retired racehorse | Horse Racing Free Tips

Normandy Invasion To Be Retrained For His Next Career As A Sport Horse

The National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization (NTWO) announced this week that former Spendthrift stallion Normandy Invasion has been gelded and will be retrained and rehomed by the organization.

NTWO farm manager and trainer Tayja Smith said that the multiple graded stakes placed earner of $551,900 is doing better than she had expected with the adjustment after she was warned he could have some aggressive tendencies.

“We pulled him off, and he was dead quiet,” Smith said. “He had his head right where it needed to be, walked super respectful in, settled right into his stall, and rolled and relaxed.”

Smith said that she is planning on trying group turn out soon after giving him some more time to get adjusted.

The 10-year-old son of Tapit has not begun any training yet. Smith said that she wants to allow him to pick up some herd dynamics as well as pass a veterinary check before she begins training with him. She plans to start his training on the ground and go from there.

“They kind of tell you what to do, I think,” Smith said. “I do everything by feel.”

Smith said it usually takes a week or two to get a horse where she wants on the ground, and then she starts the under-saddle training. When asked about what she might look for in a potential adopter for Normandy Invasion, Smith said that most importantly it should be someone who has experience with a stallion and someone who really bonds with him as a horse instead of just wanting him because he is well known.

“While he's very, very well mannered,” Smith said. “If he ever does decide to show stallion tendencies, I would rather it be somebody who is going to be confident with those tendencies.”

“I kind of want him to choose.”

Normandy Invasion was runner-up in the 2012 Grade 2 Remsen Stakes and the 2013 G1 Wood Memorial Stakes. He was bred in Kentucky by Betz/Kidder/Gainesway/Graves/D.J. Stable/Cole and is out of the Boston Harbor mare Boston Lady. Normandy Invasion was a $230,000 purchase as a 2-year-old by Fox Hill Farms, which campaigned him throughout his racing career with trainer Larry Jones. Fox Hill's Rick Porter is the founder of NTWO. Normandy Invasion is the sire of 13 winners from 43 starters, and his first foals are 3-year-olds of 2020.

The post Normandy Invasion To Be Retrained For His Next Career As A Sport Horse appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Early Estimate: Over $140,000 Raised Through New Vocations Breeders’ Cup Pledge

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program announced today that the early estimate of funds raised during their annual Breeders' Cup Pledge will be more than $140,000. Authentic's win in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic was one of seven winning pledges during the event; Authentic's connections, all of whom pledged, include owners Spendthrift Farm, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables and MyRacehorse as well as trainer Bob Baffert.

Additional pledges and final donations are still being received, but the program is thrilled with the overwhelming support of the fundraiser. This marks the Pledge's 11th year, with over $790,000 raised since 2009 and 100 percent of funds going directly to support the program's rehabilitation, retraining and rehoming efforts.

“We are truly thrilled with the increased participation for this year's Pledge,” said Anna Ford, New Vocations Program Director. “All of our other fundraising events had to be cancelled this year, so more than ever, we needed the Pledge to be successful and raise funds. To have seven pledged contenders win was incredible. We are very grateful for the support from all the generous owners and trainers who joined the Pledge. All of the funding raised will go directly to support our program and will allow us to serve the increasing number of horses needing aftercare.”

A total of 50 Championship contenders with prominent connections pledged a percentage of their Breeders' Cup earnings. Pledge participants included Albaugh Family Stables, Bass Stables, Bethlehem Stables LLC, Bob Baffert, Breeze Easy LLC, China Horse Club Inc, CJ Thoroughbreds, Michael Dubb, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, eFive Racing, John and Diane Fradkin, Gatsas Stables, Tim Hamm, Harrell Ventures LLC, Head of Plains Partners LLC, Heider Family Stables, R.A. Hill Stables, Michael Hui, Klaravich Stables, Robert V. LaPenta, LNJ Foxwoods, Madaket Stables LLC, Richard Mandella, Maximum Security/Coolmore, Michael McCarthy, Peter Miller, Monomoy Stables, H. Graham Motion, MyRacehorse Stable, Todd Pletcher, Repole Stable, River Oak Farm, Kirk and Judy Robison, Sackatoga Stable, Domenic Savides, SF Racing LLC, Siena Farm, Jack Sisterson, Spendthrift Farm, Starlight Racing, Stonestreet Stables, Damon Thayer, The Elkstone Group LLC, Three Diamonds Farm, Wertheimer et Frere and WinStar Farm.

Graded Stakes Winner Silverfoot Euthanized At 20

Silverfoot, the aptly-named gelding who became a fan favorite in turf marathons at tracks in Kentucky and throughout the Midwest, was euthanized Tuesday morning at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital due to complications of aging and the debilitating hoof disease laminitis. He was 20 and had been spending the past decade in retirement, most recently at Ballyrankin Stud in Lexington.

Bred by owner Stephanie Clark and campaigned in the name of her Chrysalis Stables, Silverfoot won 11 of 40 starts spread over 10 seasons with trainer Dallas Stewart, earning $949,503 before his 2010 retirement.

“Silverfoot was a true champion,” Clark said. “I owe him so much. He gave me so many heartfelt moments.”

Silverfoot's five graded-stakes victories included three straight in Churchill Downs' Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at 1 3/8 miles, starting with his stakes debut in 2004. His richest score came in Kentucky Downs' $200,000 Kentucky Cup Turf in 2005, when he defeated the Grade 3, 1 1/2 mile stakes' two-time winner Rochester by 6 3/4 lengths. After missing his entire 7-year-old season with an injury, Silverfoot returned at age 8 to win Arlington Park's Grade 3 Stars and Stripes. His last of six stakes victories overall came as a 9-year-old in Arlington Park's Tin Man Stakes.

While not the best horse in his division, the gelding became one of the most popular, with his longevity and striking almost-white coat, flowing flaxen tail, and normally a late running style. It was largely all or nothing with Silverfoot, who accrued one second and two thirds in his long career while racing against America's top turf horses. His second came by only three-quarters of a length to 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now in Monmouth Park's Grade 1 United Nations in 2005, a race in which Silverfoot uncharacteristically found himself on the lead in a race devoid of pace.

“Very sad to hear,” Stewart said of Silverfoot's passing. “He was and is truly one of my favorites.”

Silverfoot was foaled at and spent much of his retirement in a life of leisure on Ann Britt's Maresgate Farm in Finchville. The horse came by his ethereal coloring honestly, being a son of the roan or gray turf champion With Approval (a son of the gray Caro) and out of Clark's roan mare Northern Silver, herself a daughter of the silver-looking Silver Ghost.

The post Graded Stakes Winner Silverfoot Euthanized At 20 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Pay Any Price’s Career Cut Short By Gulfstream Age Restrictions

As successful turf sprinter Pay Any Price's 10-year-old campaign comes to an end, so does his career as a race horse. As originally reported in the Daily Racing Form, this retirement will be due to an age restriction at Gulfstream Park. This restriction does not allow horses older than 10 to race there.

It appears as though the track record holder will have one last start at Gulfstream Park in December, a finale of sorts, according to his trainer, Georgina Baxter.

“He's going to have one more run and then I believe we're going to retire him,” Baxter said to the Daily Racing Form's Mike Welsch. “I think he could still run at Tampa next year, but he never really liked that track.”

Pay Any Price is owned by Richard Averill and the Matties Racing Stable. Baxter has been his exercise rider for six years and his trainer for almost two.

Throughout Pay Any Price's career, the gelding by Wildcat Heir won 19 of his 33 starts. One of those victories was in the Silks Run Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 11, 2017. This was the victory that landed him the track record for five furlongs on the turf at 53.61. This is also the North American record for the distance.

Due to various reasons, this will be Pay Any Price's first start since his wire-to-wire victory in the Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint on July 5, 2020. Baxter told Daily Racing Form that the plan afterwards is for him to return to the farm he was foaled at in Ocala.