Off Track Thoroughbreds

This champion horse was butchered over the summer in a Florida field. The Animal Recovery Mission is using the image as a graphic reminder of the underground horsemeat trade in the sunshine state. Photo by Richard “Kudo” Couto

After spearheading a massive raid on three alleged illegal slaughterhouses in Florida, the animal activist organization responsible for the crackdown is offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people trafficking horsemeat in Miami and Palm Beach counties.

The Animal Recovery Mission (ARM), following a police raid last week on properties suspected of slaughtering horses and engaging in trade of horsemeat for human consumption, an activity which is illegal in the US and is a felony crime in Florida, offered the reward to induce anyone with first-hand knowledge of these activities to step forward, says Richard “Kudo” Couto, founder of the animal rescue organization.

Despite the success of the raid last Tuesday, which led to the arrest of six men and the confiscation of 750 slaughter-bound animals, the push is on to sway people with first-hand knowledge of the underground horsemeat trade to step forward, says Couto, who conducted a six-month investigation that led to the raid.

A sick goat rescued in a raid of alleged slaughterhouses in Florida receives medical aid.

“The investigation led us to discover there is a tie between the Miami black market (for horse meat) and the Palm Beach black market,” Couto says. “I decided to offer a reward to get even more information, because we’ve found in the past that reward money does wonders for an investigation.”

Specifically, the Animal Recovery Mission will offer $15,000 to an individual or individuals who can provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of a person or persons in Miami, and another $15,000 for the same information for Palm Beach County, he says.

So far, the reward has generated 20 tips, says Couto, who notes that anyone wishing to offer a tip may do so anonymously on the Animal Recovery Mission’s website: www.animalrecoverymission.org. Couto adds that his organization will protect the confidentiality of the informants.

The horsemeat trade in Florida drew national attention over the summer when a prize-winning Quarter Horse was stolen and cruelly butchered in a backfield in Hialeah, Fla. The privately owned mare was stolen from her stall, stabbed in the heart, and cut up for meat, Couto says, adding that a shocking photograph of the beautiful horse’s head is being circulated along with the Animal Recovery Mission’s quest for informants because the mare’s death is symbolic of what is happening in the underground horsemeat market. “That was a champion horse who was owned by our friends,” he says. “And she died because butchers were just looking for some quick meat.”

With that savagery to spur him on, and in the wake of the Oct. 13th raid, Couto hopes to turn up the heat on the underground horse-slaughter activity taking place in Florida. Please see last week’s story about the raid here: http://offtrackthoroughbreds.com/2015/10/16/cuoto-illegal-butchers-killed-show-horses-too/

Couto (back to camera) unloads donated feed given to help feed the animals rescued last week in the Florida sweep.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the raid, which was the largest tactical effort to rescue animals Couto has ever witnessed, and which included members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, about 150 police officers, SWAT teams, special weapons units and federal agencies, Couto and his team have been trying to help 300 of the 750 rescued animals.

On a newly purchased sanctuary property in Florida, Couto, his team, and veterinarians have been tending to very sick goats and other animals, while an outpouring of community support has come their way.

Since the bust, a tractor trailer piled high with feed and 200 bales of hay was donated last week, and Palm Beach county citizens have been approaching Couto and his team in their easily identifiable black T shirts with the ARM insignia, to say thank you.

“This has educated so many people,” he says. “We’re literally getting stopped everywhere in Palm Beach right now, people are thanking us for educating them about an issue they didn’t know about. And the tips are rolling in, and I think more and more people are keeping their ears and eyes open now. They now understand that if something doesn’t seem right, they can contact us and we’ll get something done.”

Anyone with information that can aid the Animal Recovery Mission is welcome to provide a tip via their website: http://www.animalrecoverymission.org.

Osterville and Renee Babin met last October as Suffolk Downs was getting ready to close. Of all the horses for sale at the CANTER New England Showcase, he was the one meant for her.

In the waning days of Suffolk Downs, as stalls were emptied of horses, a freshly scrubbed and glistening gelding was just making his way from his shedrow when destiny intervened with a hasty command: “Turn him around!”

Quickly followed by, “He’s sold.”

And before chestnut OTTB Osterville took another step toward the assembled horse buyers on the track’s backside, horseman Larry Mason, uttered an assertive “whoa,” pulling up the horse he loved so much and handed the lead rope over to Renee Babin, a young teen who was about to have the very best birthday.

“It all happened so fast,” says Christina Babin of Massachusetts. “We had seen a bunch of beautiful Thoroughbreds, there were even some being offered for free, and Ottie was one of the last ones we saw. And we couldn’t stop looking at him. My daughter Renee walked over to him and started patting him in his stall, and his trainer looked over at them and said it was like destiny. He kept telling us it was meant to be.”

And it was.

Osterville
Barn name: Ottie
Sire: Alke
Dam: Belleek
Foal date: April 30, 2006
Earnings: $101,737 in 46 startsAlmost a year to the date after Christina Babin and her daughter, along with their riding coach Deb Baretto made that trip to Suffolk Downs, (arranged by former racing vice president Sam Elliott and equestrian Heather Withington Ward), Osterville conducted himself like the princely hunter/jumper and equitation horse he was meant be.

“We took him to a first Hopeful Hunter show to try him over a couple of small fences, and he was like a rock star,” Babin says. “He went around and jumped every fence in the ring; it was his first time seeing these fences and he didn’t look at anything. He was so brave!”

Coach Barretto and Withington Ward both say that after traipsing up and down the backside with Sam Elliott in early October last year, and spending hours looking at horses, the bright chestnut with a unique “oil stain” marking on his hind leg was a standout.

So beautifully turned out and cared for, in fact, that Barretto says he looked ready for his first show before he even left the racetrack. And after learning to pick up his right-lead canter, he approached jumping with the slow, steady rhythm of a children’s hunter.

Osterville is destined for hunter/jumpers or equitation.

“He lopes around so amazingly. His rhythm is one of the best things about him. And he’s a horse who wants to get to the other side of a jump because he loves it so much,” Barretto says, noting that before they even met the horse, it was his picture she’d circled as a must-see. “It was almost like destiny, like it was meant to be.”

Withington Ward, a friend of Babin’s who was also along on that lucky day, says the sneak peak that Sam Elliott let them have of Osterville sealed the deal. If it weren’t for him, she says, the horse easily could have gone to someone else.

“He spent a good four or five hours showing us all the horses,” she says. “And when he took us to see Osterville, we knew this horse was gold. His conformation, his temperament— everything. His price that day was $4,000, when everyone else was selling for half that, or less.”

And though his price was high, everyone in the group knew it was act now, or watch that price climb higher.

As they all deliberated, Osterville left his shedrow to walk toward the Suffolk Showcase hosted annually by CANTER New England. And they walked a few paces, and Withington Ward leaned in to whisper to Babin: “If he gets to the auction block, you realize he’ll probably go for $5,000 or $6,000,” and soon a halt was called. And Osterville turned around. Sold!

Babin recalls the moments leading up to her decision to buy her daughter’s first horse.

“Sam kept saying to me that he could tell Larry to turn his horse around,” she says. “I just couldn’t stand the thought of someone else having him, and before I knew it, Sam was on the phone” and it was done.

And now horse and rider are aiming for hunter/jumpers and equitation, as another great racehorse from Suffolk Downs embarks on a new chapter.