Susan Salk
OTTBs log 1,000 miles on cross-country trek
Navigating tricky terrain and nursing broken bones, Valerie Ashker and her off-track Thoroughbreds crossed into Colorado this week, logging nearly 1,000 miles on a cross-country trek to prove the merits of the mighty ex-racehorse Thoroughbred. Primitivo and Solar Express, opposite horses in so many ways, have had their ears pricked forward in shared enthusiasm for a daily walk or jog toward the east coast. “They’re doing incredible,” Ashker says. “It was really perfect to take the two of them, because they’re both so different. Solar is rangier and comes from the Damascus/ Buckpasser line. Tivo is smaller and has a […]
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Low claimer with 41 starts rocks Prix St. Georges
A hardscrabble racehorse who bounced between Suffolk Downs and Finger Lakes, earning a pittance and never shining during his 41-race career, continues to rise up through the Dressage levels, winning against the most rarified Warmbloods. In his debut last month at a Prix St. Georges-level show in Nottingham, N.H., OTTB Real Gentleman took a fourth-place ribbon against seasoned Warmblood competitors, putting in a flowing, steady and brilliant test, says his owner and businesswoman Ann Seamonds. Real Gentleman Barn name: Rio Sire: Gone for Real Dam: Sunshine Star, by Star de Naskra Foal date: Feb. 5, 2006“It was a very hot […]
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Boy saves doomed T’bred with birthday cash
A freckle-faced boy with a shock of red hair pledged his birthday money last August to save a doomed chestnut Thoroughbred from the Canadian slaughter pipeline when nobody else would. Brandon, 9, of Ontario says he couldn’t bear the thought of the pretty ex-racehorse, whose looks reminded him of his own, going to slaughter. So after his mother MJ Allen explained to him that 17-year-old mare Karazan has been purchased by a meat buyer and would likely go to the slaughterhouse, he asked her to spend his birthday money to save her instead. “I did it because nobody else was going […]
