Pure Thoughts Horse Rescue is no stranger to adversity. As a non-profit operating on a shoestring in Loxahatchee, Florida, it has faced budget shortfalls and unexpected expenses; it has responded on short notice to requests to save horses. Once, it set out to rescue 25 horses and ended up with nearly seven times that many. But nothing…
Dormant for most of the year, the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds spring to life this week, in preparation for the yearling sales on August 6, 7, 11 and 12. Thoroughbred auctions have been held by Fasig-Tipton at Saratoga since 1917, and next week, sellers and buyers will gather, as they have for nearly a century, in…
In today’s second race at Saratoga, the youngest horse is four years old; the oldest is seven. Among them, they’ve made 124 starts. The race is called the Spooky Mulder, and I suspect that its namesake would approve. During his racing career, Spooky ran in 85 races, winning 34 of them. He finished second 17…
In 2008, the Jockey Club announced a check-off program that would enable breeders and owners to contribute money towards Thoroughbred retirement with each horse that they registered. The program began on January 1, 2009. The registration form offers owner and breeders the opportunity to donate $25, $50, $75, $100 or an amount of their choice;…
“Fleet Valid also jumped his first crossrails in the lesson! Go Fleet!” Scrolling through my timeline last month, I came across this tweet. Fleet Valid? Hm. Sounded familiar. And yes, a look at his past performances revealed that from November of 2007 to April of 2009, Fleet Valid made 12 appearances on the New York…
The news last week that Governor Cuomo had vetoed a bill to extend the life of the Task Force on Retired Racehorses was met with a minor outcry by some in the racing community, cited as a sign of the governor’s opposition to racing and lack of concern about the industry in New York. The…
Widely reported earlier this week was the news that the NTRA had launched a new website devoted to Thoroughbred aftercare. The site is a product of the efforts of the working group on Thoroughbred aftercare from last summer’s Safety and Welfare Summit in Lexington. According to a press release, the site offers, among other features,…
A few weeks ago, as I was writing about Morine’s Victory, the 10-year-old son of Victory Gallop who had been rescued from an auction, I knew what the reaction would be. I knew that racing fans, outraged and horrified, their compassion stirred, would publicly criticize the horse’s last racing connections. As I learned the details…
On April 14, I got an e-mail from a woman named Andrea Pollock. I didn’t know her, and she asked if I knew anything about two horses she followed that had been running at Aqueduct: Morine’s Victory, who hadn’t run or worked out since January, and Talented Princess, who had been injured in a race…
As I’ve read responses over the last few days to what I wrote about Thoroughbred retirement, here (below) and in Thoroughbred Times, two ideas have come up repeatedly: the sport needs a commissioner and mandatory money needs to be set aside – from purses, from breeders’ fees, from wagers – and put towards Thoroughbred retirement.…
Brooklyn Backstretch 