#Nevereclipsed

The National Throughbred Racing Association is paying tribute to thoroughbreds who have moved on to a second career. Photos with the #nevereclipsed hashtag have the chance to be selected for inclusion in video montages to be played during the Eclipse Awards at Gulfstream Park.

 Below are the entries I wrote on Facebook for each of my boys.

Southern Shuffle (Sam) (Dixieland Band x Darby Shuffle (Darby Creek Road). 37 Starts, Earnings of $44,335. Retired at 10 years old in 2005, spent some let down time with my friend, Pam Hall Mahony, who was his guardian angel, and then lived with me, until we lost him in 2017. We didn’t achieve all the things, and weren’t famous, but I’ll never forget how proud he was to trot in leading all his friends at the end of his first (and only) 30 mile Limited Distance ride. He sang to us every day for breakfast and dinner and was the toughest and sweetest creature I’ve ever been fortunate enough to know. #warhorse 

Gossamer, (Spider) 2015 Bay G, (Ghostzapper x Take D’Tour (Tour D’Or) - one start, Gulfstream Park, $500 won as a three year old. Came to live with us in January of 2019. Has had a year off to rehab a tendon and is eligible for the 2020 Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover. Will we be in Kentucky in October? We shall see, but the journey is guaranteed to be an interesting one, wherever we go together!

And this one. Well. He was certainly #nevereclipsed because his former owner never completed his registration with the Jockey Club. Heck, he never even gave him a name other than “The Thoroughbred.”

Repeat Offender (Buzz), (Taylor Quigley x Cuivre River (Royal Swap), 1997 Bay TB gelding. Purchased as a yearling at an OBS sale, he raced until he was five against Quarter Horses at a bush track on a powerline in the middle of nowhere. (aka about 10 miles from where I now live). (Photos below) After he bowed tendons in both front legs, he came into the sale barn where I leased stalls and stole my heart. That was before I saw him gallop and before I ran him through a jump chute. 😳😍

He was so much to me. He taught me how to love someone who wasn’t perfect, and that even the broken are beautiful. ❤️

He and Ralph Leroy Hill were amazing together. He was always a pro’s ride (and bless you Jonathan Holling - I’ll always be grateful to you for telling me that he was a pro ride, but that it was your job to teach me to ride him and to be safe. And I think we would have too, if I hadn’t lost him three months later in a tragic accident.)

He left a huge hole in my heart. He was the most expensive $450 decision I ever made - he had surgery with Dr. Ali Morton at UF twice, and was the little horse with a heart of a lion that could. I never found anything that he was afraid of. Ralph told me, before he ever rode him, that sometimes the ones that you take a chance on will give you everything. And he did. He’s been gone 11 years, and I still miss him terribly.

The Wylie Coyote (Taz), 1993 NZTB, (Pandemonium x Kotari Girl (Exceptionnel)) also #nevereclipsed He trained in New Zealand (I don’t think he ever had an official start, though Kim Wylie may be able to correct me).

Kim recognized that he was special, even as the dealer said to her “you don’t want that one.” She took a chance on him, and by the time she sold him to the US, they were on the NZ Talent ID Squad. He was successful at the 1* level, never having had a xc jumping penalty, and he was ready to go Intermediate.

He came to me, with a number of other stops in between, (thanks, Susan Resh!) ostensibly as a ride for Bronwyn Johnson, (who had beautifully schooled him xc in the pouring rain) but I stole him! I never have schooled him over fences, and we’ve never done a dressage test. But we have over 300 AERC miles doing Limited Distance, and a lot more training miles than that. He was never happier than when he was trotting along in the Forest. He carried me through water, tight trails, dirt roads, and twisty mountain trails. He was as brave as they come and so very tough.

A torn hind suspensory ended his career, and he never returned to Eventing. But he’s ruled the roost here for 12 years and I hope for a lot more to come. He’s quirky, and doesn’t like everyone, but early on, he picked me as one of “his people” and I’m so grateful he did. ❤️❤️