Not necessarily. Maybe he is/was unsound and they thought it would be a good retirement gig.
I have been involved in racing in some capacity for decades and also spent many years buying/selling/rehoming thoroughbreds. I truly understand the struggles. I also understand that this has nothing to do with his racing connections.
But I still don’t understand why no one from this horse’s past has come forward with some sort of statement. I’m not asking them to throw someone under the bus, heavens no. But in 280 characters on Twitter, you could easily express your shock and disappointment that he ended up in this situation and express gratitude to his new owner for getting him out. If they want to do/say more, that’s great, but all I want is a reaction. It’s about public relations and reversing this mindset that the racing world throws away their horses without regard for their well being. Racing has a long standing tradition of staying quiet on such topics and that tradition does not serve anyone well in the 21st century.
The reason they have not released a statement might simply be because the situation started out with them being accused of something and they realize nothing they say at this point will help appease the masses.
I’d agree with TAL. I don’t know that I’d be quick to say much of anything on social media if a horse I’d bred ended up in a less than desirable position… think of all the ‘negative’ social media surrounding horses like CC or Barbaro and those horses really weren’t in a bad place (IMO). People still made less than charitable comments despite the fact those same people knew next to nothing about horses or the racing industry.
Harder to pile on when there are only crickets than when someone actually says anything.
I’m not so sure. This is a roadside attraction in Dahlonega, GA holding itself out as a wildlife preserve/zoo which it is not; more of an exploiter. They have a bit of everything. Most animals look okay; others like the bear, not so much. PETA went after them and got them to release a Chimpanzee to a better situation. Looks like they may have had various other violations over time. They may have been simply wanting to claim they had a Million Dollar Race Horse on Display. He may then have turned out to be a hard keeper and more money than he was worth on display, and moved along a’la Black Beauty Syndrome.
Merely speculation on my part. I have not visited Chestatee Zoo. I have been to Paradise Valley Farm a/k/a Wild Animal Encounters and it too is an exploiter. While everything is fed, the enclosures are far too small, bare and sad. I witnessed a Otter being handled by people and the Otter was clearly not happy about it. Also saw a miserable cougar there. Would not give either place my money ever again.
Very true. Anyone who has actually owned a racing TB and tried to retire and rehome it will tell you that it’s not easy. There are scammers who will take free/cheap TBs and go straight to the auction with them despite promising the horse will have a forever home. Then one of the “rescues” finds the horse at the auction and blasts the horse’s racing name and connections as of last start all over the internet. People who get free and cheap horses have no skin in the game and don’t always give the horse a fair shake before giving up on it and moving on to another free/cheap horse. Trainers can also get in trouble with the stewards if a horse they trained ends up in a kill pen, even if they have a bill of sale from the new owner. Whats happened is that some horses who have physical limitations but can still have a second career end up getting euthanized because there are so many flaky people out there that the trainer/owner can’t risk trying to rehome the horse. There are some really good legitimate rehoming organizations, but they have limited space.
In summary, there are more horses needing homes than there are qualified homes.
I would hazard a guess that no one knew who he was at this point, just a skinny old horse. He was down at the bottom end where folks don’t have the knowledge or resources to research lip tattoos. I doubt he was given away by people who knew who he was.
More likely that he was left on pasture after an injury, abandoned, land owners needed him gone, gave him to zoo as meat (this used to be a real thing for old horses) and zoo realized they were not going to get away with butchering a horse, or he was too skinny, sent him to auction.
Jockey club papers and racing names often don’t travel with OTTB. The new owners have barn names for them and may make up show names that suit their age and fancy. I don’t see too many OTTB jumping around the 2 foot 6 being announced with their track names. They mostly get known under new barn names, Bailey and Haley and Roscoe and Captain and whatnot.
Indeed some OTTB retrainers are reticent about the registeted names because they don’t want the whole world knowing their track source or buyers being able to research their track history. Most rehomed OTTB don’t have many races anyhow.
I doubt he was going on display under his real name. But perhaps the zoo is kicking itself for a missed opportunity roadside attraction.
From the new owner’s fb page that they started for Seven, aka Souper Spectacular:
“A nice young lady connected with Hannah about Sevens past. Looks like he left Live Oak in 2014 and went to a farm for retraining, he was at said farm for 90 days then sold. The young lady didn’t want disclose farm or owners name which I totally respect. She has pics of Seven and he looked awesome. So now we need to fill in gap till now and I’m at a dead end. Help us figure this out, thanks y’all!!”
