When Myra Utterback purchased off-the-track Thoroughbred Deceiving in November 2022, she wasn’t imagining she’d be competing in this year’s Hamel Foundation NHS 3’3″ Equitation Championship. But less than two years after the horse came off the track, the pair put in a solid round at the National Horse Show on Oct. 27 in Lexington, Kentucky, to hold their own among the sea of warmbloods competing in the class.

“There was a racetrack rail jump in the ring; I thought that was a cool parallel that not even two years ago he was racing next to them, and now he was jumping over them in an equitation final,” said Utterback, 18. “I was nervous coming to it because I wasn’t sure if ‘Fez’ knew he was allowed to jump it. He didn’t even hesitate; he jumped right over it.”

Utterback’s trainer, Heather Froehlich-Cortell, said the 6-year-old’s Jockey Club name fits him perfectly.

“He really is deceiving. His stride is a lot bigger than you think, and he doesn’t look like a Thoroughbred at all,” she said of Fez (Palace Malice—Lady Lyra, Storm Creek), who won $5,639 in five starts. “He has blown us away with his talent; he’s just remarkable.”

Utterback’s previous Thoroughbred Bella wasn’t up to the task of fulfilling the rider’s dreams of competing in the 3’3″ hunters and equitation, so at the end of the 2022 season, Froehlich-Cortell began the search for a horse on a small budget to fit the bill. She reached out to her friend Kerry Shanahan at Ballyclare Farm in Waterford, Virginia, a nonprofit organization that specializes in rehabbing and rehoming off-the-track Thoroughbreds.

“Kerry sent me a video of a 4-year-old turf racing Thoroughbred that they had just gotten not even a week and a half prior,” she said. “I watched this video of an insanely confident horse trotting around the arena, just free-longeing around. I couldn’t believe he was a Thoroughbred; he moved so well.”

Froehlich-Cortell sent the video to Utterback, who was at school. There were three other professionals interested in purchasing Fez, but within 45 minutes of seeing his video, Froehlich-Cortell agreed to bypass the pre-purchase exam and buy Fez sight unseen.

“Something was telling me we had to do this; this was the one, I could feel it in my blood,” she said.

Three days later, Fez arrived at Froehlich-Cortell’s Hunter Vale Show Stables, and she and Utterback, Novelty, Ohio, began restarting him on the longe line. Although Fez could be a little playful in-hand, he proved trustworthy under tack.

“Sometimes at the beginning, Fez was like a really annoying child,” Froehlich-Cortell said. “But the second you would sit on his back, no matter what he was doing on the ground, he was perfect. He’s all business once you’re riding him.”

Utterback did most of the riding, and Froehlich-Cortell assisted from the ground.

“When everything started to click, he just took off,” Froehlich-Cortell said. “I told Myra from the beginning, ‘I know it’s unfortunate that we’re finding something a few years younger than we want, but we’re just going to go at his pace. I cannot tell you how fast or slow this pace is going to go, but he will tell us the answer.’ And we listened to him the whole time.”

In early 2023 Utterback started showing Fez at schooling shows, and he proved a quick study. By December of that year, he graduated to the 3’3″ small junior hunter, 16-17, division, qualifying for the 2024 Adequan/USEF Junior Hunter National Championships—East (Michigan) their first time out. At that show they finished 15th overall in their division, and Fez did double duty in the equitation ring, showing in the USHJA Gladstone Equitation Classic.

Utterback, who’s a freshman at Miami University (Ohio), is giving Fez the winter off from showing with goals of qualifying and competing at the inaugural USHJA Amateur Hunter Championships in 2025.

“This was an underdog story for sure,” Froehlich-Cortell said. “But a good Thoroughbred is worth it. They’ll do anything for you. And Fez will.”

This article originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. You can subscribe and get online access to a digital version and then enjoy a year of The Chronicle of the Horse. If you’re just following COTH online, you’re missing so much great unique content. Each print issue of the Chronicle is full of in-depth competition news, fascinating features, probing looks at issues within the sports of hunter/jumper, eventing and dressage, and stunning photography.