As any follower of this series knows, it's not uncommon (but is nonetheless delightful) for a racing barn to have a barn cat or two on duty. Among those of us who are particularly drawn to a good working cat though, trainer Kelsey Danner is social media famous.
She doesn't just have one; she has five.
“I've always been an animal person. You always have a barn cat. Five seems a little excessive,” Danner admits. “They're not really useful for anything besides eating a lot of food.”
The full roster is Rosa, Catherine, Fester, Bobby, and Linda, each with their own unique personalities. Danner runs horses up and down the East Coast, from Florida to Kentucky to New York and many points in between, but she has chosen to corral her feline employees at her permanent barn in Palm Meadows to minimize the stress of constant travel.
Rosa, like any truly over-worked assistant trainer, never leaves the barn office and is often found on Danner's desk. Catherine, who is the only member of the group not thrilled by the others, eats three meals a day in the barn and is otherwise roaming the training center.
Rosa has no desire to hunt, but Fester, Bobby and Linda will prowl from time to time. There aren't many mice or rats for them at Palm Meadows, so their focus has recently turned to lizards and pigeons.
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All five of them technically came to Danner for free, but Fester was by far the most expensive freebie.
“Fester, we found on the track and we thought he was about to die,” she said. “He had herniated all his organs through his diaphragm so he had major surgery. He was on stall rest for like three months, which, stall rest for a cat is being locked in the bathroom. He must have been attacked by something, because he had some lacerations on his shoulder. He was not my cat then; I acquired him with the vet bill.
“Seven hundred dollars later, he has continued to live.”
Fester monitors naptime for a Danner trainee
Bobby (whose antics sometimes prompt him to be called 'Bad Bobby') and Linda, are named for Bob Baffert and Linda Rice. The siblings came to Danner as kittens when she was stabled at Churchill Downs and someone decided she didn't yet have enough cats. Bobby is the favorite of Danner's stable cats and is fond of snuggling her horses, climbing onto hay nets and stall ledges, or resting in the cat shelf hung for him and Linda in the office window. Danner describes Linda (the cat) as “a little controlling” and “two and a half hands of terror.”
Bobby has an unfortunate desire to see the world.
“Bobby makes the rounds; he's very popular on the backside,” said Danner. “Bobby gets into people's vehicles. He's gone to Gulfstream from Palm Meadows twice. And apparently he had to be evicted from an electrician's van at the stable gate the other day. It's a really bad habit, because I'm afraid he's going to really disappear. Obviously they all have chips and numbers on their collars, but he's very keen to get in any open door on a vehicle.”
Bobby (left) and Linda (right) are in charge of staff morale
He has not yet exceeded Danner's record for accidental cat journeys; she once had a barn cat sneak onto a trailer bound for Oaklawn Park – but Bobby is known for breaking records. It's only a matter of time.
Danner isn't the only one who worries when Bobby or one of his colleagues go on an expedition. She says her employees at Palm Meadows are devoted to the whole group of barn cats. Their favorite bonding activity is laundry time.
“They really love the fresh laundry out of the dryer when it's hot,” she said. “That's their favorite place to sleep in the mornings. The hot walkers get the laundry out, and then the cats lay on top of it. Then the hotwalkers will usually wrap them in towels. It's not like it's exactly frigid in South Florida, so I don't know why they need to be wrapped in hot towels all the time, but they look like little burritos as you walk around. They lay there and take it.
If not carefully managed, horses can lose weight in colder weather as they are forced to burn calories to stay warm. Horses may use nearly 25 percent more energy in the winter than in warmer weather, making it imperative that they are offered more calories as the temperature drops.
Horses who come into weather a bit skinny are even more at risk, reports The Horse.
Horses must also have access to ice-free water throughout the winter in order to prevent impaction colic. If there's water available only sporadically or if the water is extremely cold, the horse may not drink enough. Horses must drink at least 1 gallon per 100 pounds of body weight each day to remain healthy and hydrated.
Good-quality hay is a must in colder climates especially, as the digestive process produces heat that helps the horse maintain core body temperature in colder weather. Horses that don't have to expend additional energy staying warm have a better chance of maintaining weight. It may be necessary to increase the amount of hay horses are fed in colder months – a one- to three-flake increase is often sufficient.
Cold weather combined with wind and precipitation like snow or rain will increase a horse's caloric needs. Feeding more hay is a great way to offer the horse more calories. If offering more hay alone doesn't help the horse maintain weight, adding fat to his diet can. Fat can be added by topdressing feed with oil, purchasing feed with a higher fat percentage, or adding beet pulp, which, when soaked, can also increase water intake.
Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) will host Bash at the Breeders' Cup on Friday, November 4 at the Grand Reserve in the Distillery District of downtown Lexington, Ky. The fundraising event will feature signature cocktails, Southern cuisine, live music, and a live auction of racing memorabilia and experiences. Tickets are available here.
“Bash at the Breeders' Cup has become a can't miss event on the Breeders' Cup week calendar,” said Erin Halliwell executive director of TCA. “We're looking forward to another fantastic event all while raising money for our 2023 approved grant recipients that work to provide Thoroughbred aftercare and offer health and human services to backstretch and farm workers.”
Bash at the Breeders' Cup will feature a live auction including a Del Mar Racing package, a halter worn by Life is Good, a racing saddle signed by numerous jockeys including Johnny Velazquez and Jose Ortiz, a Whitney Stakes package, a Blue Grass Stakes package, artwork by Jeaneen Barnhart and much more. Artist Robert Clark will live paint an oil on linen piece featuring top Breeders' Cup contenders. The piece will be available for bidding in the live auction. For those that cannot attend in-person, online bidding will be available beginning on Tuesday, November 1. Online bidding will close at 12 p.m. ET on Friday, November 4 and bidders wishing to continue bidding in the live auction may bid by telephone. Auction items may be previewed here.
Bash at the Breeders' Cup is generously sponsored by Churchill Downs, Herringswell Stables, Blackstone Farm, Abbondanza Racing, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, Candy Meadows Farm, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, Tito's Vodka, Maker's Mark, and Jackson Family Wines. Media sponsors include the BloodHorse, TDN, Paulick Report, and the Horse Racing Radio Network.
Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) was formed in 1990 to raise and distribute funds to charities in the Thoroughbred industry that provide a better life for Thoroughbreds, both during and after their racing careers, by supporting qualified repurposing and retirement organizations and by helping the people who care for them. In 2022, TCA granted over $783,000 to 74 approved charities working within Thoroughbred retraining, rehoming and retirement; backstretch and farm worker services, research and equine-assisted therapy. During the last three decades, TCA has granted over $26 million to more than 200 charities that successfully meet the criteria set forth in its annual grant application. TCA administers the Horses First Fund, founded by LNJ Foxwoods in 2016, to assist Thoroughbreds in need of emergency aid. TCA manages Cómo, a mobile app founded by Godolphin, that connects racing industry employees to the vital services they need through a network of racetrack chaplains and Thoroughbred industry organizations. TCA is the charitable arm of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA).
There are many decisions to be made in the life of a racehorse, with no guarantee that they will work out. When 15-year-old Isabel Wells calmly walked 5-year-old chestnut gelding Hieronymus over to the final obstacle of the competitive trail course during the finale of the 2022 Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover and raised a flag connected to a pulley as the final test of their partnership, it was the culmination of many decisions that all came together to create a perfect moment for horse and rider.
Fittingly, the flag was blue, the same color as the silks Hieronymus wore representing Godolphin, his breeder and owner, during a nine-race career from August 2019 to June 2021. Godolphin Lifetime Care was the sponsor of the competitive trail discipline at the Thoroughbred Makeover, reflecting the commitment and investment the racing operation founded by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai has made in Thoroughbred aftercare. Godolphin has been a leading supporter of the Retired Racehorse Project since a visit by Godolphin representatives from around the world to the first Thoroughbred Makeover held at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2015.
The victory by a Godolphin horse in the Godolphin-sponsored discipline also put the spotlight on the incredible journey of a young rider that is poised to make a big difference in Thoroughbred aftercare. Wells was diagnosed with stage 4 leukemia when she was 3 years old. At age 6, she went into remission. She started riding horses when she was 10.
“I tried sports and all these different things and I had a year where I really didn't do anything,” Wells said. “My aunt was like, 'Well, I ride at this stable in Fair Grove, [Missouri]. You should come take lessons.' I took a lesson with Tim Brock, and it grew from there. I fell in love with everything about it.”
Wells' composure while riding and while speaking about her horse to the crowd at the Kentucky Horse Park and on the livestream of the biggest Thoroughbred-only horse show in the world were well beyond what one would expect from a 15-year-old.
“Oh my god, I cried,” said Emma Lovatt, who oversees the U.S. operations of Godolphin Lifetime Care. “I cried. That's how much it means to us to have our horses going on and being successful. He's not going to be a champion show jumper, but he's proved that he's the bomb-proof horse. He's quiet, kind, and had a 15-year-old riding him. And, he's a Thoroughbred. Some of them have these stigmas that they're hard to handle, and he just went out and said, 'No, I'm not, I'm easy, and I love doing what I'm doing.' It's important, and it's very heartwarming to see these horses that we've bred and foaled.”
Lovatt and Wells connected in the warmup ring on the morning of the Thoroughbred Makeover Finale on Oct. 15. Lovatt presented Wells with an idea—that Godolphin would sponsor Wells for the 2023 Thoroughbred Makeover, while Wells would be an ambassador for Godolphin.
“She's kind of funny because she does not understand how good she is,” Brock, Wells' trainer at BC Stables and Training Center in Fair Grove, Mo., said. “There were times through this that she's like, 'I can't do this. I can't go in with these other people.' And, I kept telling her, 'You're as good as everybody else.' Obviously, that showed because she did all of that work.”
When it comes to racehorses, the Godolphin team understands what it takes to do all the work—from breeding to racing all around the world. Since 1992, 6,512 horses in 39,536 races with 7,737 wins, 1,886 of those in stakes and 382 in Grade or Group 1 (stats as of Oct. 24, 2022). Godolphin's devotion to horses representing the Godolphin blue on the track is matched by their commitment to finding their racehorses a new career after they finish racing. At the 2022 Thoroughbred Makeover, there were more horses among the final entries that Godolphin previously ran than any other racing operation with nine competitors, eight of them being homebreds.
“They were very appreciative and very excited about their horses being there,” Brock said about Godolphin. “That tells us that their mentality for their horses' futures is in the right place, and that's the people we want to deal with.”
Hieronymus, with Florent Geroux up, won his racing debut at a mile on turf at Ellis Park in 2019.
Hieronymus was one of those homebreds. Trained by Brad Cox, the chestnut colt won his debut as a 2-year-old in a one-mile maiden special weight at Ellis Park in Kentucky on August 11, 2019. Hieronymus would go on to win four more starts, including the final race of his career in the Mystic Lake Mile on turf at Canterbury Park in Minnesota on June 23, 2021.
“Here comes Hieronymus!” Canterbury track announcer Paul Allen growled in his call of the race that he described as a “spine-tingler.”
After the win, Hieronymus would record four more timed half-mile workouts over the next two months but would not race again.
“He ended up on a vet's list because of a large ankle, and he kept getting put on it even though he x-rayed clean,” Lovatt said. “So, rather than go through any more rigmarole with that, we brought him home.”
Knowing when to stop racing is just as important a decision as choosing what race to enter.
“Their career in racing is incredibly short,” said Lovatt, who has worked with Godolphin for nearly 20 years in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. “They've got 15 to 20 years after racing that they can still do and give and love and have joy from. You've got to remember that and focus on that and say, 'OK, we want them to be the best racehorse, but we also want them to be the best they can be after that.'”
Godolphin has created a pipeline for their retired racehorses. Mares go into the breeding operation, while geldings go into Godolphin Lifetime Care, which has branches in America, Australia, Europe, and Japan.
“Lifetime care has always been a part of our business,” Lovatt said. “We didn't put a name on it until about 2015. You breed this number of horses, you've got to be able to take care of them.”
Following an extensive initial evaluation of their health and suitability for a new career, these geldings are connected with training programs that can be either aftercare organizations or individual sporthorse trainers. Hieronymus, along with Change of Fortune, an unraced 3-year-old bay gelding bred by Godolphin, went to CANTER Kentucky.
“They were wonderful to deal with and gave me all the records,” CANTER Kentucky's trainer, Ashley Watts, said of Godolphin. “Very, very easy, very professional.”
From there, Hieronymus and Change of Fortune were rehomed to BC Stables. Brock, fellow BC Stables trainer Nathan Bradley, and student Isabel Wells were looking to compete in the Thoroughbred Makeover.
“We did a lot of the Mustang Makeovers, and what kind of turns me off about those is that you have 100 days, and when that's finished, those horses are auctioned off at the show,” Brock said. “With the Thoroughbred Makeover, you've got more time, and those horses are also further along when we get them.”
Bradley would partner with Change of Fortune, Wells with Hieronymus.
“[Brock] told me he needed a horse for a kid,” Watts said about Wells, a student at Fair Grove High School. “I was picturing a little kid, not Isabel, who is mature beyond her years. She's like 15 going on 30.”
The horse Wells calls “Gilbert” was her first Thoroughbred. The BC Stables team immediately noticed that the Godolphin horses came with a racetrack education that prepared them to excel in life after the track, even if they weren't initially as familiar with who Godolphin was. Watts, CANTER Kentucky's trainer, laughed when sharing a story about when Bradley, a BC Stables trainer, inquired about the reputation of horses coming from “Go Dolphin,” saying the name of the stable as if he were cheering at SeaWorld.
“Both of those horses came here ready for something else, so obviously they had enough foundation and good handling that when we changed what they were doing, it didn't throw them for a loop,” Brock said. “When you look at a horse that you can change gears with and they immediately take that, that's feel, so that horse has been handled to understand how to deal with pressure or questions. They start looking for an answer rather than a way out.”
Wells and Hieronymus won competitive trail with a calm, steady routine in the finale after being fifth in the preliminaries. They were also eighth in ranch work.
“A lady at my barn said, 'You must still be on cloud nine,' and I was like, 'Oh, I'm not coming down,'” Wells said.
With top-ten finishes in ranch work by Bradley with Change of Fortune and by Brock with both Almanaar and Silver Dollar City, the BC Stables team made their mark.
“I told these guys because it was Nate's and Isabel's first time [at the Makeover],” Brock said, “that when we get there, people are going to look at you. At about day two, they're going to want to be you.' Our horses are quiet and they're good and they do what they're supposed to do. People start looking at you differently and see that these horses can do things out of their normal realm. That's fun for us.”
BC Stables plans to return for the Thoroughbred Makeover in 2023, with Brock saying that they plan to have five riders competing, including Wells with a Godolphin horse.
“She has now given me what her ideal horse is,” Lovatt said. “I will keep an eye out through our rehoming for a good horse for her, and we'll go from there.”
Said Wells: “I'm just super excited. That's really the only words I have for it because after going this year being so impressed with Godolphin and the Retired Racehorse Project, I'm just extremely excited to be part of this.”
Jonathan Horowitz is a long-time fan of racing who went from announcer to eventer with the help of off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs). His monthly column details his journey as a rider and his thoughts on aftercare's place in horse racing.
