It's so rare in this job that I get to write about a happy ending and a happy beginning at the same time, but as this annus horribilis comes to a close, I finally have my chance.
Six years ago, I wrote about a filly named Unspurned. She was the only horse in my time grooming at the Kentucky Thoroughbred auctions I ever lost my heart to, and while buyers at both Keeneland September and Fasig-Tipton October were charmed by her, she didn't meet her reserve at either auction. Her breeders raced her, and she gave them wins in the Grade 3 Whimsical and the Canadian filly classic Bison City Stakes in return. When she retired, owner/breeders Jay and Christine Hayden added her to their breeding program and sent her to Uncle Mo for her first mating. Her first foal was a colt, a plain bay born in Ontario who grew up just the right way to be entered in the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.
I travel to Saratoga most summers for work and was eager to meet him but tempered my excitement, reminding myself that there was no guarantee he'd be like his mother. And even if he were, so what? The closest I'd probably be to him would be devouring Equibase Virtual Stable notifications. But as I lurked around the Cara Bloodstock barn, watching him process the chaotic sale grounds with a calm wisdom I could see he was a lot like her. Everyone who had known both horses agreed – same yearling, different wrapping paper.
None of us expected, when he stepped onto the green sand in the auction ring, that he'd bring $400,000. I was so pleased for the Haydens and consignor Bernard McCormack. When they told me Godolphin had signed the ticket, I couldn't have been happier for the horse. I knew about Godolphin's Lifetime Care Program, and that whether he became a world-beater or a slowpoke, he'd landed somewhere that he could get all the best opportunities in life. I nearly skipped down the East Avenue sidewalk that night.
As summer stretched into winter and then spring, I'd find myself wondering how he was doing. After his 2-year-old birthday, I wondered how quickly they'd bring him along. In the summer, I reached out to a contact I had in the Godolphin system, who kindly let me know he was at Keeneland with John Burke and arranged for me to visit him as he worked toward his first start – and again, after he had a setback and ended up back with Burke through the winter. One of Burke's riders told me he was the easiest horse in the barn because of how sensible he was. He seemed to charm everyone with his quiet, eager-to-please demeanor. Every time I saw him again, I was more fond of him.
Uncle Mo-Unspurned in the ring at Saratoga in 2018
Underscore, as he was named, made his one and only start for Brad Cox in a maiden special at Oaklawn Park as a 3-year-old, just before COVID-19 turned the world upside down. My husband and I shouted him home as he made a valiant effort under Joe Talamo but he did not care for having dirt thrown in his face and finished fourth.
He continued to be dogged by injuries, but thankfully minor ones. When the workout notifications would stop, I'd send an email with a timid reminder of my phone number and offer of help. They did not need to give me a six-figure underachiever. This was their very expensive horse. But I hoped I might be lucky enough to take him one day. I began picking up every robodial from an 859 area code, desperate not to miss a call from Godolphin's Lifetime Care program.
On Thanksgiving week, the email appeared in my inbox. Subject: Underscore.
I dropped everything. I think I dropped my laptop. The pen I'd been holding went flying. I frantically dialed my eventing coach and OTTB expert Stephanie Calendrillo to arrange boarding for him and in days, I was signing adoption contracts and he was turned out in a paddock on her farm.
Underscore in his racing days at Keeneland
He is just as kind and smart as he was when I met him two years ago in Saratoga. No one has spoiled his sweet heart. The past weeks have been a whirlwind of grooming, hand grazing and snuggling our new horse. Underscore, who is called Blueberry around the barn, will be on turnout this winter and begin training in the spring. I'll let him tell me what he wants his next career to be, but when we get access to an arena surface, we'll begin with the basics – ground driving, dressage, hacks in the field. For now, I'll still need to pinch myself every time I see that familiar little face waiting for me by the gate.
Blueberry and I both got incredibly lucky on this journey. He was lucky to be purchased by a stable large enough and well-funded enough to have its own in-house aftercare liaison. I was lucky to already be working with an eventing coach who had taken many great horses from that program and who could vouch for me when I said I wanted to adopt him. I was lucky that I'd gone to school with someone who worked for Godolphin and who ensured that my name and number were in the digital file that travels through the stable's system, so that if he retired without a stud deal, I'd be easy to reach. I was lucky that at every turn, when the very expensive colt came up with a slight bit of discomfort, his training team noticed immediately and consulted veterinary experts, ensuring minor injuries didn't turn into big problems – or catastrophic ones. I'm lucky that I know this because Godolphin gave me his medical records when I adopted him, along with a promise to take him back if my circumstances changed and I couldn't keep him.
As grateful as I am to the universe for letting me live out this dream, it strikes me that you shouldn't have to be 'lucky' to be able to find and help a horse you love.
I thought about this last week when I spoke to Caton Bredar about the efforts she and her husband Doug went to in order to claim and retire graded stakes winner Chocolate Ride. (You can read that story here.) The gelding's former connections agreed to pool their money to buy or claim the horse, Old Friends agreed to give him a spot, Brook Ledge was on standby to give him a ride to Kentucky, and the whole thing nearly fell apart because of the difficulty they had navigating the claiming system at Penn National. That isn't a criticism of Penn's policies, but it makes me wonder how many other people there are out there who would happily buy and retire a horse if only they could figure out how to do it.
One of my earliest introductions to racing was my love of Charismatic, and when he retired to stud I discovered and tracked his foals as best I could without the benefit of Equineline. I remember well the feeling of being emotionally invested in a horse, eager to help them out, and completely unequipped to figure out where they are or who to call to offer them a home if needed.
We at the Paulick Report frequently get emails from people in similar positions who have fallen in love with a racehorse from afar and don't know what to do when the Virtual Stable notifications stop coming. Sometimes, if they're lucky, I know who can help them get more information on the horse that won't stop running through their minds. Many times, I am at a loss—even with my reporter's rolodex.
Racing has come up with a way to try to connect people to horses in need, however. Thoroughbred Connect, a database hosted by The Jockey Club, allows people to enter their contact information alongside a horse's registered name and to make that information available to an owner or trainer looking to rehome the horse. It's supposed to be a way for those of us who don't have a friend in the barn or the stable office to let someone know we are here.
Since the program's creation in 2011, Thoroughbred Connect has generated 1,956 connection emails letting an owner know that someone wants to help find aftercare for a horse in their possession. There are 8,330 currently horses in the system with at least one user listing their contact information, offering to provide aftercare if needed.
Of course, there are still barriers. There is no way for The Jockey Club or anyone else to compel racing or breeding connections to check Thoroughbred Connect before rehoming a horse. After all, the system could be used by anyone who uses an email address to register, and some tracks would prefer trainers contact Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited facilities to rehome horses – also an excellent choice.
And too often, there's a disconnect between track people and non-track people. Bredar told me that there can be suspicion when someone calls a trainer out of the blue wanting a horse from their barn – reasonable and important suspicions like 'Is this person offering a suitable home or are they a horse trader with a meat buyer on speed dial?' and competitive suspicions like 'How do I know you don't want to take the horse and run him yourself?' I've also heard stories of trainers seizing upon a kind-hearted person's offer to retire a horse and charging exorbitant prices well above the horse's value, claiming to an unknowing non-racetracker that the horse is worth it. Even when a connection gets made between the two worlds, insiders and outsiders, there are a lot of ways for things to go wrong.
The one who loses out in those moments is the horse. The industry has come such a long way in aftercare just since I began writing about it seven years ago. It's so much easier for someone like me to adopt an ex-racehorse through an accredited facility or to buy one from a reputable trainer specializing in retraining OTTBs. Next, I'm hoping, owners and trainers can find ways to make it easier to connect with people in a horse's past who may have loved them. You've no idea the joy it can bring.
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