Random Retiree News

[short_lead]

I'll give it to Lava Man. Gorgeous as those beautiful mountains are, I see them every day...not so with Lava Man! He does look amazing!

[Sparrow Castle]

TDN @theTDN
13m13 minutes ago
The recently-retired multiple graded stakes winner Green Mask photographed arriving at @Oldfriendsfarm today.

[Sparrow Castle]

Barbara Livingston @DRFLivingston
10h10 hours ago
1/2 Wishing a very happy 34th birthday to @trfinc beloved ambassador QUICK CALL, shown here in 2007 at Walkill Correctional Facility with his friend Robert. QUICK CALL is by Quack, out of a Sadair mare (how about that), record 86-16-15-12, $807,817. He was mostly running in....


Barbara Livingston‏ @DRFLivingston
...claimers by the time of his retirement, but QUICK CALL won two G2 Forego Handicaps and the G2 Tom Fool, and clearly relished Saratoga, winning four years straight there.

[Sparrow Castle]

No pictures, but updated info about some old favorites...

Hovdey: Former stars now just old folks on the farm

Wise Dan lets you lead him around and snap a photo. Declan’s Moon will stop goofing off with his mates long enough to take a carrot. Main Sequence lords over the paddock already made famous by a previous occupant. And among the peaceful herd at his owner’s Pennsylvania farm is the venerable ’chaser Mixed Up, nearly a decade removed from his glory days.

These are among the champions who did not go on to glitzy stud deals, nor did they end up on accessible public display at places like the Kentucky Horse Park or Old Friends Equine. They are Eclipse Award geldings of recent years, healthy and content to live out their days as just plain horses, when they are anything but.

More: http://www.drf.com/news/hovdey-former-s ... folks-farm

[Sparrow Castle]

Sarah K Andrew @SarahKAndrew
6h6 hours ago
Pennmarydel (Dynaformer - La Ville Rouge), a full brother to 2006 GI Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, romps with his long-eared friends Nigel Herringbone Bigglesworth III (center) and Reginald Striebling Cumberbatch (right) this afternoon in Vass, NC.

[BaroqueAgain1]

That's a handsome horse; you can see the resemblance to Barbaro. Is he a gelded pasture pet or learning a new career?

[Sparrow Castle]

That's a handsome horse; you can see the resemblance to Barbaro. Is he a gelded pasture pet or learning a new career?

When La Ville Rouge was pensioned last year, one of the publications mentioned that Pennmarydel was given to the executive director of CANTER Mid Atlantic (can't remember her name). I'm pretty sure he was for her to keep and he was gelded. I'm not sure about his OTTB career, but he's clipped so nicely I'd guess he's not just a pasture pet.

[Sparrow Castle]

We followed Royal F J in the War Horse thread.

Jeremy Balan Verified account@BH_JBalan
16m16 minutes ago
Woke up to good news in Dubai today.

[BaroqueAgain1]

Wow, he looks good. You'd think he was California Chrome parading for the ladies.

[Sparrow Castle]

At age 24, Chindi still enjoying celebrity at track

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It was 20 years ago this week that Chindi came roaring down the Oaklawn Park stretch to win the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap during the 1998 Racing Festival of the South.

The gelding, now 24, has been part of the local action in some fashion every year since, whether racing at the meet or working as a stable pony for trainer Steve Hobby. Chindi has been immensely popular with racing fans and horsemen for his longevity and personality as well as the deep-closing style he employed. And it does not hurt that he now looks like a 1,200-pound snowball, a Rubenesque gray gone white who can regularly be found watching morning training at Oaklawn.

“Everybody wants to see Chindi,” said his owner, Carol Ricks. “He should have been in the movies. I think he could have been another Trigger.”

Chindi has been Hobby’s riding partner for some 20 years. Hobby not only galloped the horse when he was racing but now rides Chindi out with most sets of workers each morning at Oaklawn. That’s been the regular schedule for the horse since he retired in 2005. Chindi did not care for being turned out to pasture.

“He walks faster to the track than he does back to the barn – every set,” Hobby said. “From all these years going to the track, it just amazes me he can’t wait to get up to the track. Now, he doesn’t really want to do anything once he’s up there but stand around and look, let everyone holler his name, and feed him candy. But he loves to go to the track.”

More: http://www.drf.com/news/age-24-chindi-s ... rity-track

[Sparrow Castle]

Today was Emerald Down's season opener. That always brings me back to remembering Longacres, and some of the now old timers who raced there. Sadly, we lost one recently. But he certainly lived a long and happy life after he was taken in by these kind folks. I'm posting only a few of the 10 pictures posted. The rest are here:
https://www.facebook.com/REMEMBERMERESC ... =3&theater


Remember Me Rescue (Facebook)
April 20 at 4:41pm ·
It's a very sad day at RMR and a very tough one for me, Donna Keen. We had to say goodbye to one of the first horses to come in to our program. Yeah Me Do came to us in 2009 in very poor condition. You could see every bone in his body and his hooves were nearly sluffing off with abscesses around the coronet band. It took a long time, a little over a year for him to fully recover.

Yammi had been moving a little slow and lost his hearty appetite the last 2 weeks and this morning he stumbled many times behind. We called our lameness specialist and he found that Yammi had injured his back and was going to deteriorate quickly and eventually not be able to stand on his own. We made the decision to allow him to leave as he lived, proud and dignified.

I'm going to post lots of photos of him starting when he arrived and going throughout his years with us. At 35 and 2 months old, he was the oldest racing thoroughbred in the US. Run free now Yam. You will always be in our hearts, I'll never forget you.

[Sparrow Castle]

Always nice to see pics of this relatively young guy.

Terry Finley @TerryFinley11
2h2 hours ago
RT @Oldfriendsfarm: AWESOME GEM loves his tree! Photo @FLOATALONGWME

Thank you Awesome Gem! You will always be at the top of my list - a true warrior. #whatmakesthisgamegreat

[Flanders]

A story about Green Mask and how he is doing after a slight setback in his recovery.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... green-mask

[Sparrow Castle]

A story about Green Mask and how he is doing after a slight setback in his recovery.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... green-mask

Thanks for this update, Flanders. I hate to hear that infection set in but good that so far they have it under control. Hoping for the best in his long road to recovery.

[Sparrow Castle]

The Pizza Man, Work All Week Take on Pony Duty

Midwest Thoroughbreds' 2015 Arlington Million (G1T) winner The Pizza Man and 2014 champion sprinter Work All Week returned to the barn of Roger Brueggemann on the Arlington International Racecourse backstretch last week for careers as stable ponies during training hours.

The Pizza Man became the only Illinois-bred to win the Million in 2015. He also captured four other graded stakes events in his 36-race career, including the Northern Dancer Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine in 2016. Following his third crack at the Million in 2017 he was retired from racing.

Work All Week took the Xpressbet Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita Park in 2014, one of five wins that led to his Eclipse Award as top sprinter. He retired in October of 2015 because of a stress fracture in his right knee, and after he recuperated from his injury, took up a new job as a stable pony for New York-based conditioner Danny Gargan.

More: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... -pony-duty

[lurkey mclurker]

Northern Farm in Japan already does some rehabbing/second career work with their horses at their Northern Horse Park; good to see that it will be happening on a wider scale too closer to the track. The Ritto Training Center is one of the major racing hubs.

G @LongBallToNoOne
1h 1 hour ago
G Retweeted 日経関西
Opening in December 2018 the Japan Thoroughbred Community Club will be used for retraining retired racehorses. Families, elderly (for therapy) and fans will be able to interact with the ex-racehorses.

From this article, which I partially ran through google translate:

The Japan Thoroughbred Community Club (TCCJAPAN, Ritto City, Shiga Prefecture), which manages the retired race horse fan club, will open a retirement-person exchanging facility with retired horses in Ritto City, Shiga Prefecture, within the year. Provide menus such as horse riding experience and horse therapy, expect to use 10,000 people a year, including horse racing fans as well as families and elderly seeking healing and health. We also have the first nationwide "shelter" to treat and retrain horses, and aim to create a mechanism to support the rest of the life.

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO32 ... 8A6LKA000/

[Sparrow Castle]

Breeders' Cup Verified account @BreedersCup
7h7 hours ago
Our friends @Oldfriendsfarm told us Green Mask, winner of last year's Highlander @WoodbineTB, is doing well and wishing his horse pals the best of luck in today's race!

[lurkey mclurker]

So glad to hear he's doing better!

[Sparrow Castle]

Old Friends Verified account@Oldfriendsfarm
8h8 hours ago
Old Friend of the Day: NOBIZ LIKE SHOBIZ We have a new
contestant in the "Best Forelock on the Farm" contest! He's in there, somewhere. Really. Photo @FloatAlongwMe

[Sparrow Castle]

Herringswell Stables ‏@HerringswellStb
8m8 minutes ago
Ring Weekend - last raced for @westpointtbred 6/30 falling right into his second career with @DuttonEventing So balanced and so regal.
Video: https://twitter.com/HerringswellStb/sta ... 0581629954