OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

DONNA DUNAWAY — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 18:07:41 GMT

My three partners and I now own Hurricane Ike, thanks to Michael and Hillary. He was reinjured in his last race March of this year. The vet in Kentucky recommeded he be retired from racing. Micheal is definitly a trainer who cares about the horses he trains and does the right thing by finding them good homes. Ike, who earned over 589,000 in his career now has a good forever home here in Illinois.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

Lise from Maine — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:34:28 GMT

Hi!

As a fan, this is exactly what I like to see in this horse racing industry.

Owners and trainers are the responsible ones.

They need to be personally responsible for their horses and take care of them.

The horse must come first.

Look what happened to Dyna King.

He ended up in the wrong hands, and he suffered greatly but in the end he was shown love that he desperately needed plus given all horse care of daily living.

The horse racing industry needs to examine these tragedies because it "turns off" fans.

I keep repeating that the horse must come first.

Thank you!

Lise from Maine

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

smarie — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:26:17 GMT

Thank you for this article. I am so thankful for people like Mike Stidham, Kathy Volkman, Frankie Lovato Jr., and everyone else who realizes that these magnificent animals deserve to be well cared for all of their lives. There are far too many in racing and all other aspects of horsemanship who seem to think that horses are machines. And when the machine breaks down, their attitude is to get rid of what they see as a liability. They don't care what happens to the animal. This is so wrong!

I agree with Needler in Virginia - far too many horses are being bred. Stallions who are unsound are being bred and are possibly passing along their unsoundness to their offspring. Unsound mares are being bred as well. What is happening to the horses who don't make it to the track? Are their breeders keeping track? Do they even care? How many races must a Thoroughbred run until it has earned it's keep? When is enough enough? We can and must do better. These animals give their all for us and it is up to us to see that they are well cared for and that they get good retirements when the time comes.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

TerriV — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 14:51:01 GMT

Yes! Yes! Yes!! This is what it should, what it could be. Thank you for your love and care for your horses and for the excellent example you are setting for all the others who should be doing the same.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

New Lives Washington — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 20:58:06 GMT

So nice to see trainer and owners taking responsibility for the welfare of the horses. We (the industry) need more of that!

CarolinaJude, I am in Washington, and would love to talk with you about your rescue project. Please contact me at exracers@newliveswashington.org . Thanks!

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

Karen in Indiana — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 13:25:27 GMT

And owners and trainers need to think about other possibilities a horse may have. Mr. Hot Stuff is an example of taking a step sideways that's working out very well. He didn't have a good record flat racing. Then he was sold and switched to steeplechasing. He's won half his races over jumps and won his first Grade I yesterday at Saratoga. McDynamo is another who made the switch and ended up earning the Eclipse for steeplechasing 3 or 4 years. By the way, Mr. Hot Stuff looked great and, more importantly, looked like he was enjoying himself and wanted to keep going.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

justsayin — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 00:56:43 GMT

More of these stories please. It could be a "where are they now" section.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

CarolinaJude — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 23:56:53 GMT

Thank you so much for this article. I am currently spearheading a group to try to rescue/facilitate the retirement of a son of a Kentucky Derby winner who is currently racing at Emerald Downs in #2,500 claiming races and hasn't finished in the money in over a year. He has passed through various owners since a promising beginning at HP and SA under well known connections. Although he is only 5, it is obviously he is either no long able or no longer interested in racing. His sale price is more than his claiming tag which, to me, doesn't show good faith on his current connections.

Unfortunately this seems to be the current state of horse racing so this story was a breath of fresh air!

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

greyghost — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 20:28:33 GMT

Thanks for the attempt to show owners and trainers in a positive light. We are bombarded with the flip side of this story and we need to be reminded of the successes as well.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

Needler in Virginia — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:45:27 GMT

robinm, you're exactly right to feel sick. Mr Stidham is, by far, the exception rather than the rule. But HUGE thanks for this blog.......we all needed a smile.

STILL lurking at the back of my mind is this: what ARE we going to do with all the others?? There are far more Monzantes than Sandburrs, and the only way to deal with all the future Monzantes is to NOT breed 35,000 Thoroughbreds a year. So far breeders don't seem to have made THAT connection. AND, since I'm a gloomy voice today, what will we do with all the multiple thousand TB's already here?? Maybe we can clone the Volkmans.

But many cheers to Stidham, Volkman, kind souls everywhere, and safe trips for all the horses.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

supahblitz — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 16:21:35 GMT

Thank you for your wonderful update on Sandburr. I followed his racing career while he was with Mike Stidham and Feel The Thunder, and have often wondered where he went in retirement. I was relieved that Sandurr was retiring at what seemed to be the right time. After Monzante's tragic fate, it's good to know there are trainers and owners who do the right thing. I know the connections of Heroi do Bafra, and they recently retired him. Heroi is a grade 1 winner, and earned $288,719 in 64 starts. But he was finally in low-end claimers at age 11, and it was time to quit. His owners, Tom Woodburn and trainer F C Frazier, retired him sound. If more trainers and owners did the same, there would be a lot fewer Monzantes.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

Donna M — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:54:11 GMT

This story just made my day! Nice to know there are happy endings out there for these old fellas. They earned it!!

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

robinm — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 12:54:32 GMT

Thanks for pointing out there are trainers and owners who care about their horses. I just have a sick feeling that the lives of the 2 horses described may be the exception rather than the rule.

re: OTTB Spotlight: Sandburr

Karen in Indiana — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 01:37:02 GMT

I have a lot of respect for Mike Stidham because of his handling of Gran Estreno. I had followed Gran Estreno ever since he came to this country, he had won stakes races in his native Argentino. Rick Dutrow had him in claiming races & Mike Stidham claimed him. He won stakes races after that and generally looked a lot happier. The owner and trainer took good care of him when he broke his sesamoids during training. This was just one horse, but I always appreciated that Mike Stidham and Feel the thunder stables were able to see that he had potential and they gave him what he needed to fulfill that potential and then made sure he was taken care of when he got hurt.