Call Me Larry still wins funds for cancer research
Call Me Larry, the racehorse who grabbed international headlines five years ago by racing to raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, continues to make strides for the cure. Now retired from racing, Call Me Larry is making the rounds on the show jumping circuit under owner and rider Shaina Humprey of Massachusetts. And like his previous owner, Suzie O’Cain, who founded Find A Cure Stables, his new owner has agreed to donate part of her winnings in the show ring to the breast cancer foundation. As part of the formal sales agreement struck between the two horsemen, a portion of […]

Q&A: What to look for when OTTB shopping
In a Q&A interview with Off-TrackThoroughbreds.com, Dr. Laurie Metcalfe, DVM associate with Rood & Riddle, discusses a range of issues and medical conditions commonly found in ex-racehorse Thoroughbreds, as well as tips on what to look for when watching a Thoroughbred jog. In this story, which was a favorite among readers, and first published in September 2010, Metcalfe answers questions about ailments, pre-purchase exams, and also offers her own personal testament to the OTTB. Q: What is an osselet and how significant is it to the future career of an ex-racehorse? An “osselet” refers to the thickening/bony reaction that occurs at […]

She wins $200K on beloved t’bred, later buys him
Borrowing a friend’s old jockey saddle, Jackie Acksel, a middle-aged mother of two, swung onto the back of the luckless racehorse and folded into traffic heading toward the starting gate at Delaware Park. Ignoring the gentle ribbing of stewards yelling, “Don’t fall off!” the one-time jockey set her legs into an unnaturally cramped angle caused by leather that were too short, and piloted Smalltownman to the scene of his comeback. It was August 2011 and just a month earlier, Smalltownman had put in a poor performance at Parx Racetrack in Pennsylvania. And as she watched from the sidelines as the […]