Off Track Thoroughbreds

The Retired Racehorse Summit in Saratoga Springs this week concludes that the racing industry needs to dedicate more funds to retired racehorses.

As the fabled Saratoga Meet continued this week, talk of American Pharoah and other great horses was temporarily tabled as horsemen and industry leaders turned their attention to the welfare of retired racehorses during a daylong summit at Fasig-Tipton South Pavilion.

And on one point all 50-to-75 attendees could agree: More money is needed to ensure that no horse falls through the cracks when his racing days have ended, says Diana Pikulski, director of external affairs for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.

Pikulski, who spoke at the summit, and who was a member of the New York State Task Force on Retired Racehorses, which was the precursor to the summit, says she felt “very encouraged” by what she heard.

Diana Pikulski of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation addresses the summit.

“It’s great to see that the people who are mainstream and most deeply involved in horse racing and horse breeding are committed to solving the problem,” Pikulski says. She adds, “The key theme of the day, which everyone agreed to, was there is not yet enough money” available to adequately address the problem “and that there’s too much reliance on donations, and not enough commitment from the industry.”

That said, attendees and participants were “thrilled” that awareness and funding have grown over the last 10 years, Pikulski adds, noting that summit participants concurred that all racehorses have value as future sport and riding horses, and even the injured ones have value as therapy horses. “So there’s a job for them too in nontraditional places,” Pikulski says.

Jackson W. Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable kicked off the summit.

Prominent owner Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable served with Pikulski and many others on the task force, and notes that the summit, which he kicked off, was an important next step, building on all the research that went into the 243-page task force report. The task force was created by the state legislature to identify productive uses for retired racehorses and increase the number available for such uses. The task force also was charged with finding “new and innovative methods that can utilize private and public funding sources to place retired racehorses” after their racing days are over, according to published reports.

Echoing Pikulski’s reaction to the summit, Knowlton acknowledged that while more funding is necessary to adequately safeguard retiring racehorses, positive developments are already starting to accrue.

Two pledges were announced at the summit:

• The New York Racing Commission announced a plan to match the $5 start fee paid by horsemen in New York racing, a pledge that amounts to $90,000,
• The Racing Commission also announced that as a condition to receive a license, owners and trainers will be required to watch a five-minute educational video on the life cycle of the racehorse.

“We brought just about every major player and racing organization to one place. People understand that there is a lot of good being done out there, but there’s a lot more to do, and funding is an issue,” Knowlton says. “This is not the end of the discussions.

Participants in this week’s summit were: Andy Belfiore, TAKE 2; David Brown, Finger Lakes Horsemen’s Association; Richard A. Violette, Jr., New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association /Take The Lead; Madeline Auerbach & Lucinda Mandella, CARMA; Erin Crady, Thoroughbred Charities of America; Diana Pikulski, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation; Stacie Clark Rogers, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance;
Sam Elliott, PARX; Christopher Kay, NYRA; Mike Rogers, Stronach Group; Mike Ziegler, Churchill Downs; Judith Bokman, Standardbred Retirement Foundation; Jeff Gural, Tioga & Vernon Downs; Ellen Harvey, USTA; Katherine Starr & Robin Young, Sunshine Horses;
Michael Blowen, Old Friends; Kim DeLong, Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program, Inc.; Anna Ford, New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program; Lisa Malloy, ReRun; JoAnn Pepper, Old Friends at Cabin Creek; Erin Pfister & Heather Carlson, Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue; Susan Wagner, Equine Advocates, Inc.

This out-of-focus shot shows Grand Strand awaiting his fate at the New Holland auction this week.

Grand Strand, a 4-year-old Thoroughbred who sold for $300,000 as a yearling, was purchased for $950 two days ago by Thoroughbred activists, bravely outbidding a meat buyer looking to fill up his load of slaughter-bound horses headed to Canada.

“What a fall from grace, eh?” says Mindy Lovell, an Ontario-based horse rescuer and advocate.

Acting on a tip Monday morning from friend and fellow horse advocate Kelly Smith of Omega Horse Rescue of Pa., Lovell, who has rescued many Thoroughbreds and runs Transitions Thoroughbreds in Canada, was able to quickly identify the strikingly pretty Thoroughbred as a top-selling son of Tiznow by verifying his lip tattoo and physical markings, Lovell says.

“After Kelly read the tattoo to me, and I found out who he was, I double checked by having her confirm his physical traits, which are in his Jockey Club records,” Lovell says. “I read down the list, and after each one, she said, ‘Yup, yup, yup.’ ”

Grand Strand
Sire: Tiznow
Dam: Myrtle Beach, by Kingmambo
Foal date: April 30, 2011
Earnings: $92,509, in 21 startsAs soon as the identification was made, Lovell and Smith bid against the kill buyer, driving the gelding’s price up to $950, says Lovell, noting, “I swear to God, I would have moved heaven and earth to get him out of there.”

The pair bought Grand Strand his freedom without raising funds on social media; a deliberate decision to avoid making the plight public, and possibly risking the safety of the horse, she says, explaining that she was concerned undo publicity could jeopardize the animal’s safety. Lovell explains that it is not uncommon that attempted horse rescues are hindered by undo social media attention and outrage.

So she waited until after the horse was safe to release his name yesterday.

As Grand Strand awaits a ride to her Ontario facility, Lovell has been fielding phone calls and inquiries about the horse. Grand Strand’s former trainer Ramone Preciado reached out yesterday and offered to cover the cost of the rescue, including the $950 as well as shipping and quarantine, Lovell says.

Grand Strand sold as a yearling for $300,000. He was rescued for $950 on Monday at the New Holland auction.

Preciado, reached by email, says he was very upset when he heard the news.

“We offered to take him home to retire him,” Preciado says. “But, Mindy decided to take him and I said I would cover his costs. I was heartbroken, but I am so happy now to know that he is safe with Mindy.”

The distraught trainer thought the gelding had placed with a hunter/jumper facility, Lovell says, noting that Preciado says he retained a bill of sale after visiting the facility, she says. “I told them that we see situations like this often enough, and that there are some people out there who are very good at duping trainers and horse owners into believing” their horses are going to a good home.

“This is not the first $300,000 yearling I’ve pulled from a kill pen,” she says. “I’ve got some of the best, by Silver Charm, Dixie Union, you name it. But he is my first by Tiznow.”

Grand Strand will now reside with Lovell, and possibly train for a hunter/jumper career if his condition allows. And when he joins the others in her herd of thrown-away Thoroughbreds, he will join a distinct group who were once priced so high they seemed destined for greatness, and not the insult and outrage of the auction pen.

“The whole point of this, and why I did say something, is be because what is highly disturbing to me is this is not the first horse I have pulled out of a slaughter situation who has impeccable breeding. Nor will he be the last,” Lovell says. “This tells me that no matter what their breeding, so many of them are at great risk for shipping to slaughter.”