Kelley Stobie | Horse Racing Free Tips

Old Friends Welcomes GSW Noble Indy From Puerto Rico After Team Effort

After a team effort, Old Friends in Georgetown, Kentucky, welcomed GSW Noble Indy (Take Charge Indy) on Thursday, Dec. 7, the retirement farm said in a release Friday.

The 8-year old bay gelding, who ran in the 2018 GI Kentucky Derby, was repatriated from Puerto Rico thanks to the efforts of Fred Hart, who became a big fan of the horse due to his ownership of his dam, Noble Maz; Kelley Stobie, owner of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, which has assisted many Thoroughbreds in Puerto Rico; and Mike Repole, Noble Indy's original owner who paid to transport the horse to the United States and then to Old Friends.

Originally trained by Todd Pletcher and bred by WinStar Farm, Noble Indy's first graded stakes win came in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby, which punched his ticket to the Derby where he finished 17th.

The once promising Thoroughbred was never able to recapture his pre-Derby form and began to drop down the racing ranks until he was shipped to Puerto Rico last year where he ran five times at Camarero.

After following his journey, Hart got involved and sought to retire the horse. In an article by TDN's Bill Finley, Hart said, “I became sentimentally attached to this horse and was afraid harm would come to him if he stayed in Puerto Rico. I just wanted to get him out of there.”

Hart contacted Stobie, and the two worked together to try and retire the horse. The issue they ran into was that the owner, Skull Stable PR, named a price they could not pay. However, they persisted, but the ask still remained too high. Then, following an injury, Skull Stable PR finally lowered the number and Noble Indy was sent to Stobie's farm.

“It was a tense time since Indy came to Puerto Rico, knowing if we would be able to get him off the island in one piece,” said Stobie. “Thankfully his surgery back in February of this year did not go as planned, so he could no longer race and the owner agreed to retire him to CTA. We are grateful to Repole Stables for their generous donation, which did not only help Noble Indy, but will pay for two other horses in need to get home. Also thank you to Winstar Farms for stepping up and sending a donation.”

“We are all very excited that Noble Indy will spend the rest of his life at Old Friends in Kentucky,” said Repole. “This was an amazing team effort by so many to bring Noble Indy back from Puerto Rico and to give him the great retirement that he deserves.”

“Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to allow us to enjoy Noble Indy's retirement,” said Michael Blowen, President and founder of Old Friends. “His story will make him a magnet for racing fans. Come visit.”

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‘He Grew On Me’: This OTTB Went From Difficult Rescue Case To Sherpa For New Retirees

When you run an aftercare adoption program, you try your hardest not to get attached to the horses that use your facility as a stop over into their new homes. But that plan doesn't always work out as Kelley Stobie understands.

Strike N Win made all 90 of his starts in Puerto Rico at Camarero, mostly in the claiming ranks. The Illinois-bred son of Tenpins made his last start in May of 2016, retiring with 10 wins and $72,854 in earnings. Then he came to TAA-accredited Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare for a new life.

“I try to not let myself get attached to any of the horses,” said Stobie, Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare's co-founder. “But 'Strike' grew on me more and more. After being with him for about six months, I decided to adopt him.”

Since coming into the program and being adopted by Stobie, Strike N Win has developed mentally and even helps Stobie with acclimating some of the organization's new arrivals.

“In the beginning, 'Strike' was a real loner,” she said. “Aggressive toward other horses and always had to be turned out alone. Over the three years that I have had him, he has really blossomed and is a completely different horse.

“His job now is to have free rein at CTA, welcome new arrivals, and teach them the ropes of life after racing. He is kind of the babysitter and security guard of the farm.”

While Stobie doesn't always have time to ride Strike N Win with a barn full of horses that need to be retrained to find their new homes, the horsewoman and the bay gelding have progressed in their relationship and trusting of one another.

“He has come a long way considering he was terrified of cement floor and did not like loading in a trailer,” she said. “He would also pull back and flip over when tied. Now he does none of these things and is much more trusting. Now you can turn him out with whoever and he will be their friend.”

As the duo continue their lifelong partnership together, Stobie's next plan involves a bit of fun.

“Next step is taking him to the beach!”

This article was reprinted with permission from the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. Find more success stories like this one here.

The post ‘He Grew On Me’: This OTTB Went From Difficult Rescue Case To Sherpa For New Retirees appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Stobie & CTA Continue Heroic Acts for Horses Every Day

Based in Puerto Rico, the mission of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare Inc. (CTA), is rehabilitation, retraining, retirement, and adoption for Thoroughbreds in the Caribbean. The organization recently posted on its Facebook page images of the three Thoroughbreds they most recently accepted from Hippodrome Camarero, the Thoroughbred track in Puerto Rico. All three, Salary Cap (Street Boss), Too Fast For Love (Harlington), or Keep Me Grounded (First Samurai) will need rehabilitation and have only a chance at being sound for trail or light riding. Since December, CTA has been looking for a home for Afleet Accompli (Afleet Alex) who ran 63 times and earned close to $200,000. Like Too Fast For Love and Keep Me Gounded, who ran 45 and 42 times, respectively, are what CTA Executive Director Kelley Stobie calls ‘war horses’.

Afleet Accompli was brought to the attention of CTA by a race fan on the mainland who tries to keep track of all of Afleet Alex’s offspring. Before COVID-19, there was a chance that Afleet Accompli would be going to Old Friends, however, that opportunity is now in question. A lifetime sanctuary for the hundreds of imported Thoroughbreds that must retire every year from Camarero does not currently exist on Puerto Rico, or on the mainland.

“80% of the horses that we are asked to take are imports,” said Stobie. “And it is rare that we get an imported horse that is sound for athletic or competitive riding careers. It breaks my heart. These are war horses and they are worn out. There are very limited homes here for a happy pasture sound or trail-riding horse.”

CTA is accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) and receives an annual grant from the organization. Stobie has also worked out a small institutionalized funding program with the racetrack and the local breeders. But keeping horses in Puerto Rico is more difficult and more expensive than what it is on the mainland and the cost of shipping a horse back to the mainland including quarantine, flight and paperwork is $3,294 per horse. So, Stobie and CTA are often faced with the reality of having to euthanize pasture sound horses.

CTA often makes happy headlines when, with the help of sponsors, they are able to ship high-profile “war horses’ back to the U.S. and find placement for them. One such horse was Immortal Wink (Gimmeawink), who raced 142 times before retiring four years ago at age 10 and now resides in Florida at the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation facility at the Lowell Correctional Facility farm for women. Currently, the breeders of Keep Me Grounded are working on getting him back to Kentucky to retire into a similar program.

“It is great when the breeders or former owners step up and help us to get a horse back to the mainland for retirement,” said Stobie. “For some horses, the trip back and quarantine are hard. That is why we feel a sanctuary on Puerto Rico as well as a program and funding to return more horses are necessary. Horses continue to be imported, but there is no plan for a return ticket for their retirement.”

The unregulated transport of racehorses to Puerto Rico has recently been in the news. The Horse Racing Confederation of Puerto Rico is involved in litigation over the death of nine horses who died in 2019 when being shipped by boat from Jacksonville, Florida to San Juan.

On Jan. 25, 2018, Stobie and co-founder Shelley Blodgett were awarded a special Eclipse award recognizing their heroism, bravery, and benevolence in the face of tragedy for their Hurricane Maria efforts. One might be hard-pressed to find two more competent, savvy and hard-working people in the Thoroughbred rescue world.

In their work, every day takes heroism. Every day they face the pressure of more horses coming their way than they have the room or the funds to care for as well as the added pressure of having to raise funds to ship horses back to the mainland.

“It costs us upward of $50,000 a year to ship the horses who can withstand the journey and additional quarantine time to adoptive homes and other accredited agencies on the mainland that have room,” said Stobie. “As the news of the storms slowed down, so did our donations. But horses continue to be imported to Puerto Rico to race and then they are forgotten. We are on a mission to make sure that a plan gets put in place so that all Thoroughbreds in Puerto Rico receive the retirement that they deserve.”

It is hurricane season again and CTA has taken steps to weather any bad storms.

“We are able to take our horses to a friend’s farm that is on high ground and we have a new container to store hay and feed,” said Stobie. “We also work closely with Dr. Ricardo Loinaz at the racetrack clinic and we can rely on him for help with veterinary care and supplies. We are all better prepared than we were in years past.”

To learn more about Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, go to https://www.ctahorse.com/

The post Stobie & CTA Continue Heroic Acts for Horses Every Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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