Gulch’s son Bomber gone but not forgotten
A horse once valued at nearly a quarter million dollars, but who was priceless to his family, died this past August leaving an indelible imprint on the heart of his longtime owner. “He was a one-of-a-kind horse,” says Greenville, S.C. equestrian Jane Patten Polk. “I swam him in the river. I galloped him on the beach. He was just a perfect little jumper who loved to gallop, and who made me the best steeplechase rider I could be.” Bomb Site Barn name: Bomber Sire: Gulch Dam: Orseno, by In Reality Foal date: March 30,1998Polk speaks of a diminutive chestnut Thoroughbred […]
Share this:
Rescued Preakness contender reunited at last
A 2011 Preakness contender, plucked in early September from the slaughter pipeline for a mere $100, was reunited last weekend with the racing family who’d named him for a cherished colleague, re-homed him after a successful career, and who, after nearly losing the OTTB, stepped up to facilitate a permanent and safe retirement for the animal. In an emotional moment, multiple graded states placed Thoroughbred King Congie, 8, greeted his former connections at West Point Thoroughbreds weeks after his rescue from auction in Delaware County. President Terry Finley and Chief Administrative Officer Debbie Finley, along with daughter and Communications Director […]
Share this:
He went from prison to blacksmith championship
A once somewhat shy inmate at the James River Work Center in Virginia, who parlayed skills acquired through the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s prisoner/racehorse Second Chances program, recently took top honors for his farrier skills at the World Championship Blacksmiths competition in Doswell, Va. Will Wilson, a former inmate whose hard shell softened after he bonded with ex-racehorse Thoroughbred Haps Online, an injured chestnut mare he nursed back to health, has done himself and the entire Second Chances program mighty proud, says Dr. Reid McLellan, curriculum developer of the program that teaches real-world horsemanship and life skills to prisoners, while providing […]
