From Steve Haskin’s Hanging With Haskin blog…
IMO, very moving and good article about, as he puts it, the underbelly of the TB racing industry (not that we all aren’t aware that this happens but hard, at least for me, to read about specific cases rather than just the generalities.)
He speaks very highly of Dina Alborano’s efforts to save some of these horses…
I’ve owned ottbs who were destined for auction at low end auctions. They were great and deserved a better fate. I couldn’t save them all, but I did buy some and save them and they were just as good horses as my expensive horses.
I should go buy a couple more ottbs.
There is a rescue on facebook who goes to Sugarcreek every week. It has many TB’s at that sale every week and they hardly pull them. They’re main focus is QH and stock horse types to bring back and re-sell and they always post the saddest photos of the horses they see but don’t pull. Such a waste 
.
That sale has to be as bad or worse than New Holland, same with Unadilla in NY
hard article to read.
Enabling! 
OK find me a couple of mares needing to be bailed out of auction, at least 16 hands, no cribbing please, and plain bay or any other color is fine. Prefer the old line tb conformation, but as long as sound on the day of sale, I’m ok with not so perfect conformation.
I came across all mine by accident while looking at non-TB geldings, lol…I’ve been looking for a couple of mares (no breeding, I just like mares) for several years but no ottb mares around here are advertised.
me too! WWWarmbloods is always good for a dribble when someone is bailing out a horse. . . It’s time to bring one home!
There’s always Lynn Sullivan at thoroughbred athletes out in okc. She does her fair share of sale barn rescues, and she’s good people. Pretty sure I’m not allowed to go to the sale barn myself. Hubby would have words.
Hey wildandwickedwarmbloods. I have the perfect mare for you. Dark bay 6 yrs old no bad habits 16 hds. She just retired after winning her last race in December. Pm me
I loved the article and am glad that attention is being brought to the subject. When I’m attending the races at a beautiful place like Saratoga, I cant help but think of how many, or maybe even most, of the magnificent, valuable, pampered horses I see that day will in a few short years, have racked up injuries and wear and tear, no longer be fast enough, worth almost nothing, and can only hope to have a human who cares to keep them alive.
Left you a message.
IMO only… I suspect most horses at Saratoga or any of the “top tier” tracks will end up in a reasonable second career… whether breeding or sold through a OTTB re-trainer into a new job.
I’m more concerned about the non top tier tracks with the smaller purses, lower claiming prices, etc. Those are the horses that I’d be concerned about getting a good chance at some reasonable second career.
Where do you think the horses at the non-top tier tracks come from? Many are filtered down from tracks like NYRA and Santa Anita. Thats the illusion of the whole thing.
One year, I followed the careers of 6 2 yo colts in an MSW at Saratoga. These are the horses that could potentially be Derby winners. None of these particular horses made it big. One broke down the following year, 1 stopped racing after that season, and 4 continued to race for several years and filtered down to cheap claimers in places like Penn National, FInger Lakes, etc. I wonder where they ended up.
You’re absolutely right.
I was part of a partnership, that had about a half dozen horses who raced at all the NYRA tracks at the time I belonged, and, of course, the big deal was if they ran at Saratoga.
And this was just one of dozens and dozens of partnerships - or individuals - not counting the well-heeled owners - that run at NYRA tracks.
Of the 3 that we had interests in, one never did anything, went to Finger Lakes, and then “was given to FLTAP” which I thought was a lie as I never saw him listed.
I was given my guy after I offered early on, to take him once he retired, when I saw how the other disappeared. My guy had 4 wins at Belmont, but they were scrambling when it came time to retire him. The partnership donated $0, while I was given a little money left over from a fund gathered from individual members for their stakes winner’s retirement, to ship from Belmont up to Finger Lakes for us to pick up.
The last was a very well bred horse, a little late into training. After he got into regular training, he was inappropriately divided among partners (they kept selling shares, after he was to be ‘limited’), had an injury early at 3 and trainer suggested a long layoff. Managing partner wanted to keep him running, switched trainers, owing $$ to the first trainer. Ran the horse into the ground. He broke down in his last race during which he was claimed away. He was put down the following week.
As for the stakes winner whose fund had a little left over for us, some individual partners (not the partnership :mad:) got together and put money in for his retraining. He had been sent into the claiming ranks and I believe when they bought him back, he had come out with a bow. After a long R&R, they found one owner for him, who “temporarily” boarded him at an unknown place. They went to visit him, and he was gone. Unknown place was a known kill buyer.
You see, as fantastic as the racing is there, there are plenty of owners who are just everymen, or everyman partnerships. Who do what they can to get the horse to the track. They are often very well taken care of while training/running, but it has taken a lot of money (my guy’s cashcalls averaged $4k/month), and when they can’t pay for themselves, there is often little left. Many trainers have contacts to take horses, but there are still many, many more than what the rescues have room to take.
I think there is a good effort to place them, but realistically, not enough openings by any stretch of the imagination.
A friend of mine has a horse who was one of those top shelf horses as a 2 and 3 yr old. Raced in some pretty big name races, owned and trained by the who’s-who of racing. Pedigree right out of the history books. When he wasn’t living up to expectations he quickly fell through the cracks. Went from the barn of an extremely well known trainer to the barn of a no-name trainer across the country. He was not claimed so how this transaction played out is a mystery but I am sure it happens to MANY in the barns of big names/owned by the big names. From there he was traded around via the claiming ranks, ended up being owned by a very well known person who frequently dumps horses at the killers on a regular basis. Horse was a regular winner for him, though, which saved him. He ended up dumping him at an on-site track auction at one of the dumpy tracks. This regular sale at the track was known to have KB’s in attendance to pick up the horses no one wanted. If you look at the sale results and prices; you would understand. Many went for a mere 500-800 and were sold to names not associated with racing in any way. This horse was picked up by another trainer for dirt cheap who knew of him and they kept him in their barn for about a year before listing the horse with CANTER. He was still located at the poorest of poor dumpy claiming tracks in the country but he was in the barn of a trainer who actually cared.
The friend who has the horse now is not on COTH but maybe I can get her to join to share the story and all the details.
It is very sad and it happens to the vast majority that are born every year to fulfill the industry.
I would love to join a partnership and own a racehorse but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I see the posts on social media to join partnerships on horses but, in the big picture, I don’t think anyone actually cares about the animal when they join those things. I always wondered what happens to the horses that are featured in those posts after a year or two and if any of the partners involved actually care. My guess is no.
Some of this is the free market at work. While tracks can limit or take away stalls if horses go directly to livestock auctions, they can’t prevent someone from selling horses privately which eventually results in the same thing. Like it or not horses are a commodity and they cost a mint to own. Bottom line types in every horse discipline are going to want to move unproductive horses along. Years boarding in a large public stable taught me something about horse owners outside of racing who talk a good game about loving these large expensive animals until the chronically lame difficult horse comes along that they can’t ride and enjoy (and/or a life altering change happens to their health, their family or their employment). Then somehow those horses just got gone. It was the same process but racing thoroughbreds are just more trackable than most.
But racing is starting to wake up to the fact that it does not have a huge reservoir of goodwill to squander. Over the weekend, I went to the track to pick up papers on a gelding that I am retiring. I won’t say they gave me the third degree but they did ask questions about what my intentions were. Since he hadn’t run since early September, at the end of the day that is all they can really do even if I just drop him off at the local livestock auction on the way home. After all, I boarded him elsewhere for almost 4 months and he is my property. But you know darn well that racing is the game that will be smeared if that is the decision that I as an individual make for purely personal reasons.
snaffle1987 - with all due respect, you cannot generalize like that. There ARE partnerships that are made up of people who care, like the one I’m part of. If you want to join a partnership, you just have to ask the right questions and find good people that you can trust. Research the horses they’ve run in the past, and ask them where they are now, if they are no longer active. Ensure that the operating agreement includes language about a commitment to responsible horse ownership, and to properly and safely retiring horses when the time is right.
One thing I will say is that the claiming aspect of racing can be tough. Some horses need to drop to the claiming ranks, and when you lose one there to another trainer, you lose control. But, luckily you can follow that horse and keep tabs to try to make sure that they end up in a good situation. That’s one thing that is very different in the TB world then the show world. In the show world, someone can just change a horse’s name and you’ll never find it again. You can always locate an active racehorse, so at least that transparency is helpful to those wanting to keep tabs on a horse they had an interest in.
I’ve got one, too! Pm me if interested!
I’ve had two OTTBs now, one was a successful top tier racehorse, the other was a complete failure. Both were in appalling condition when I found them. The upper level horse had obviously been physically abused, he was dehydrated to the point of kidney failure, underweight, and discolored. The other one had been turned out in a field and forgotten about. She was severely underweight, skin diseased, and had long shaggy hair in May. She had been raced entirely too much for a horse of her caliber and was really broken down. Cases like those just make me want to scream HEY! EVERYBODY! TAKE CARE OF YOUR HORSES!
The sad thing is, these horses have the biggest hearts of any horses I’ve met. That’s why, after all that, I’m still a fan of racing. I adore those great big Thoroughbred hearts. It’s such a shame more people don’t appreciate them and make more of an effort to take proper care of them. Its all about the money for most racing trainers. Those two rescues I got cost me an arm and a leg just to buy when they really should have been paying me to take them.
One of my mares was owned by a partnership. She won some money, but not enough to keep her running into her 5-y-o year. And she had a mild ankle injury. The partnership asked the trainer to place her in a good home, and I answered plenty of questions and provided photos so that she could report back to the partnership. The trainer told me those owners loved to come and feed carrots, and were insistent that the mare land in a good place. I like to think that they’d still be happy with their ex-horse’s situation.
My other mare was a decent regional horse (came in 3rd in the Maryland Million Distaff, and won nearly $80k) with good bloodlines whose owner also didn’t want to carry her over the winter as a 5-y-o with a sore ankle. I don’t know anything about the owners, but the trainer again was committed to placing her in a good riding home. She asked the track vet for help, who in turn contacted me.
Yes, there are terrible stories about track washouts, but there are also kind, caring people who do their best to find their charges a safe, new home. I’m thankful for them every day.
Its a really tough situation. I cant imagine that many partnerships stress the importance of aftercare to folks coming in. That would be real selling point-getting to (hopefully) go to Saratoga as an Owner for a couple seasons, and then the very real possibility of having to be financially responsible for a lame horse for the next 20-30 years.
Some owners dont care and some owners turn a blind eye- when I worked at a low tier track when I was in grad school, we had horses that were done racing “go off to dude ranches”…um yeah, I think we all knew it was the big dude ranch in the sky via the slaughterhouse, but I certainly didn’t have the means to buy the horses and this was before the internet really got going, which of course does make it easier to place horses.
I have always wished for the big name breeders, owners and trainers to help more since they have become extraordinarily wealthy from exploiting the horses. Bob Baffert could probably support 10 retirees for a year for less $$ than his wife spends at the salon, lol. Also, instead of dropping a nice horse into a claimer to squeeze the last dollar out of them, retire them when they are still (mostly) sound to find a riding home while its still possible.
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