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Jun. 12, 2009, 08:53 PM
http://www.drf. com/news/ article/104551. html
Columnists | Posted 6/10/2009, 6:44 pm
Endgame often depends on luck
By Jay Hovdey
Just for a moment, let's pretend this is the way it works all the time.
During the summer of 2007, a 6-year-old swaybacked gelding named Storm
Legacy was turned over to trainer Pete Tardy at Penn National, who was
told by the owner, "You don't have to train him. Just board him." Then,
in early 2008, the owner tossed Tardy the keys. "He's yours if you want
him," was the message.
The fact that Storm Legacy was a son of champion sire Storm Cat meant
absolutely squat, since he had already run 42 times and had spent the
last year in the company of $4,000 and $5,000 claimers. Also, he was
dead lame, which explains why his barn nickname was "Ankles."
"If you'd have been in the shape he was in, you wouldn't want to get out
of bed in the morning," Tardy said the other day. "Anybody but me, he
would have been in New Holland. You know what New Holland is, right?"
To anyone who thinks Thoroughbreds deserve a shred of dignity upon
leaving the racing stage, New Holland is definitely wrong. New Holland,
Pa., is the location of a major livestock auction where buyers for
slaughterhouses converge to scoop up horseflesh by the pound. Whether or
not slaughter is still legal in the United States is beside the point.
There is no federal law forbidding purchase and transport to foreign
processors.
So Storm Legacy dodged a bullet, just by waking up in the Tardy barn.
And then Tardy was inspired to give Storm Legacy a try. He worked like a
demon on those ankles, and by springtime the horse was in good enough
shape to go back to the races. He made 13 starts in 2008 for Tardy and
his wife, Donna, and hit the board six times, finally winning one on
Dec. 29.
Along the way, Tardy took a look at the back of Storm Legacy's foal
papers and found an unusual notification.
"It said whenever the horse was no longer raceable, they would like to
give the horse a home," the trainer said. "And there was Marylou
Whitney's phone number."
By April of this year, Storm Legacy had come to the end of the line.
Tardy made the call to the Whitney farm in Lexington, Ky., and a van was
dispatched to Penn National. Storm Legacy, bred by Whitney in
partnership with W.T. Young's Overbrook Farm, was going home.
"When he left here, I took off his nylon halter and put on a leather
halter," Tardy said. "Not a new one, but a real nice one."
It was a simple gesture of respect, and a gracious acknowledgement of
Storm Legacy's heritage. After all, he came into this world as a full
brother to the accomplished mare Catinca, out of a half-sister to the
top-class racehorses Hail Bold King and Metfield, and by a stallion who
had already sired more than 100 stakes winners.
Whitney and her husband, John Hendrickson, are part of a quiet but
growing movement among enlightened patrons to affix end-use assurances
to official foal papers. Storm Legacy settled right in with two other
geldings in a large paddock at the Whitney spread. And why not? He
didn't have to die to go to heaven.
"We were a little worried how he'd do with the other two, him being
younger and right off the track," said Kim Nelson, the Whitney farm
office manager. "But from the start, they were acting like old pals,
trading stories."
Storm Legacy's new friends are the half-brothers Brave All the Way, age
14, and Cviano, who is 12. Another half-brother, equipment intact, is
otherwise occupied at Gainesway Farm down the road, where he serves a
full book of mares each year. His name is Birdstone, sire of Kentucky
Derby winner Mine That Bird and Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird.
While Storm Legacy was able to avoid the horrors of New Holland and
beyond, Cviano could tell a different tale. Named for the late C.V.
Whitney, Cviano had been lost in a claimer in 2001. Shortly after
Birdstone added the Travers Stakes to his victory over Smarty Jones in
the 2004 Belmont, Cviano was found at New Holland, on his way to
slaughter, by a volunteer with Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, and steered to
Angel Acres Farm in Pennsylvania. When they found out, Whitney and
Hendrickson were quick to bring Cviano home.
Among the other residents at the Whitney farm is Dear Birdie, the dam of
Birdstone, Cviano and Brave All the Way. She is in foal to Street Cry,
which sounds great on paper, and there is always a chance she'll produce
another Birdstone, or better. Of course, there is just as good a chance
the foal with turn out more like Brave All the Way, who ran 76 times and
won 10 races, or Cviano, who was 4 for 49. Between them they earned less
than $200,000.
"This is about lives we created," said Hendrickson at the time of
Cviano's rescue. "We're responsible for them."
Such sentiments are rare, and yet to be held widely enough to find
widespread institutional support. There are no safety nets, and the
downward pressures on Thoroughbreds are relentless, because of both
economics and health. Even though he never got a whiff of the New
Holland kill pens, Storm Legacy must be considered a very lucky horse to
have stumbled upon the right people at the right time.
"If you ever talk to those folks in Kentucky," added Pete Tardy, "tell
them he absolutely loves those Starlite Mints. When he would hear that
wrapper crackling, he'd come right to the front of the stall."
Columnists | Posted 6/10/2009, 6:44 pm
Endgame often depends on luck
By Jay Hovdey
Just for a moment, let's pretend this is the way it works all the time.
During the summer of 2007, a 6-year-old swaybacked gelding named Storm
Legacy was turned over to trainer Pete Tardy at Penn National, who was
told by the owner, "You don't have to train him. Just board him." Then,
in early 2008, the owner tossed Tardy the keys. "He's yours if you want
him," was the message.
The fact that Storm Legacy was a son of champion sire Storm Cat meant
absolutely squat, since he had already run 42 times and had spent the
last year in the company of $4,000 and $5,000 claimers. Also, he was
dead lame, which explains why his barn nickname was "Ankles."
"If you'd have been in the shape he was in, you wouldn't want to get out
of bed in the morning," Tardy said the other day. "Anybody but me, he
would have been in New Holland. You know what New Holland is, right?"
To anyone who thinks Thoroughbreds deserve a shred of dignity upon
leaving the racing stage, New Holland is definitely wrong. New Holland,
Pa., is the location of a major livestock auction where buyers for
slaughterhouses converge to scoop up horseflesh by the pound. Whether or
not slaughter is still legal in the United States is beside the point.
There is no federal law forbidding purchase and transport to foreign
processors.
So Storm Legacy dodged a bullet, just by waking up in the Tardy barn.
And then Tardy was inspired to give Storm Legacy a try. He worked like a
demon on those ankles, and by springtime the horse was in good enough
shape to go back to the races. He made 13 starts in 2008 for Tardy and
his wife, Donna, and hit the board six times, finally winning one on
Dec. 29.
Along the way, Tardy took a look at the back of Storm Legacy's foal
papers and found an unusual notification.
"It said whenever the horse was no longer raceable, they would like to
give the horse a home," the trainer said. "And there was Marylou
Whitney's phone number."
By April of this year, Storm Legacy had come to the end of the line.
Tardy made the call to the Whitney farm in Lexington, Ky., and a van was
dispatched to Penn National. Storm Legacy, bred by Whitney in
partnership with W.T. Young's Overbrook Farm, was going home.
"When he left here, I took off his nylon halter and put on a leather
halter," Tardy said. "Not a new one, but a real nice one."
It was a simple gesture of respect, and a gracious acknowledgement of
Storm Legacy's heritage. After all, he came into this world as a full
brother to the accomplished mare Catinca, out of a half-sister to the
top-class racehorses Hail Bold King and Metfield, and by a stallion who
had already sired more than 100 stakes winners.
Whitney and her husband, John Hendrickson, are part of a quiet but
growing movement among enlightened patrons to affix end-use assurances
to official foal papers. Storm Legacy settled right in with two other
geldings in a large paddock at the Whitney spread. And why not? He
didn't have to die to go to heaven.
"We were a little worried how he'd do with the other two, him being
younger and right off the track," said Kim Nelson, the Whitney farm
office manager. "But from the start, they were acting like old pals,
trading stories."
Storm Legacy's new friends are the half-brothers Brave All the Way, age
14, and Cviano, who is 12. Another half-brother, equipment intact, is
otherwise occupied at Gainesway Farm down the road, where he serves a
full book of mares each year. His name is Birdstone, sire of Kentucky
Derby winner Mine That Bird and Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird.
While Storm Legacy was able to avoid the horrors of New Holland and
beyond, Cviano could tell a different tale. Named for the late C.V.
Whitney, Cviano had been lost in a claimer in 2001. Shortly after
Birdstone added the Travers Stakes to his victory over Smarty Jones in
the 2004 Belmont, Cviano was found at New Holland, on his way to
slaughter, by a volunteer with Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, and steered to
Angel Acres Farm in Pennsylvania. When they found out, Whitney and
Hendrickson were quick to bring Cviano home.
Among the other residents at the Whitney farm is Dear Birdie, the dam of
Birdstone, Cviano and Brave All the Way. She is in foal to Street Cry,
which sounds great on paper, and there is always a chance she'll produce
another Birdstone, or better. Of course, there is just as good a chance
the foal with turn out more like Brave All the Way, who ran 76 times and
won 10 races, or Cviano, who was 4 for 49. Between them they earned less
than $200,000.
"This is about lives we created," said Hendrickson at the time of
Cviano's rescue. "We're responsible for them."
Such sentiments are rare, and yet to be held widely enough to find
widespread institutional support. There are no safety nets, and the
downward pressures on Thoroughbreds are relentless, because of both
economics and health. Even though he never got a whiff of the New
Holland kill pens, Storm Legacy must be considered a very lucky horse to
have stumbled upon the right people at the right time.
"If you ever talk to those folks in Kentucky," added Pete Tardy, "tell
them he absolutely loves those Starlite Mints. When he would hear that
wrapper crackling, he'd come right to the front of the stall."