In the summer of 2023, Thoroughbred breeder Dr. Dorothée Kieckhefer was worried that a mare she’d bred was in danger of slipping through the cracks. Then 4 years old, Big Fame had a middling racing record, earning $29,070 with two wins in 13 starts, primarily racing at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, California. In July 2023, officials at the track announced that it would soon be shutting down, leaving the future of racing in Northern California in doubt.

“Golden Gate and the fair circuit was where she was running, and [the fair circuit] was in jeopardy also. They didn’t know whether they would get financing. They didn’t know whether they would get any racing dates,” Kieckhefer said. “So I said, ‘Enough is enough. I cannot let her get into a dangerous situation falling through the cracks.’ I mean, she was a $5,000 claimer, and the lower to the bottom the horses race, the more likely it is that they will be at risk when there is such a fissure or fracture in the industry.”

Fast forward a year later, and the previously at-risk Thoroughbred was posing behind an oversized $10,000 cardboard check and draped in a championship cooler, having just been named the overall winner of the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. With rider Angela Carmitchel, Big Fame bested 50 other horses to win the eventing division and also placed second in show jumping. A panel of judges selected the mare as Makeover Champion from the winners of the competition’s 10 disciplines on Oct. 13.

“Big Fame is truly a poster horse for what aftercare can look like at its finest,” said Kirsten Green, executive director of the Retired Racehorse Project, the nonprofit organization that puts on the Thoroughbred Makeover. “She’s currently owned by her breeder, who should be credited for not only recognizing that the mare might be better suited for a different career, but fully supporting the transition and celebrating her success. Angela has done a lovely job producing her, and we’re sure this is only just the start of a fruitful career as a sport horse.” 

The Makeover has always been a bucket list item for Carmitchel, of Scottsdale, Arizona, who spent some time as a professional but now trains horses in her spare time. (She’s vice president of operations for a company in the home-building industry.) She specializes in restarting off-track Thoroughbreds, and connected with Kieckhefer, who lives in nearby Cave Creek, Arizona, through local dressage trainer Lois Whittington.

Kieckhefer had regained ownership of “Fame” in August 2023. After trying unsuccessfully to buy her privately, Kieckhefer had a friend claim her. The timing was less than ideal, since she’d already claimed or bought back four other horses she bred, but Fame was particularly special; she was the third generation of one mare line in Kieckhefer’s breeding program. She’s by Mr. Big and out of Adopted Fame (by Western Fame), who was out of Jacquard. Adopted Fame was Jacquard’s last foal; the mare died after foaling, and Kieckhefer bottle-raised Adopted Fame, whom she still owns.

“None of [Adopted Fame’s] foals really excelled at the track, but all of them are drop dead gorgeous,” Kieckhefer said, adding that Fame inherited her dam’s great looks and head. Adopted Fame has also produced a couple of warmblood foals that will soon be embarking on show careers.

Now 5, Fame certainly embodies “drop dead gorgeous.” The big bay mare took readily to her post-track life, Carmitchel said.

“She’s a really smart mare,” she said. “All of my trainer friends in Arizona, every time they would see me—because I would come and school and then go back again—they’re like, ‘Wow, you keep doing what you’re doing because you’ve gotten better since last time.’ Because she’s such a smart mare, very bold and athletic. She loves to work.”

The pair did have a setback in March when the mare cut her shoulder in a pasture accident, requiring dozens of stitches and a month off from under-saddle work. “It was serious; it was an ugly, ugly injury,” Carmitchel said. Kieckhefer arranged for thrice-weekly laser therapy, which helped speed the healing process, she added.

“All things happen for a reason. Sometimes you start them, and they can get body sore when they’re using different muscles” and they need some time off, Carmitchel said. “So I just kind of embraced the process and said, ‘Well, we’ll just do a lot of hand walking and groundwork.’ I’m a big believer in groundwork, and so we focused on what we could when she was in her kind of layoff session.” Once they were cleared to go back to work, Fame picked up right where she’d left off, Carmitchel said. 

Fame has always been quite bold and forward, so Carmitchel said a lot of their schooling worked on getting her to “slow her feet down,” particularly using gymnastics, so she could develop her form over fences.

She also noted what a difference it was to ride on the rolling turf of the Kentucky Horse Park’s famed cross-country course during the preliminary round. “It’s been my dream to ride on grass; in Arizona, we don’t have that. There was no opportunity to school her on grass, and she was quite different. It’s a different experience jumping a horse on turf, versus in Arizona, we have tracks that are aerated and the footing’s really usually secure, unless we have a monsoon,” Carmitchel said. “She’s pretty confident, but when you go to jump—and she’s a sensitive horse—she was a little unsure with her feet and the footing on the turf. So I’d love to have the opportunity to school her again on turf and be a little bit more bold, but we gotta get back home to the desert!”

Fame handled the atmosphere at the Kentucky Horse Park well, Carmitchel said, even though she was a bit nervous in the ring familiarization the day before the finale in the covered arena. So Carmitchel elected to ride without spurs during the finale, which worked out well for the pair, even though the mare was getting a little tired.

“I was just really shocked that I won. I mean, I had the vision that it was possible, but I was really just in awe and surprised and excited,” Carmitchel said. Competing at the horse park gave her goosebumps, she said, and the experience of participating in the Makeover didn’t disappoint.

“The riders were so beautiful! I never saw really any bad riding,” Carmitchel said. “The trainers and everyone were so encouraging. It takes a lot to get these horses going, within basically a nine-month period of time. The little junior riders? I mean, what amazing little riders! It was really heartwarming.”

Kieckhefer, who has retired from the breeding business and is currently undergoing cancer treatment, also traveled from Arizona to see her horse compete. But she hadn’t planned her travel around her horse being a finalist so was checking into a hotel in Louisville in preparation for an early morning flight the next day when the overall winner was announced. It was Carmitchel’s husband, Michael Brown, who texted and broke the news to her.

Fame was one of many horses that were offered for sale during the Makeover and had some interested potential buyers. Carmitchel is planning to regroup once the mare arrives back in Arizona, and once she descends back down from the high of competing in Kentucky, to decide what the mare’s future holds.

“When I was little girl living in California, I would get Practical Horseman magazine, and I would look at all the eventing and go, ‘Oh my gosh, it looks like so much fun!’ Everything was happening on the East Coast,” Carmitchel said. “Now, in California, we have some wonderful training facilities. At the time I was growing up, nothing, I didn’t have any resources for eventing. So it’s just really great to be able to represent Arizona. We have some wonderful trainers.”

Makeover discipline champions:
Eventing: Big Fame, trained by Angela Carmitchel
Show Jumper: Comin’ Back, trained by Madison Barnett
Show Hunter: He Did It, trained by Anissa Butler
Field Hunter: In The Air, trained by Caitlan Brooks
Dressage: Flight To Paradise, trained by Kelly Ransom
Polo: Baytown Ringer, trained by Meghan Shader
Freestyle: Pretty In Prado, trained by Monique Cameron-Hamby
Barrel Racing: Not Phar Now, trained by Jessica Frederick
Competitive Trail: Eagle Feather, trained by Colton Thacker
Ranch Work: Brooklyns Finest, trained by Raechel Ramsey

For full results from the 2024 Thoroughbred Makeover, click here.