Retiring with Dignity

While it is a dangerous pastime, I must admit that I have been mentally spending the "small advance" that my hopefully, soon-to-be publisher (unnamed until the deal is sealed), has spoken about. One of my expenses is going to be a trip to Kentucky to both Louisville and Lexington, with very specific destinations.

For starters, I want to see the Barbaro exhibit currently at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville as well as the Barbaro statue that is right outside. Hopefully, the artifacts in the exhibit have dried out since the horrendous flooding there earlier this summer.

Then I will go to Lexington to spend some time at the wonderful library at Keeneland and to pay a visit to the Kentucky Horse Park as well as Old Friends, the well known retirement home for thoroughbreds founded and run by Michael Blowen.

The New York Times recently ran an article about the newest retiree to join the turned out residents at Best Friends, Tour of the Cat, a multiple-graded stakes winner, who, at the age of 11, was entered in a claiming race at Presque Isle Downs. Luckily for Tour of the Cat, his presence was noted by track veterinarians who scratched him from his previous two races at Aqueduct and Finger Lakes. The second of these vets contacted a sympathetic horse owner who put up the $5000 to claim him and ship him to Old Friends. The owner was ultimately reimbursed by Internet supporters who had been following his plight on horse rescue message boards.

"It was like finding Babe Ruth sleeping under a bridge," said Blowen. "They breed 36,00 every year and three years later only one of them is going to win the Kentucky Derby. The question is 'What happens to the rest of them?'"

Unfortunately, for many, the fall from grace is often rapid and ugly. Some end up running injured, usually doped up on painkillers or worse, having been passed from trainer to trainer and track to track. Some end up as riding horses. Some end up on dinner plates in Europe. And some just waste away.

Despite claims by the industry to do better, horses like Tour of the Cat continue to slip through the cracks. Kudos to Michael Blowen for the work he is doing to give grace and dignity to these retired thoroughbreds who have given their all to the sport.

"Without them, there's nothing," he notes. "There is none of this bluegrass, no racing, no jockeys, there's nothing. There's no feed people or veterinarians or anything. It's because of them that everyone's here. And at the end of the day, we can't just treat them like trash and throw them to the side of the road."

Like I said, its pay back time and I've been mentally spending some of mine.