Off Track Thoroughbreds

Return of the King was once owned by massacre victim James Ortega of Covina, Calif. The racehorse was rescued June 14 from an auction house. Photo by Auction Horse Rescue

A racehorse once belonging to a California family who was massacred in 2008, was plucked this month from a California auction house, his life saved through the glorious teamwork of a rescue organization, social media and his original breeder.

Return of the King, a 2002 Kentucky bred gelding who earned $175,000 in 33 starts, stood gingerly on a badly swollen hind leg at Mike’s Auction House June 14 when he was spotted by Megan Gaynes, a three-year veteran of Auction Horses Rescue.

“He was in significant pain, standing on a hugely swollen leg,” Gaynes says. “My friend who accompanied me grabbed his halter to lead him, and it was clear he was really lame on his front feet as well. So I turned to the auction staff and I asked if I could please buy him right there, rather than make him run through the auction.”

The auction workers agreed.

She paid $300 for him on the spot, and transported the injured animal to the West Coast Equine Hospital in Somis, Calif.

That’s when word started to get out that King had once been owned and loved by James Ortega of Covina, Calif., a man well known at Santa Anita, and where they each had stood together, victorious in the winner’s circle.

Return of the King
Sire: Wolf Power
Dam: Family Felon
Foal date: May 3, 2002
Earnings: $175,000Tragically however, on Christmas Eve 2008, Ortega and nine members of his extended family was massacred by his sister’s ex-husband, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo. According to many published news accounts, Pardo arrived at a family Christmas party dressed as Santa Claus and opened fire, later taking his own life.

The story of the crime, which made national news at the time, went national once again this month as social media channels urgently shared King’s story, and that of the family so shockingly cut down. Horsemen and advocates alike now pulled together to ensure that the horse, at least, would live through his own ordeal.

“It was such a tragedy. A month before the family died, they all came together for a race that King won at Santa Anita. And somewhere there’s a picture of them all standing together with King in the winner’s circle,” Gaynes says. “Friends and family of the Ortega family have since come onto our Facebook page and told us how grateful they are that we saved King. And I have no doubt that if the family hadn’t been murdered, they would have kept King, and given him a good retirement.”

King recovers at the West Coast Equine Hospital. Photo by Auction Horse Rescue

And now King will get that retirement in Kentucky where he was born.

James Keogh of Grovendale Sales, who is King’s breeder, readily agreed to take back the horse and provide him with a lifetime retirement. “I’m just doing what’s right,” Keogh says, adding that he is optimistic that King’s lameness can be helped, if not corrected, with good farrier care.

King suffers from significant arthritis in his front, right ankle and moderate-to-severe pedal osteitis in his left, front coffin bone, according to veterinary findings. His hind leg, which gave him so much trouble, fortunately had only a superficial wound.

Keogh plans to medically treat those conditions as soon as the horse makes the trip from California to his Kentucky farm. He anticipates using a rubber compression mold to take the compaction away, and utilizing physical therapy tools, such as vibrating plates, to increase blood flow and promote healing to the foot.

As he awaits the horse’s arrival, Keogh notes that well-known advocate Jen Roytz, the former head of marketing for Three Chimneys Farm, was integral in efforts to help King. “She recognized me as the breeder and called me to ask if I could help,” he says. “I was happy to.”

Keogh expects King will make a fine pasture ornament, or possibly a babysitter for yearlings.

Regardless of what he does, he will come home to Kentucky where good care, and a safe stall await.♦

Please consider stopping by the blog’s store, Off-Track Products. Proceeds will sustain the blog in the future, and go to charity.

Posso Volare, who is sired by Rachel Alexandra’s sire Medagilia d’Oro, was a wash out on the track. But he is rocking his new career with owner rider Suzanne Konefal. Photo by Allie Conrad

Eight ex-racehorse Thoroughbreds trained and re-homed by CANTER Mid Atlantic competed, en masse, at the Cabin Branch Schooling horse trials—the largest group to represent the Thoroughbred charity in this particular event.

“This is the largest group we’ve ever had!” exclaimed Allie Conrad, executive director of CANTER Mid Atlantic, a Thoroughbred charity. “Have eight horses at once really validates our program. It shows that our horses get sold to the right home. We’re not selling a horse that doesn’t want to be an eventer to an eventer, or a horse that doesn’t want to go around in a hunting frame to a hunter. We’re making sure they find the perfect home.”

The horses who competed at the June 14 show were Sonrea, This Bids For You, Posso Volare, Jack Reacher, High Tide Rising, Wisegold, Rocky Harbor and Kiss a Monster.

Posso Volare, who is sired by Rachel Alexandra’s sire Medagilia d’Oro, was a total washout at the track, Conrad says. Longtime volunteer Suzanne Konefal, who says this was the one horse she could not pass up, adopted the incredibly well bred bay.

“I’ve been retraining horses for Allie Conrad for several years now, and there have been about four or five horses I would have kept. I would sob when they left,” Konefal says. “When Allie told me she was getting Posso Volare, I was already interested in him before I met him, because I’m a big fan of his father.”

Lindsay O’Reilly Sharpe and her mother Denise O’Reilly fell in love with Rocky Harbor right away.

After the pair met, she was a goner practically from the first ride.

“He has incredible balance … and he’s perfectly quiet. He’s just a classy animal,” she adds.

Rocky Harbor was another love bug, right from the start.

His owners Lindsay O’Reilly Sharpe and her mother Denise O’Reilly met the 15.2 hand bay a year-and-a-half ago, when they purchased Tanglewood Farm in Southern Pines where another owner was boarding him. “It was actually my mother who fell in love with him,” Lindsay Sharpe says. “She watched him walk by her kitchen window every morning, and he would follow everybody around.” The pretty horse is showing now with Southern Pines eventer and trainer Andrew McConnon, and is the farm mascot.

Seeing Rocky Harbor and Posso Volare go from CANTER Mid Atlantic “projects” to happy, shiny sport horses is what makes the hard work worth it, Conrad says.

“You take them in, you put weight on them, and heal their wounds,” she says. “But the hardest part, the part that makes you feel most vulnerable, is sending them back into the world. You just hope that they do well.”

Author’s note— We are offering a sporty T-BRED saddle pad for sale at our new e-commerce site Off Track Products. Check it out if you’re looking for a new logo to show your Thoroughbred pride!