The Blueberry Bulletin Presented By Equine Equipment: My OTTB Did Not Fail

One of the first things I did after adopting Blueberry was to embark on a small online shopping spree for him (naturally, none of the draft cross mare's gear would fit him), followed by a small online shopping spree for myself. I found a t-shirt on Etsy which reads, “My OTTB ran slower than yours.” It made me chuckle, as the new owner of a horse who ran once and placed fourth.

Blueberry is by Uncle Mo, out of a graded stakes-winning mare. He had the mind of a racehorse, and we're told he showed such impressive speed in the mornings, his training team suggested he be nominated to stakes races at Woodbine before he'd even made a start. We joke sometimes about our “underachiever” who cost $400,000 as a yearling and won a little over $4,000 in return.

But the reality is, there's a little air of disappointment when racing people are asked about OTTBs. Many are eager to support aftercare in word and in deed, but there's often a wistful air if you ask them about a specific horse that has left their operation for a second career. 'Oh yes,' they may say. 'It's a shame they didn't work out.'

I get it; no one spends six figures in stud fees, or pays an Eclipse Award-winning trainer's day rates hoping to find out their horse is slow, or injury-prone, or briefly brilliant but eventually flat. Everyone wants to win the Kentucky Derby. Everyone wants to catch lightning in a bottle. Perhaps it's good that so many people in this sport wake every day with these stars in their eyes, continuing to breed, sell, buy, train, and care for the thousands of horses who support so many livelihoods. Everyone who has a role in a racehorse's life is subject to back-breaking work, long hours, lost money, and chasing sleep. There wouldn't be an industry to employ us all if we didn't have crazy dreams to make all of that worthwhile.

But the reality, which I know people understand just as keenly, is that there will be many more horses like Blueberry than American Pharoah. When I wrote about the challenges of aftercare in late 2019, 28 percent of Thoroughbreds born between 2005 and 2014 never even made it to the races. One Australian study found that about 40 percent of that country's racing population retired each year, with only 10 percent of those heading off to breeding careers. The 2020 American foal crop is estimated to be 19,010, but there were only 99 Grade 1 races held in North America last year – it's just a matter of logic that some horses will have a career on a breeding farm waiting them, but most of them will not.

The last few months of under saddle work with Blueberry have been a joy. I tell people that he makes me look a lot smarter than I am, because the level of dressage we're working on now is physically easy for him. Our trainer, Stephanie Calendrillo, told me at one point that she loves a horse who loves to work, who asks her when she encourages them to lift their backs and soften their jaws, 'How high do you want me to lift?' She said Blueberry does it for you and then asks 'Oh sorry, was that enough? Do you need me to do more?'

He loves going to work, but he's smart about it. I pulled him out of his stall for a morning ride this week – his first in a couple of weeks – and where others might have expended calories on exuberant bucks and hops, he was immediately quiet, focused, responding to the slightest twitch of my rein or heel. He does not waste energy (if anything, he can trend towards 'sleepy' rather than quick), and believes with all his heart he is a professional who has Done All Of This Before even when he hasn't.

Having known his mother, I'd hoped when I adopted him that he would have this mindset. I did not know, until about May when he began ground driving walk/trot/canter, how he moved, beyond having a very impressive walk at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale in 2018. In his first months with me, he was on 24-hour turnout while he recovered from some minor ligament desmitis and we awaited a stall and better weather at my trainer's main property. When I saw him stretch out at a trot and felt his floaty canter for the first few times, I used a few four-letter words. I hadn't just adopted a nice horse, I'd adopted a really nice horse.

I'm excited to bring him to the Thoroughbred Makeover next month, but I also recognize that it's just our first show season goal. There will be other seasons after this one, and I think he's just going to get better with time.

'I'm not surprised,' Stephanie told me. 'He's well-bred, and class is class, no matter what you're doing with them.'

Blueberry warming up at his second dressage show in July, where he would win his Intro C class and finish second in his Intro A class

I think it's time we change the conversation about these, the vast majority of the Thoroughbred foals born in this country each year. There were 27,700 races held in North America, which means there were fewer than 27,700 winners, but that doesn't mean that every horse who didn't win a race, or who found a non-breeding second career has failed – they were just a predictable part of the statistical picture of competitive racing.

By extension, we can also reframe the successes of the racing connections for those horses. Part of the goal of breeding Thoroughbreds is to create an athlete, and breeders Jay and Christine Hayden did that. One of the goals of a commercial consignor is to be a source for Thoroughbreds with a lot of potential, and Cara Bloodstock achieved that in selling him. One of the goals for responsible owners is to be caring stewards of their horses' welfare, and Godolphin did that, backing off on his training at the first sign of trouble and providing me a sound horse with no limitations on performance. One of a trainer's worries is ensuring that they keep their horses physically and also mentally sound, and Johnny Burke and Brad Cox ensured their staff preserved Blueberry's kind impression of humans, allowing me a relaxed 4-year-old gelding who sometimes gets groomed by my trainer's 4-year-old little girl.

Horses with second careers are simply those who found renewed purpose in a different job. When humans do this, it's called resilience. Let's give our OTTBs the same credit for finding their calling.

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The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: Conquest Daddyo Comes Home

Chances are if you've been to Woodbine racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, you've crossed paths with the entertainment and celebrity blogger/photographer who goes by the name of Mr. Will Wong on various social media platforms.

Will is an unabashed fan of Thoroughbred racing who began going to the track with his family at a very young age. Over the years, he's become friends with many of the men and women who care for the horses and he shares their passion for the animals.

Sarah Volpe, one of those friends, groomed a horse named Conquest Daddyo when he was trained by Mark Casse for the Conquest Stable. When the stable was dispersed in 2016, Volpe said goodbye to the Scat Daddy colt who the year before had won Woodbine's Grade 2 Summer Stakes and then finished fourth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland.

After he was sold, Volpe and Wong watched with concern as Conquest Daddyo began a long slide down the claiming ranks over the next several years, eventually winding up racing at the bottom level of bush tracks in Montana and Alberta, Canada. Will and Sarah reached out multiple times to the horse's connections in hopes that they might entertain an offer from them to buy Conquest Daddyo, retire him from racing, and bring him back to Ontario, where Sarah would once again be his caretaker. It's taken four years and lots of perseverance and network building, but they finally succeeded.

Will joins Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth on this week's Friday Show to talk about his experience. The story is told in greater detail at his website. Ray and Chelsea review the Queen's Plate performance by the Woodbine Star of the Week, Safe Conduct.

Watch this week's show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

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Horowitz On OTTBs, Presented By Excel Equine: Finding The Right Personality Match For Horse And Rider

Certain things just go together. Mike Smith and Zenyatta. Bill Murray and a Wes Anderson movie. Peanut butter and jelly. As great as those ingredients are individually, there's something magical that happens when they come together.

How a horse matches up with its rider in an equestrian sport is very much like a director trying to cast the right actor or a chef trying to put the right ingredients between two pieces of bread.

I'm grateful for the talent both my OTTB eventers have, and they also could not be more different in terms of how I match with them.

Since she became my first horse in 2018, Sorority Girl (Jockey Club registered as Grand Moony; Barn Name: Moo) has always been the hotshot talent who knows she's good and questions whether I'm good enough to be her teammate. I could not think of a more perfect horse to make me a better rider when I was just starting to learn the sport of eventing.

My newest project, Rocketman (Jockey Club registered as The Gray Man; Barn Name: Uno), wants to get to know me, hang out with me, and be the best teammate he can be both under and out of saddle. I could not think of a more perfect horse to teach me about how special it can be to bond with a former racehorse.

I competed in events with Rocketman and Sorority Girl each of the first three weekends of August 2021, and the personalities that they brought to the show—really, the personalities they bring to all our rides—affected what I got out of and learned from showing them.

I took Rocketman to his first horse show at the Spring Gulch Horse Trials in Colorado on August 8. We went on a whim. After having a month off with a minor injury and illness in June, Uno returned like a champ in July, happy to work under saddle and eager to try the jumper courses I put him through. So, less than a week before the show, I made arrangements for Uno and me to replace another rider and horse who could no longer compete.

I flew back to Colorado the night before the show after announcing the collegiate box lacrosse national championships in California that weekend. I had no idea how my lovable 4-year-old grey gelding with one eye would handle his first show environment. He was a joy to be around. He warmed up calmly and went in the dressage ring for his first test — which also happened to be the first full dressage test we ever did — willing to do whatever was asked of him.

My goal was to make the show a positive experience for Rocketman, so that he wouldn't be “burning out his fuse up here alone.” After the 16.3 hh gelding still trying to figure out where his feet are tripped during one movement, I rebalanced Rocketman and gave him a pet on the neck. I pet him during other moments of the test as well, telling him he was being a good boy. After we halted, I pet him again…and then remembered that I was actually supposed to salute the judge first. The judge and scribe smiled.

We didn't score that well, with a lot of the reasons for my struggles with dressage falling on my riding shortcomings. However, we received the most flattering feedback from the judge, Cindy DePorter from South Carolina, “Going in the right direction! Tactfully ridden! Good start. Work on continuing the kind hands. Good luck. Have fun.” It also brought a smile to my face that the scribe had noted Uno's “one eye” and put a heart next to it under “Distinguishing Marks.”

Uno loves to jump, and we moved up the standings after stadium jumping and cross country to finish ninth in a field of 16 in the Intro-A division. We also earned The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Incentive Program High Point Award for the Intro level.

The next week, Uno and I moved up from the 2'3 Intro level to the 2'7 Beginner Novice level at the relaxed mini trial schooling show at Sunrise Equine. Uno jumped clear to finish on his dressage score, placing third in a field of six in the BN-A division.

 

More than just competing well, Uno relished the show environment. When we were done, but more students from our Super G Sporthorses barn still had to compete, I walked Uno around like a puppy dog, and he happily grazed, rolled in the dirt, and was doted on by others at the show.

This was all unlike what my first shows with Sorority Girl were like, when both she and I were new to the sport of eventing back in 2018. Yes, she had raw talent and I was fairly precocious to be competing in recognized events after less than three years of riding horses, but we struggled. I chronicled our early epic eliminations at shows from too many refusals to falls to dressage meltdowns earlier in this column in “Horowitz Learns That In Eventing, Winning Isn't Everything.”

Unlike Uno, Moo tests her rider. She has her own agenda and has strong opinions about her rider's agenda. As many special moments as we've had together, including her stealing the show during the wedding ceremony for Ashley and me, she lives life on her terms. So, unlike Uno, who wants to please his rider, Moo wants her rider to meet her expectations—stay balanced, set her up properly to jumps, ask her to work with purpose on the flat. Then, we make a great team.

The author with Moo on the cross country course

The personality Moo brought to our partnership when I was first learning to ride fit with what I needed. I wanted to be a legitimate rider and not just the novelty of the horse race announcer that decided to hop on a horse. Moo made me that rider.

So, at The Event at Archer in Wyoming from August 20 to 22, the hard work I've put in on Moo showed through. Yes, we still struggled with dressage, but that's because I struggled and not her. She did everything how I asked. I'm just having panicky brain freezes in the arena in front of a judge.

After that, we turned in double-clear cross country and stadium jumping rounds, making us one of only four in our ON-B division of 18 and one of only six across the whole Novice level of 34 to finish on our dressage score — albeit a dressage score I continue to work hard to improve.

 

Now, Uno has come along as the right horse for my goals because of his personality. I found a horse that wants to bond with and please his rider. It's actually taken some getting used to that I don't have to be on guard for mare-ish tantrums when I hop in the saddle.

Most Thoroughbreds, if they retire from racing relatively sound, can physically do whatever tasks an amateur rider like myself will ask of them in their second careers and beyond. When their personalities come out — a topic I'll explore more in a future column — that's what determines what the experience will be like. Like a director looking for the right actor to cast, a general manager looking for the right player to draft, or a hopeful romantic looking for the right partner in life, I wish that all the people that want to do good finding new homes for retired racehorses will find that magical match.

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Kill Pen Pipeline: Experts Tell Jockey Club Round Table Thoroughbreds Are Targeted, Offer Suggestions On How Help

Although Thoroughbred aftercare has been a topic of interest at the Jockey Club Round Table often in previous years, a panel in this year's program touched on the kill pen pipeline, which has proven a growing challenge to legitimate aftercare organizations.

Thanks largely to the growth of social media, individuals operating holding facilities for horses bound for export and slaughter (or people who claim to operate such pens) are finding profit in offering certain types of horses for sale. Sometimes the horses go to private homes, while other times both legitimate and questionable rescues may raise money to purchase and care for the horse. Sometimes, said Beverly Strauss, co-founder and executive director of Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, the same horse will go through the cycle of auctions and/or kill pens more than once as a result.

Read our original reporting on this economy here, here, and here.

Those operations, which Straus said can leverage two to three times the price they would probably get for the horse at the border, are specifically seeking out Thoroughbreds.

“Unfortunately, Thoroughbreds, because they're so easily identified, are the target of this online marketplace,” said Strauss. “And so now dealers are seeking them out at low-end auctions, and people are contacting old owners and trainers, anyone who was connected with the horse, even if you haven't seen that horse for 10 or 15 years, people are being contacted to raise money to save the horse.”

Breeding stock are especially vulnerable, since particularly young or particularly old horses are more difficult for the majority of accredited aftercare organizations to take on.

“You know, at TCA, we get a lot of questions about Thoroughbred aftercare. But the most frequent question I get is from Thoroughbred breeders, and they say: What do I do with my retired broodmare?” said Erin Crady, executive director of Thoroughbred Charities of America.”

“And currently there really aren't a lot of options for broodmares or breeding stock, generally speaking. A 20-year-old retired broodmare that hasn't been ridden in 12 years doesn't always fit into the programs of most of our industry nonprofit aftercare organizations, largely because that broodmare would be hard to place and expensive to retrain. If you don't have a back 40 acres where you can permanently retire and care for your breeding stock, it can definitely be a challenge.”

This also applies to breeding stallions; read our reporting about The Deputy's journey to a kill pen here.

As online brokers and well-meaning bystanders get more determined to uncover Thoroughbreds' histories, owners and breeders are more likely than they once were to get a call demanding money to extricate a horse from a difficult position. Strauss advises caution in these moments.

“It's really an unfortunate situation, and what I would say is if you're contacted because one of your former horses is in a kill pen, do some research,” she said. “Don't just throw money at it. Don't just send money blindly. Do research and see that the horse truly is in a bad place and then ensure its safety.

“I would contact an accredited program for help. Most of us can guide you through this issue. Because it really is a problem.”

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One of the most notorious auctions for kill pen operators takes place in New Holland, Penn., which has attracted attention from the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association. The PHBA has constructed an anti-slaughter committee and a code of ethics that members are held to.

“So if you're a member of our organization or you're registering a horse, you're going to have to sign off on that code of ethics, which pretty much says that if you do anything at all to move a horse or go through someone else to move a horse to slaughter, you're going to be sanctioned by our organization,” said Brian Sanfratello, executive secretary of the PHBA. “But we're limited as far as the number of people that can sign off on that and be sanctioned through that. So what we said was we have to try to get something done on a state level for anti-slaughter.”

Knowing that harsher, more widely applicable sanctions were needed, Sanfratello said the organization has also been key in drafting a Pennsylvania-specific version of legislation recently passed in New York which prohibits the sale of Thoroughbred or Standardbred racing or breeding stock for the purposes of slaughter.

“And we went to the lawyers within our organization, and they put together a mock-up of a bill that we're going to submit to the judiciary committee that's going to make it a misdemeanor for bringing horses — having anything to do with getting horses to kill pens for slaughter,” said Sanfratello.

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