.
I announced Del Mar Belle at Bally's Arapahoe Park in 2018. After racing, she started eventing with Amy Bowers. Now, I announce the mare at horse shows as she rises to the upper levels of @USEventing. Here's a clip from her Prelim win at Skyline. More to come in @paulickreport. pic.twitter.com/T4hpHcz1kz
Their next event will be the CCI2*-Long at The Event at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, Montana at the end of July. The highest level of eventing is the CCI5*-Long, such as at the Kentucky Three-Day Event. So, think of their current journey as being like a baseball player moving up in the minor leagues on the way to the majors.
“We want to get back in that Rolex Arena doing a bit bigger stuff,” Bowers said.
So, while the Thoroughbred industry has embraced the concept that racehorses can go on to successful careers after racing and that the transition can happen quickly, OTTBs reaching their full potential in these new sports will take some time. If horse racing can be in it for the long run by following and celebrating the horses beyond their initial placement off the track or their first forays in a new sport at the Makeover, it will show the full scope of what racing Thoroughbreds can achieve and reveal an even bigger value that racehorses have.
