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Denise and JJ ribbon at their first show, a year after she adopted the unwanted gelding off the track.

Photo of the Week: In the pink & green

Though Denise Kalfayan started riding at age 7, it wasn’t until age 42 that she hit the horsey jackpot with Jeanne’s Jackpot! She adopted the OTTB from ReRun, Inc. in April 2012. “I saw him and fell in love. He was my first horse in 24 years that I owned. He’s so sweet, gentle and quirky that everyone at the farm, especially kids, loves him,” she says. Nicknamed Dog for his puppy personality, JJ got his hooves wet with schooling shows in 2013. Pictured at the Central Jersey Horsemen’s Association show in June of 2013, the pair took home two […]

Hopefully Mine has been identified by Jockey Club DNA testing as Affirmed granddaughter Crowning Glory. She is pictured meeting her new owner, Susie Martell, at the South Florida SPCA last June.

DNA test reveals ID of seized mystery mare

A severely emaciated mare seized last June in a sweep by the South Florida SPCA and Miami-Dade Police Department was officially identified through Jockey Club DNA testing last week as Affirmed’s granddaughter, Crowning Glory. The descendant of the last horse to win the Triple Crown, whose identity had been a mystery up until now, raced 13 times and went on to produce five foals in near succession. Her first foal, Cardiac Output, now a beautiful mare, was discovered starving alongside her mother on the day the police and SPCA swooped in on a property in South Florida. Crowning Glory New […]

First Service, a German-bred OTTB, survived many trials and tribulations before winding up in his forever home.

A T’bred injured on a plane lives turbulent life

A gifted Thoroughbred warhorse hobbled by luck so bad he once tore off part of his hoof during a flight from Germany to California — a terrifying accident that ended his Breeders’ Cup aspirations and foreshadowed many close calls to come — eventually ended up rescued from an auction at age 16, and headed to, of all places, the dressage ring. First Service, a German-bred bay gelding with speed and promise, was traveling to California in 1999 when he spooked in the aircraft he was riding in. Rearing up, the horse known by his nickname Prince, threw a fit, and […]