Tattoo v Registered Markings

[icarus]

Hey guys! I bought a TB from New Holland a few months ago (love him to bits!!) and he did not come with any papers.

His tattoo seems to be pretty legible and almost matches up entirely with his description. Definitely a J tattoo, which makes him 6 years, and also matches his teeth. The horse that pops up when I enter the tattoo also matches his general description (Bay Gelding) and in the same area (PA bred, raced at Delaware Park).

The problem is that a friend of mine looked him up in more detail and it looks like his white markings don’t match up? Is this something that could have happened or are they so super stringent on things with TB registration that there’s no way I have the right horse?

And I know it’s a long shot BUT the name I get is “Unwaveringloyalty”, Equibase lists last owners as ABCD Racing. Anybody familiar with either the horse or the possible-former owners?

[furlong47]

If the markings are really off, you’ve probably misread something on the tattoo. Some numbers can look like others if they’re a little faded in the right place. I’d try doing a partial search with the letter and two numbers that you’re pretty sure of and see if anything else matches based on markings.

If there’s say one or two smaller white markings that are new and could be from injuries or rubs, it’s possible they occurred after he was done racing.

[ReSomething]

For TB, you have to send pictures, and if the JC doesn’t like them you have to resend new ones, but barring being able to see the pics sometimes one person will describe a marking in a different way from another. I know my old ASB is missing an entire white leg on his registered description. I’d say it’s possible.

[LaurieB]

We had a chestnut colt who was born with a squiggly blaze, which he had until he was about 12 months old (and had been registered). Over the course of the next 6 months, the white hair in the middle of the blaze gradually disappeared leaving him with a disconnected, odd shaped star and a line of white at the bottom of his face.

Unless the new owner (we sold him as a yearling) did something about it, I can’t imagine that he currently matches his papers very well either.

So it can happen.

[Simkie]

It’s my understanding that the people who look at papers and tattoos when the horses come to the paddock are STICKLERS on markings. Unwaveringloyalty did race, so I would expect the markings to match the horse…otherwise, his people would have had to submit a correction to the JC before he would be allowed to start. Just how far off are the papers?

If you’d care to post some photos of the horse or a description of his markings and what you believe the tattoo to be, people here can take a guess and see if we can turn up a horse that’s got a better match on the markings.

[KentuckyTBs]

What do you THINK his tattoo reads as? I’ll be more than happy to play around and research it

[Laurierace]

When a horse gets tattooed the markings including cowlicks must match the papers exactly or they won’t tattoo them. I had one that I galloped exactly one time in sports medicine boots because he had insanely long pasterns and I thought they might help support the whole mess. He came back with wounds on the front of each fetlock and the hair grew back in white. It cost me $50 to correct his papers to reflect the white marks so he could get tattooed. Most likely if it had happened after he got tattooed no one would have noticed.

[icarus]

Pics of the boy, Aiden!

He’s a Bay Gelding, looks youngish (less than 8). White on left hind, small white mark on forehead. Very very small bit of white on right front but its entirely hidden in that dip in the fetlock over the heel so they may not even have recorded that. I thought the letter was J but it’s not 100% perfect so I’ll leave that out.

With the numbers I can 100% make out, its 30_4. I think it may be J3084_ but who knows at this point.

If anyone feels like helping with my project I would be super grateful for it

[Simkie]

I can’t really tell from your pictures–how do the markings not match?

From what I can see, Unwaveringloyalty’s markings do match the photos…

Thin mixed curved star open to right. Left hind: half pastern white, extending slightly on ankle on inside in back. Right fore: scattered white hairs on heel. Median cowlick at top of eye level.

[danceronice]

If something that doesn’t match is a teeny-tiny spot of white, that just may be something recent. Lucky has no white markings on his papers, but now has a dime-size patch of white (a grown-out scar) on one fetlock that, if it had been there when he was registered, would have gone on his papers.

[KentuckyTBs]

Does this sound like a match? The pics are hard to see his sock

3. Small star. Left hind: half ankle white, higher in back. Median cowlick at top of eye level.
   Horse Name Blackhawk’s Gold
   Tattoo I30443
   Year of Birth 2005
   Dam Name Stutz Way
   Color Bay
   Sex Gelding

[KentuckyTBs]

I agree that it sounds a lot like Unwaveringloyalty, but wanted to give you another to compare it to.

[LookmaNohands]

If you can wipe the tattoo dry with a paper towel then take a picture or two of it you can sometimes read it more easily. It can be hard to read if the horse is moving around.

[Calamber]

When horses go to the paddock to race, the horse identifier is only looking for the correct tattoo for the horse listed to run, they do not have the papers to compare them to and it is not their job at that point, they are merely looking at the tattoo and checking it off of their list as the correct horse with tattoo number. They do not scrutinize whorls, markings, or even gender. If there is a complaint filed, the stewards and or the horse identifier will look closely at the papers in the office, the tattoo number and markings on the papers, and then match that up with the horse.

[Laurierace]

Actually that isn’t completely true. As with most things in life, some people take their job more seriously than others but Penn National for example won’t let you bring your horse to the paddock with blinkers so they can check the markings on their head. I have on more than one occasion have the horse ID guy stop the horse I was saddling and check to see if it was a colt or a gelding. In New York they go over them with a fine tooth comb and everything better match to a tee or you aren’t racing that day. They have someone actually inspect the horse and stamp the papers to verify that they inspected the markings and cowlicks and they matched.

[rustbreeches]

The identifier is only looking at the tattoo to make sure it matches what he has on his clipboard for that number horse in that race. In reality, a 3 legged zebra could get by if he had the right tat. Okay, not really, but they only look at the lip, not the horse

[jenarby]

At Presque Isle they check all markings. No blinkers allowed until the identifier
has a look at tattoo, face markings and whorls. Every track is different.
When we run at Mountaineer, the only check the tattoo.

[jbonifas]

Same at LAD…just the tatoo check and no blinkers until saddled.