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Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: ‘Victory’ At The Thoroughbred Makeover Looks A Little Different For Everyone

The performances that make me smile the biggest and appreciate the retired racehorses and the trainers that care so much for them at the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover the most are not necessarily the ones that win ribbons or even make the Finale.

Don't get me wrong: as the announcer of the Thoroughbred Makeover since the annual marquee event for OTTBs was first held at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2015, I've been blown away by the talent that Thoroughbred sporthorses can show in new sports with less than a year of retraining after a racing career.

Like when Rosie Napravnik went into a gallop after a flawless jumping round in the eventing finale aboard Sanimo at the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover to win the discipline. It was reminiscent of the jockey-turned-eventer galloping out after a flawless ride aboard Untapable in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Distaff, after which Napravnik announced her retirement from racing, only to embark on a new equine career, much like the OTTBs that she now rides.

Sanimo and Napravnik moved up to the Prelim level of eventing in 2021 with two top-three finishes that qualified them for the American Eventing Championships and a return to the Kentucky Horse Park.

Or when Carleigh Fedorka had a breathtaking dressage test to win the discipline at the 2015 Thoroughbred Makeover aboard Called to Serve, a horse ESPN's Gary West once described as “a bull in perpetual search of a china shop” because of his naughtiness during race training.

There have been countless other performances that bring out the immense talent of OTTBs, and I'm looking forward to more when I announce the 2021 Mega Makeover from Oct. 12 to 17.

However, at least as valuable to the goal the RRP has that the Thoroughbred Makeover is “intended to inspire good trainers to become involved in transitioning these horses to second careers” is seeing the rounds in each discipline where trainers create a positive experience for their horses based on where their training is, rather than pushing things to the max.

I smile when I see the barrel racer that trots the barrel pattern rather than sprinting all out. The rider pats the horse on the neck afterward. They both leave the TCA Covered Arena proud of their accomplishment.

I smile when I see the freestyle competitor recognize that their horse is overwhelmed by the atmosphere, adjust their routine, and the horse picks up confidence as a result.

I smile every time riders show gratitude for themselves and their horses that just making it to the Kentucky Horse Park is an accomplishment, regardless of where the horses are at in their retraining, because the Thoroughbred Makeover is only part of a long journey that the horse will hopefully embark on in a new life after racing.

Jonathan and Ashley Horowitz announce the finale of the 2018 Thoroughbred Makeover.

There is no doubt that the Thoroughbred Makeover is an elite competition, with $100,000 in prize money and top-level riders competing across ten disciplines on horses that will go on to be leaders in their new sport. In addition, what makes the Thoroughbred Makeover so special and important is that it is also addresses a cause that all professional sports now have to reckon with — the welfare of their elite athletes after they retire. Thanks to the RRP and the Thoroughbred Makeover, horse racing is moving in the right direction with this.

“Since 2015, the Thoroughbred Makeover has steadily grown into not only the largest Thoroughbred retraining competition in the world, but also the largest gathering of people with a professional interest in Thoroughbred aftercare,” RRP executive director Jen Roytz said. “Since then, we've seen more than 3,000 horses go through the process of transitioning from racing to their sport horse careers by preparing for this unique competition, and now we're seeing our Makeover graduates from years past starting to perform at the upper levels in their new equestrian disciplines.”

After coming together for a memorable week at the Kentucky Horse Park, the Makeover trainers, who have represented 46 states and four Canadian provinces, as well as England, can return to their hometowns and inspire others with what OTTBs can achieve.

“That's what works so well with the Makeover,” RRP program manager Kristen Kovatch Bentley said. “It manages to cater to not only the trainers who use the structure of that first year to prepare horses for careers in the upper levels, or take advantage of the visibility to market a horse for sale at the event, but for the one-time 'bucket list' trainers who are entering this competition with their forever horse. It's rare for one event to be able to bring together so many different facets of the industry in one week, but because everyone has had that same incredible experience of partnering with these amazing horses to undertake this transformative 10-month journey together, the competition becomes a celebration.”

The Thoroughbred Makeover inspired me to learn to ride, and my work with OTTBs has changed my life. My wife, Ashley Horowitz, and I currently run the Super G Sporthorses farm in Parker, Colo., where ten of the 16 horses on the farm are Thoroughbreds. Those ten were bred in seven different states.

“For those who don't have a background in or natural connection to equestrian sports outside of horse racing,” Roytz said, “this allows them to gain a deeper appreciation of not only what these horses can go onto accomplish after racing, but how much time, skill, effort, money and more goes into their care and training as they make this life-altering transition from racehorse to sport horse.”

I'm one of those people and appreciate that I now have gone from “talking the talk” as a broadcaster to “walking the walk” as an eventer on OTTBs thanks to what has inspired me at the Thoroughbred Makeover.

The post Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: ‘Victory’ At The Thoroughbred Makeover Looks A Little Different For Everyone appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Australian Study: Why Do Thoroughbreds Retire?

A new study out of Australia has found that 17 percent of 37,750 racehorses retired during the 2017-18 racing season there left the track because of poor performance or at their owner's request. In addition, the study found that 2.1 percent of racehorses that left racing during that timeframe died.

Dr. Kshitiz Shrestha of the University of Melbourne and a research team emailed a questionnaire to the last registered trainers of a sample of the 2,509 Thoroughbreds listed as “inactive” in that timeframe. An “inactive” horse is one that has not worked or raced in the last six months of the racing season, or those horses that were recorded as inactive by Racing Australia.

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In total, 1,750 responses were received. Of those, 43 percent had only temporarily left racing; those horses raced the following year. One-third of the retirements were because of injuries, predominantly tendon or ligament issues.

The study determined that the median age of the 780 horses that were retired was 5 years. Females were 1.2 times more likely to be retired than males, but male horses were more likely to become riding horses than females, many of which went on to breed.

The scientists also found that 90 of the 96 horses that died did so because of injury or illness; 54 percent of the horses had experienced an injury while exercising — 24 of them while racing and 19 while training. The other 6 were injured while participating in a trial.

The researchers note that their findings are consistent with previous Australian and New Zealand studies that report that most racehorse retirements are voluntary in nature because of poor performance or owner request.

They note that the decision to retire is based on an accumulation of factors, including performance. The median age of retirement shows that most horses are not forced to retire because of an injury. This information can be used as a benchmark to evaluate programs designed to track Thoroughbreds as they leave racing.

Read the study here.

A Novel Way To Correct Wry Nose

Wry nose in horses does more than just look odd — it can affect the way a foal breathes and may lead to weaning and performance issues. It's unknown if the defect, where the upper jaw and nose are shifted to one side, is genetic or caused by an issue in utero.

Dr. Cassandra Sapper and colleagues at the University of Zurich tried a new, surgical approach to correcting the issue on two foals: the team cut the incisive and maxillary bones, then inserted a locking compression plate with screws to stabilize the gap. The front part of the septum was resected and a plate used to fixate the nasal bone deviation.

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After surgery, the team reported that the foals' respiratory issues and facial malformation were markedly reduced, though the underbite and deviation could not be completely eliminated. The new technique did not cut the skin and muscle on the side of the head, so there was less soft tissue trauma than with traditional means of correcting wry nose.

Though previously it had been suggested that wry nose corrective surgery be done at two to three months of age, the study team used foals that were three and seven and a half weeks old. This was deemed advantageous because of their ability to heal rapidly at a younger age. The study team concluded that wry nose corrective surgery can be accomplished using this new method in young foals.

Read the case report here.

MVP In The Show Ring: Former Racehorse Stars In $20,000 TAKE2 Finals

He finished at the back of the pack in every race he ever started, but MVP beat all comers to win the 2021 TAKE2 Hunter Final at the Kentucky National Horse Show in Lexington Sunday afternoon. The splashy chestnut, owned and ridden by Tess Fortune and trained by Chris Bennings, was a model of consistency through the two rounds of the event to earn the championship sash over 15 competitors. Frank and Susan Seman's Irascibull, ridden by Jenna Drago and trained by Scott Petrie, was the reserve champion.

Riley, trained by Megan O'Dwyer Thiel and owned and ridden by 16-year-old Cyanea Robine, was the winner of the TAKE2 Jumper Final, going clear in the jump-off to nip Kathryn Currey's A Lil Evil.

The $20,000 TAKE2 Hunter and Jumper Finals were created in 2019 to honor the memory of TAKE2 founder Rick Violette Jr., who passed away in 2018. A total of 32 horses representing 14 states traveled to the Kentucky Horse Park to compete this year.

Based in Louisville, Ky., Tess Fortune only had to drive a little more than an hour to get to the Finals. She'd made the trip twice before, finishing second with MVP in the Finals in 2019 and 2020. The two have been a team for seven years, ever since the 10-year-old made two inauspicious starts at Oaklawn Park under his Jockey Club name of Kit's Captain, and was retired from racing through the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association's Galloping Out program. Galloping Out has long been a supporter of the TAKE2 Program.

“He ran twice and he was slow,” Fortune said with a smile. “I watched the videos, and he was last in both; in one, he was very, very last.”

The young horsewoman connected with Captain, as he is known around the barn, by chance.

“My hunter was hurt, and I was looking for another, but on a very low budget,” she recalled. “I was working at a tack shop, and someone from Galloping Out came by with a flyer. I reached out, and they sent me videos of three horses. He had a lot of white, and he was by far my favorite.”

Fortune knew from the start she had something special in MVP.

“He looked like a hunter from the first day I tried him,” she said. “He's the best horse. He's very opinionated, and super picky – he'll eat peppermints and carrots, but he doesn't like weird snacks. But he's a very, very good boy.”

The two have won numerous championships in the TAKE2 and the Amateur-Owner Hunter divisions. They will head to Harrisburg next month to compete in the Zone 2 Hunter Championship. Fortune has a soft spot for the TAKE2 Thoroughbred Program.

“I love TAKE2,” she said. “I love that the horses don't age out of the program, you can develop a horse properly and continue to show in the division. With the Green Hunters, you feel rushed, and off-the-track Thoroughbreds are as green as they come. With TAKE2, you can take the time you need and use it as a stepping stone to other divisions. The program is fair and friendly to the horses.”

She added: “TAKE2 is absolutely increasing the popularity of the Thoroughbreds. You can see that the quality of the competition in the division is better every year. The program is encouragement to get the Thoroughbreds going again.”

Andy Belfiore, executive director of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program, was thrilled with the turn out for the Finals. “It is wonderful to see all these amazing Thoroughbreds and their enthusiastic owners, riders, and trainers demonstrating just what Thoroughbreds can accomplish after they leave the track,” she said. “The mission that Rick Violette set for us is to pave the way to happy and healthy second careers for retired racehorses. I think he would be gratified at the support our program receives from both the show horse and the racing communities.”

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