Race trainers team up to help a Scat Daddy son

Mr. Discreet has rehabbed a badly blown tendon and is prepping for competition in Kentucky.

A four-year-old son of Scat Daddy, injured in a race last September, has found a path through troubled times with the help of his race trainer and former assistant race trainer.

In the weird way that bad fortune can turn to good, Mr. Discreet blew a tendon at Parx Racing last September as the entire track was placed under quarantine for an outbreak of the equineherpes virus.

Returned to his shedrow stall to wait out the quarantine, which prevented horses from entering or exiting the track, the flashy chestnut was carefully rehabbed by trainer Robert Reid, while the handsome horse’s former assistant trainer, Kelsey Parisi, searched for a farm property to re-home him.

Mr. Discreet
Sire: Scat Daddy
Dam: Pretty Boundary, by Boundary
Foal date: March 13, 2012“Parx got stuck in a quarantine in the fall, right when I was trying to work out a deal to get the horse. And the whole thing wound up working in my favor,” says former exercise rider turned OTTB trainer Kelsey Parisi. “I was searching for a farm at the time that I reached out about Mr. Discreet, but I didn’t have a property yet. And at the time, his owners weren’t sure what they were going to do with Mr. Discreet. They weren’t sure if they were going to bring him back to racing, or, because his bloodlines are so good, sell him as a stud horse.”

As the weeks rolled on into winter, Mr. Discreet’s right, front tendon cooled and tightened. “He did all his stall rest and hand walking right there on the track with Butch Reid,” says Parisi, noting that the trainer, whom she used to work for takes great care of his horses. And as the quarantine lifted on the racetrack, and travel was again permitted for horses, everything fell into place for Parisi and the red racehorse she used to admire.

After starting very slowly back to training, Mr. Discreet prepares to take on a competitive trail ride in October with Parisi.

She found a perfect 34-acre farm about 90 minutes from the racetrack to lease. And in the first week of December, Mr. Discreet arrived, after his owner and trainer decided that the best path for the quirky redhead was a second career. His trainer would be Parisi; a skilled horseman who has begun a career retraining racehorses for new careers.

“Things came full circle for me and this horse,” she says. “When I was working for Reid, I was the one who actually dropped the claim on Mr. Discreet (so the pair could race him). And, because I was his assistant trainer, I’d ridden him on the track and worked with him on a daily basis at Parx.”

She adds, “So when I found out he’d been injured I got in touch with Butch and we worked so well together. Mostly we touched base on how the horse was doing, and I’d let him know I was working on getting a farm.”

The horse who was known as a “real character” in his shedrow, always with his head over the door looking for attention, will now look to seize the spotlight at the upcoming Retired Racehorse Project’s show in Kentucky this October.

His flashy good looks and exceptional movement will make him a strong contender for the Freestyle division as well as competitive trail riding she says, noting that so far, the path for Mr. Discreet’s second career is now smooth sailing.

“He’s handled everything I’ve thrown at him so far,” she says. “He’s excelled at everything.”