I’ve been following the career of Crown the Kitten for 4 years. He was claimed again in August by MJ Racing and Jeff Jacobs and is now trained by Juan Pablo Silva. His most recent race was Sept 2nd at ASSINIBOIA in Canada. He was pulled up and finished over 67 lengths behind the winner. The race wasn’t on TVG so I couldn’t watch it so this info is based on Equibase.
I am concerned that he suffered a career ended injury. I would love to contact his owners and offer him a soft landing if he can no longer race (he’s a gelding). Does anybody know how I could contact his people or any way to find out more about what’s happened to him?
I’m sure this sounds like a foolish little girl but I’m a grownup with horses and understand that I would need professional help transitioning him into a new life but I’ve enjoyed watching his career and would hate for him to end up at the slaughterhouse. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Call the track secretary and they, maybe, can pass a message to the trainer.if they aren’t closed for the season. Might be possible to trace the current owner and trainer online. Maybe somebody on here can help. Be patient, somebody might pop in and want to help.
Assiniboia Downs has live racing through September 8th. Call the racing office and ask for the phone number of Crown the Kitten’s trainer. Or ask to leave him or her a message. (The current trainer’s name is on the race chart.) The reason Crown the Kitten finished 67 lengths behind the winner in his last start is because he was pulled up. Those things are not two, separately bad, issues. They don’t necessarily indicate that his career is over or that he is on his way to the slaughterhouse.
Website for Assiniboia Downs: https://www.asdowns.com/
(I feel like maybe we have answered this question a few times before?)
LaurieB we have sort of had this conversation before and I was hoping you would comment again. You had made suggestions before about contacting Crown the Kitten’s people but I never could get a response from any of them. I was hoping you or another of the COTH racing people would know his new people.
I did find the video of the race and I couldn’t tell if he was off stride at the end or the jockey knew he was way too far behind and just gave up the race to save him for another day.
ill try to call the track and see if they can help me.
Thank you.
Edit to add: I typed the following before I looked up this horse on Equibase. After seeing Charm the Kitten’s race record, I hope you ignore all the advice that follows since I wrote it assuming you were dealing with a horse at the end of his career. This horse was entered in a stakes race last time out and a month ago he was first in a $10,000 claiming race at Del Mar. If you contact his owners or trainer, keep that in mind because if he did not have a career-ending injury, he’s valuable and you don’t want to insult or waste the time of his trainer.
If you are serious about him, offer a few hundred dollars above meat price and tell the trainer you will pay board from the date of sale until the date you pick him up, state the date, and make sure it is quick since trainers may not have stable space. If you are thinking in terms of offering him a retirement, also send a short letter with a bit of information about yourself, a description of where you plan to stable/retire the horse, and include the names and contact info of two horse professionals such as your vet and your farrier as personal references. Tell the trainer that you are offering this info so he/she can be assured you will be providing a good home – don’t assume that they don’t care about the horse. Personally, I would not require a vet check on a horse which will be retired with me, but if you are set on retraining this horse that’s a different story. Oh, one more thing. Consider that if the horse is still making money the trainer may not be ready to sell, so include a time period for this offer, such as, this offer is good until after this racing season ends or until _______ (date)_______.
I made a flakey inquiry about a gelding who was one of my mare’s sons. I didn’t offer money but just made a naive offer to provide a retirement home and that horse, who wasn’t doing well, disappeared. I’m convinced that had I done what I advised you to do – especially offered money – that trainer would have sold him to me. There is a little more to the story but I’m convinced that one was sent to slaughter.
I don’t know what happened in the last race, but if the horse is still racing sound, he is worth 5 figures. Why are you so convinced they get “sent to slaughter?” Many state racing commissions will fine and suspend a trainer if a horse they trained is found in a kill pen. If you don’t know things for sure, don’t spread rumors. A quick google search will tell you that CA has a zero tolerance policy for people who send horses to slaughter.
"The welfare of our animals is shared by all within the industry. Santa Anita Park and the state of California has a zero tolerance stance on slaughterhouses or sending any racehorse to a possible slaughterhouse associated person, facility or organization. As a trainer and owner, if you are caught sending any racehorse to a slaughterhouse you will be banned from racing horses in the state of California, for life. Charities like CARMA and others work tirelessly to ensure that a racehorse’s second career is a long and prosperous one and there is no excuse to ever forgo the opportunities put forth by organizations that have dedicate their time and money to providing other options.
Toll-free reporting hotline:
Santa Anita Park does not allow the mistreatment, abuse, neglect or abandonment of any animal on its property. The track provides a toll-free reporting hotline (800-805-7223) for any person who wishes to report an incident anonymously. Santa Anita Park and the CHRB investigate all reports made."
I was at the race that day, new to this site and only found it because I’ve been googling to see the status of the horse…the horse pulled up early and was down on the track for quite some time after the race. They ended up putting up a screen so that none of the crowd could see what was going on but the horse got loaded onto a van and no one knows what happened after that…I haven’t seen any updates so I’m hoping you found something out
Palm Beach, I am concerned about the possibility of this horse ending up at a slaughterhouse because he is now in Canada.
I fully understand that if he can still race he is a valuable commodity at the track especially as a 5 figure claimer. But I also that injuries occur all the time at tracks, during races and in training, and that some of those injury end a racing career but don’t have to end a horse’s life if there is somebody willing to offer that
horse a retirement home. Whether Crown the Kitten could ever be ridden again, whenever he retires, I would like to make sure he has a retirement home. That’s all I’m asking; how do I let his connections know that there is a home available to him. If I have to pay something for him, that’s ok.
Obviously no one here knows the trainer or has connections at that track, so you will have to get on Google to see if there is an after care program similar to the ones in the US, and then just start hitting the phone.
Live chat for questions.
I tried to watch the replay on TVG. They edited out the portion around the turn. Concerned that he may have had a severe injury given the edit and the screen up on the track. Hope for the best for this horse. He ran mostly in SoCal circuit and is a nice, hard trying horse.
I received a brief message from Assiniboia Park saying that Crown the Kitten suffered an “aortic episode”. Unfortunately there’s no way to detect these problems in horses until the event happens despite the frequent vet checks race horses receive.
i requested confirmation on whether the horse died but have not heard back.
Thank you everyone for your comments and advice. I’m just a horse owner that
loves to watch the races and for the first time found a horse with no claim to fame whose career I enjoyed following.
That’s a shame. I’m sorry things didn’t turn out differently.
I will confess that I usually have a soft spot for any of the Kitten’s Joys.
Sorry to read about what happened to Crown the Kitten.
Thanks for wanting to offer him a soft landing when he retired.
{{OP}}
Typically an aortic episode means something went wrong in that main artery cutting off blood flow from heart to body and organs, aneurism rupturing being common. Not aware of any survivors and have seen it several times, have friends who have had them drop from underneath with no warning. Sometimes there is visible blood, which does explain the screens and they also use those when one isn’t going to walk into the trailer. Not a pleasant sight no matter how often you see it.
If it was a burst aeortic aneurism, you can take comfort that he never knew what hit him. One minute working hard, the next blood doesn’t reach the brain and, poof, gone. If that is what happened, he died a warrior and did not suffer. And there was nohing his handlers could have done and no way to foresee it. Not a bad way to lose one if it’s their time. Hard on the human connections though as it is so very sudden.
Jingles to you OP, know you felt a connection with this one. Sounds like he was a good, honest guy.
Well written ‘findeight’.
There’s no way of knowing it will happen,
It happens in human medicine with an occasional rare survivor. and they didn’t have a heart which at the time was pumping at max output.
I have a Kittens Joy baby, so naturally had to click on this thread. Hoping that maybe this story had a good ending.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I am heartbroken that Crown the Kitten passed. I’ve never followed a race horse’s career like I had with this gelding. He was a warrior and I’m so happy that he had won his previous race. Hopefully someday I’ll find another race horse that I want to follow like him.
