Ex-Phillies Biggest Save

Here's another reason why I am such a Phillies fan. The Inquirer ran a great article last week about form Phillies relief pitcher, Dan Plesac who rescued one of his former standardbreds from a trip to the slaughter house. Captain Zoom is living out his retirement on Plesac's farm in Indiana.

Plesac, who retired from the Phillies in 2003, always had a love for standardbreds and estimates "to have owned all or part of 150 horses" since he began playing professional baseball in 1982. When he retired from baseball in 2003, he started training standardbreds but recently returned to baseball as a broadcaster.

Captain Zoom raced for Plesac in 1999 and did not exactly burn up the racetrack, so Plesac sold him. He was subsequently passed down the line from owner to owner until he retired to stud in 2002 and actually fathered two foals. He then hit the auction circuit and Plesac believes he ended up pulling a buggy for the Amish, which left him with physical scars.

It was the internet based horse rescue groups, spearheaded by Another Chance 4 Horses, who found Captain Zoom in a horse auction, bound for slaughter. Ellen Harvey of the United States Trotting Association was able to identify Captain Zoom from a photo on the internet and contacted Plesac.

Plesac didn't think twice about offering Captain Zoom a permanent home for the price of $175.00. "I didn't want to save this horse to leave him with somebody else," said Plesac. "How in the world could I let him go who-knows-where and not save him?" Today, Plesac likes nothing more than strapping Captain Zoom to the cart and taking him for a spin around his farm.

"When I owned horses, I'd just go watch them race. When I trained them, they lived with me. They were part of me. I had much more of an emotional attachment to horses," said Plesac. "When I look at him (Captain Zoom) out there eating grass, all I can thin is, 'You hit the lottery, big boy.' We both did."