Thomas Edison is named the Rood& Riddle Thoroughbred Sport Horse of the Year. Both photos courtesy of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital
Thomas Edison, a 14-year-old show jumper, was named the 2012 Rood & Riddle Thoroughbred Sport Horse of the Year last month following a sensational season in the show jumper ring with rider Maggie Jayne.
The fifth annual award was presented during the annual Thoroughbreds Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) Awards Dinner Sept. 6 before an audience of 400 owners and breeders.
TOBA President Dan Metzger noted that the annual Rood & Riddle OTTB award does the industry and retired racehorse a good service.
“These awards are a wonderful way to heighten awareness so that we may broaden Thoroughbred horses’ careers beyond the racing world,” Metzger states in a press release. “By spotlighting their successes in second careers, we hope the awards will encourage people to rehabilitate and retrain Thoroughbreds after they have retired from racing.”
Thomas Edison, who was bred by Cheramy Ates, Hector Mesta and Marlea Metsa, was sired by Handsome Character, and is out of Love to Kiter.
He had five starts in his racing career and never hit the board.
But in his new career, with new owners Alex Jayne of Illinois and Ira Schulman of Arizona, he is a sport horse to be reckoned with, one who had a “banner year in the show jumping ring,” according to a press release.
Thomas Edison never hit the board as a racehorse, but is hitting it big in the show jumping world
Rood & Riddle has been recognizing off-track Thoroughbreds with this award since 2009 in partnership with the United States Equestrian Federation and TOBA.
The award is presented to the best Thoroughbred in a sporting vocation other than racing. The winner is selected by a committee formed by the chef d’equipe of each of the top four disciplines in which Thoroughbreds compete in USEF competitions (Show Jumping, Hunters, Eventing and Dressage) with a fifth vote given to celebrity Thoroughbred trainer Michael Matz who has had a standout career in both Thoroughbred racing and equestrian sport.
Past recipients of the Rood & Riddle award include Courageous Comet, who won it three times.
This may stop a lot of the off track TBs from ending up slaughtered and with owners that don’t take care of them. I hope so. These horses are worth a lot more money alive that on someones plate in Europe.