Would a breathing issue or wonky step be vanned off? “Was distanced and got vanned off after the race”?
At this point I’ll be looking at the replays even just cause now I’m curious.
1 Like
This isn’t an automatic red flag for me.
BUT, I would suspect a tendon injury aggravated by racing that may or may not hold up fine for other purposes like showing. Or a bleeding/wind problem which also probably wouldn’t affect showing.
Things like the connections of the horse, the price, the quality of the horse, etc. would all heavily factor in.
2 Likes
I wish I had better knowledge of the connections - I’m not looped into the race scene outside of resellers. This one was given to the reseller by the owner it sounds like, and part of it could be he won a few and was just not the quality to race at a higher level afterwards. The reason for retiring is purported to be because they just didn’t have races for the horse.
The horse is on par for the reseller market considering retraining.
ETA I’m only really looking because it’s local. I’m probably going to end up shopping through Benchmark, but I need to put a little more into the budget due to shipping distance. Probably for the best 
If you’re comfortable sending me the JC name or more info of which track etc. I might be able to dig up some info - i have quite a few connections. I have some ideas but I have to see it with my own two eyes because… neurodivergence.
3 Likes
Also adding… some tracks are faster to van off now due to the pressure from HISA.
2 Likes
Sent you a PM!
Corrected my pm. Lol my phone HATES JC names.
Since this is turning into my “learning about the racing side of OTTBs” thread, I figured I’d post here vs starting a new thread.
Due to some questionable vettings and a car repair, I’m back on the market again. My trainer and contacts send me good ones but most are pretty fresh off the track so I’m still looking at records and bloodlines and track sore horses.
Anyways, a horse with a long break (8 months or so) between races but with regular recorded works and the same owner - one would assume some sort of injury or issue but not one that kept it from galloping? These are cheap claimers and low level tracks so I’m certainly going to vet it. But I’m just curious why it wouldn’t race?
ETA this thread has been SO informative for me - I deal with tons of OTTBs after the track that are owned by others. Most don’t know the bloodlines or anything about the horses’ pasts beyond their JC, so this has been an interesting learning opportunity for me.
1 Like
One of my mares had 35 starts over a 5 year career, and each of those years she had long breaks. Same owner at a northern track. I just went back and looked at her Equibase to refresh my memory, but in her 3yo year she did not race from Dec '16 - Sep '17 - and in subsequent years it was Dec '17 - Sep '18, and then Sep '18 - June '19. She was then sold to a trainer at Penn Nat’l, so still a northern track, but further south than Ontario where she was bred. Once at Penn she raced a few times and then had off from Jan '20 - July '20. She then raced until Dec '20 when I bought her. Had I not bought her they were going to continue racing her into her 7th year! She only had two owner/trainers and I know that her last owner liked to send them to the farm for turnout, but they were close enough to van back and forth to work. She also only had one injury that I knew about from a trailering accident that left a nasty scar, but is otherwise superficial.
Anyway, all this to say, I too obsessed over her record before buying her. But there were obvious patterns that I was comfortable with despite the long breaks in racing. And her record showed her to be a tough, hardknocking type (despite being the daintiest dang thing on 4 legs) and her sire (Court Vision) had a nice, long career as well. So I took the risk. She’s been quite sound since I’ve had her. I injected her stifles and right front ankle this spring after she came back from our first show a bit sore. Her rads were remarkably clean for the career she had and she was good to go for the rest of the season after the injections.
2 Likes
Hard to say.
I know of a few trainers who have unorthodox approaches, so I typically just ask. Feel free to send me the name.
2 Likes
Last week I was chatting with my vet about buying ex-race horses. She told me she would take a war horse anytime over a youngster who didn’t make it at the track. She felt a sound war horse would stay sound if it had been able to race with no problems.
Both of my OTTB’s only raced a few times and came off the track with bone spurs in their hocks. Don’t be dumb like me: spend the money on x-rays because flexions don’t always reveal some problems.
6 Likes
