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Jan Vandebos on Mackelwane

RanJan Racing strives to do best for OTTBs

Long before Jan Vandebos knew a thing about horses, or helped head up RanJan Racing, she received some prophetic advice from onetime top racehorse owner Marshall Naify. Calling her attention to the Thoroughbred racehorses who were a passion to both Marshall Naify and his brother Robert, Vanderbos’ future husband, the woman who had only ever taken a trail ride a time or two in her life was told to get ready. “Marshall told me to pay attention to everything to do with horses, because it was going to be the most important thing in my life,” says Vandebos, noting that […]

Past Saylor Intern, Morgan Whitney. Photo by Audrey C. Crosby

Olivia M. Saylor internship to be announced

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption expects to announce this year’s recipients of the coveted Olivia M. Saylor Internship next week, offering two lucky people a paid position working with ex-racehorse Thoroughbreds. Named for a young lady who loved her father’s racehorses, the Saylor internship is funded by prominent racehorse owner Paul Saylor in tribute to his daughter, who died in a fire in 2011. “His daughter really shared a love of racing with him,” says New Vocations Program Director Anna Ford. “It was around the time that she passed away that we were working on financing our internship program” when Saylor […]

Dry Martini and James C. Paxton lead the way to a post-track life

Millionaire racehorse is Mr. Cool off the track

Nothing could shake Dry Martini. Not the dogfights of horse racing, where he won $1.3 million dollars, and certainly not foxhunting and jumping, where he dashed through the wilderness of the Pennsylvania foxhunting territory with the cool-headed aplomb of James Bond. “When he first came off the track, just about anybody could have sat on him,” says Priscilla Godsoe, who, along with James C. Paxton of River Hills Foxhounds, re-schooled Dry Martini. “All the credit really goes to the horse. It’s a hard thing to explain unless you’ve ridden a horse like him. I’ve ridden a lot who are special; […]