After the races

Another champion has been crowned for this years Kentucky Derby. Super Saver has been bred from a strong blood line, trained and accomplished his task of winning the Kentucky Derby and possibly the Triple Crown.

Having grown up in the southwest, this is all I knew of horse racing. It wasn’t until a recent working trip to Lexington, KY that I realized there is more to the story.

I recently worked on an episode about Kentucky for the national PBS agriculture show Americas Heartland for their upcoming season 6. (see story here) Today’s story is about a “retirement” home for horses. This particular location is called “Old Friends” and I learned owner Michael Bowen and his wife hope to be the last stop for horses like Derby winner Super Saver. I say hope because as I learned the last stop for many winning horses is, to put it bluntly, a slaughter house.

After a horse has finished his/her racing career and earned his owners a ton of money, it is sent off for breeding. The good blood lines must continue. Breeding happens all over the U.S. as well as over the world. I would imagine that whoever pays the most gets the horse. After breeding it would be nice if the horses were sold off for trail riding or something where they can continue to be of service. Most likely they are slaughtered because for their owners they are no longer of use. Here is the U.S. it is illegal to slaughter a horse, but they do make their way to Mexico or Canada to killed. Many horses are sold to Japan for breeding and eventual slaughter as it seems that Japan does not have strict rules about slaughtering horses.

Michael Blowen loves horses. He has watched horse racing for years and after a career writing movie reviews for the Boston Globe, he and his wife decided to give these champions of the track a place where they could live out there life. He told us that the horses are brought up to race, but they do not have a 401K, and cannot collect Social Security. At Old Friends the horses live in an acre and a half of green pasture, are well fed, have a great doctor to help them through their “older” years and all that is expected of them is to smile as the tour groups pass by. Some of the thoroughbreds not only smiled for my camera but showed off by running around their paddock showing me that these truly are sprinters of the track.

This is what Michael believes as well. Many of these horses have a fan base and typically folks who bet on or cheered for their favorite horse could only do so from a distance. He is banking his non-for profit endeavor on the fact that people will want to not only come and see their favorite star, but get up close with them. Feed them. Touch them. Maybe take their picture with them. Who knows maybe Super Saver will have his day to be adored again by fans after his short career on the track has ended.