October
JanuaryGolden years
Recently, Elio Celotto, campaign director of the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, said that his organisation wanted to draw attention to the dark side of the racing industry and build public pressure for a national retirement plan for ex-racehorses.
Fair enough but there is a bright side when it comes to ex-racehorses. I will attempt to bring some balance to the discussion by highlighting the good life that many, many retired racehorses experience as part of our family.
My daughter has been competing, up to state level, on both the pony club circuit and the adult riders circuit for the past 20 years.
As a long-time thoroughbred breeding fanatic, I have observed hundreds of happy ex-racehorses competing around the traps.
Over the past 15 years, my daughter has only competed on ex-racehorses. First, there was Molly, who won a Swan Hill maiden handicap after the horse that beat her by six lengths returned a positive swab and was disqualified.
My daughter rode her in the Olympic torch parade through Yea in 2000.
Maddison County, failed racehorse, competed with success, including in the Werribee Inter-School Championships in 2003.
Then there was the Twig Moss gelding Douglas William. He failed miserably as a racehorse but competed successfully as a showjumper at very high levels until he had to have an eye removed. This one-eyed showjumper then went on to compete extremely successfully on the Victorian pony club circuit and was a member of the victorious showjumping team at state level in 2007.
Daring Aussie was a giant of a horse that won a few races on Victorian provincial tracks. He then forged a successful World Cup showjumping career and, at one stage, held the Australian high jump record. As an old horse, he was virtually unbeatable on the pony club showjumping scene with my daughter in the saddle.
Currently, my daughter is working with two retired racehorses that were miles apart on the racecourse. Douro Valley won the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes and ran second in a Caulfield Cup. (We bred his dam.) Douro exhibits the same competitive spirit in the showjumping arena as he did on the racecourse.
His mate The Von was an $80,000 yearling whose main claim to fame on the racecourse was a second at Stawell and a third at Wangaratta!
Like all of our ex-racehorses, he’s happy and well occupied. So are our half-dozen retired broodmares and half-dozen thoroughbreds that didn’t make it to a racecourse.
Our story is far from unique. We see scores of retired racehorses that are well educated, well managed, greatly loved and very happy. Racing Victoria strives to highlight the happy lives that many, many retired racehorses are experiencing. Go to the website and check it out.
I must duck out now and feed my happy ex-racehorses. Come and help me, Elio Celotto!
Flowerdale (Vic)