There are a lot of other posters on COTH with much more knowledge about the racetracks than I have. But when DH and I bought two horses off the track in Ohio in 2006, a groom commented to me that the killer truck came by regularly and the going rate was $300. This was infuriating because we were shown horse after horse with major problems and a trainer on the end of the shank wanting $1500 and up. I’ve owned numerous OTTBs and wanted a project horse.
We came home with two. The nice big gelding was $3400 and for whatever reason, DH insisted on buying that horse. The trainer was such a cow, she blackmailed us into taking another one, for $500, to close the deal. Then she ruined that horse by putting steroidal ointment in the mare’s eye that resulted in melting ulcers and massive vet bills along with a lot of pain for this poor mare that did nothing to deserve it all.
At least she got off the track and we found her a job as an embroyo transfer mare by pulling a lot of strings. My perception of racetrack folks has long been that they hold the horse til the last possible second, then dump it without looking back. Do trainers get burned? Absolutely, and there are a lot of asshats that make big promises to rehome but flip the horses or send them to auction if they’re not a fast profit.
I’d love to see more openness at the tracks. CANTER has done a great job starting that dialogue and I’m a huge fan. It has opened doors that seemed closed to everyone but dealers before. Yes, trainers are busy and selling racehorses to the inexperienced is a bad idea. But a middle ground would be wonderful. I long for the day that every racetrack has a barn and arena dedicated to evaluating and marketing horses for a better future. What percentage of the daily handle would that take? The PR would be wonderful.
