Beyond the Teller’s Window: The Highs and Lows of Racing
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” This is one of the most famous literary quotes of all time; written by Charles Dickens in the novel A Tale of Two Cities back in 1859. Think about those words… it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Though I’m certain Dickens wasn’t exactly writing about horse racing, I’m sure many of us would be able to relate such words to our plights as horse racing handicappers. With each $2 bet we place, we have hope, elation, and often times despair. We come so close, yet are so far.
In the world of horse racing, however, the sport goes much deeper than the $2 placed at the window. What we have to remember is that there are actual animals involved, horses, who run their hearts out for us. These horses, mysterious creatures, majestic, powerful, mighty, and strong, yet at the same time curious, temperamental, and fragile. They will give you 100%, each and every race. The way some of these amazing equines make it to the track to race at all is a sheer miracle. In the story I’m about to tell, you will get a glimpse of the best of times, the worst of times, and the emotional roller-coaster for one Illinois-based breeder who witnessed birth, death, and birth again in the span of a whirlwind 24-hours.
Our story begins with a Kentucky-bred mare named Have a Herat. Out of 36 starts for this daughter of Petionville, she won 7 times, placed 12 times, and showed 6, hitting the board in 70% of her races. Most of her races were up and down the East coast and after being claimed she ended her career in Southern Illinois with a stint at Fairmount Park at the wishes of her new Texas-based owners. When her racing career was over, Have a Herat, or “Rosie,” met a then-new-breeder and native Californian, Cynthia Rush, through a very troubling circumstance.
(Cynthia Rush - Owner of Offspring Farm)
It was the worst of times. As you can see, “Rosie” had a pretty decent racing career. As Rush’s new hunting/jumping barn was well underway, a trainer from the local race track, Fairmount Park, brought a sickly mare to her facility to board for a short time. This mare just had surgery for a collapsed lung due to pneumonia, and needed a quiet place to recuperate. Rush agreed to board her but after just a few weeks, the mare relapsed, and the owners came to put her down. When Rush refused, the owners replied, “we’ll give her to you, we can’t race her anymore.” “Rosie” was so ill, and Rush worked diligently all summer to nurse her back to health. Remember, Rush was running a hunting/jumping operation and she didn’t know much about horse racing even though she had been riding horses her entire life.
With a healthy horse again, Rush looked up “Rosie’s” tattoo and found that the horse had a pretty “awesome” career, winning at Belmont, and in Rush’s estimation would have gone onto greater things if the horse didn’t get sick. With that in mind, Rush ended up breeding her and named her new stable Offspring Farm since it was “Rosie” and her offspring that got Rush into horse racing all together.
("Rosie" and her best friend Z Z Pop - all photos by Cynthia Rush)
Getting to the races, let alone winning, can be quite the monumental feat. The time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears put into these horses can be exhausting, yet Rush and her team continued to try. Before this spring, “Rosie” had foaled three other horses with Offspring Farm, all with limited success. Born the day before Cinco de Mayo in 2008, Asian Sensation (by Marquetry) gave it a go 8 times, finishing third once, before leaving the races. Two years later Bellevegas Babe (by Artax) tried the races as well, but failed to finish on the board. An unnamed two-year-old filly by Five Star Day (nicknamed “Joey” since she was born while Rush was watching the movie War Horse) born on St. Patrick’s Day is waiting for her chance too.
It was the best of times. Now it’s 10:00 in the morning on Kentucky Oaks day, 2015. A new bottle of champagne was just cracked open to celebrate the birth of a brand new filly. Rush and her Offspring Farm operation had just bred another Kentucky Oaks hopeful. The birth of a new filly is a magical experience in itself, yet alone a filly being born on Oaks day. This filly was actually born at Serenity Farm where owner Patt Mineer was able to view a birth for the first time. Again, a magical experience and the hopes and dreams of a small breeding operation becoming big-time are pinned on the shoulders of this new filly. A new filly who already takes off at gallop and changes leads, all at a week old.
("Rosie" with her new filly, "Goldie")
It was the worst of times. Now it’s 12:30 in the afternoon, a mere 10 hours after the new filly was born. With no indication of any previous trouble and the vet en route to draw blood from the filly in the afternoon, Rush suddenly noticed the mare outside, sweating. At first Rush thought the mare was just tired or maybe just warm since the temperatures were in the mid 80’s that day. While Rush was trying to get “Rosie’s” stall cleaned so the new mom can be comfortable, she heard a loud “thud.” The mare had lost her balance and fell, hitting the side of barn, and fell, lying in the dirt.
Three different vets were assessing the situation and initial thought was that the mare had a colon torsion, a condition where a portion of the colon can accidentally "twist" around the uterus or an artery and cut off the blood supply. This condition can occur when, after birth, the space left in the abdomen leaves just enough room for the intestines to shift ever slightly, and set a course for inevitable tragedy. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened in “Rosie's” case. As the vets were working to stabilize her and insert an IV in an attempt to get her into a trailer for a ride to a clinic for surgery, “Rosie” fell back up against the stall wall and came to a rest on her side, let out a whinny to “Z Z”, and drew her last breath. In just a few hours, Rush and Mineer witnessed the birth of a new filly and the death of her foundation mare, a mare who wasn’t intended to breed any longer after this birth.
("Rosie" and "Z Z")
The highs and lows of horse racing occur even far away from a race track and a betting window.
Rush described the situation as helpless and heartbreaking. The horse was in such distress, and losing them, with not a single thing to help them, is again, heartbreaking. The humans involved were not the only ones affected by “Rosie’s” passing. Rush’s other mare, Z Z Pop, had just lost her best friend. The mares were inseparable, and in “Rosie’s” final moments, “Z Z” and “Rosie” kept talking to each other. “Z Z” would call out to her and “Rosie” would whinny back. These two horses were such good friends that when they separated to breed, the mares wouldn’t eat etc. because they were apart. This time Rush wanted them to breed together to the same stallion.
By 6:00 the next morning, Rush was distraught as she thought she was going to lose the filly too. The brand new filly “Goldie” (named Goldilocks with a mane of curls) was weak, unable to stand, and unable to eat. Without her mother’s milk, Rush had to find a way to get the filly to eat. From bringing in a friend’s mare who just lost a foal (and still had milk) to praying not to let her die too, Rush was willing to try just about anything. Rush believes that God had answered her prayers as the filly started drinking, learned to drink from bucket, and downed a quart of milk in just two minutes! And you thought the Kentucky Derby was the fastest two minutes in sports…
("Goldie" the new filly)
It was the best of times. Surely with a filly born on Kentucky Oaks day, a colt needed to be born on Kentucky Derby day, right? And so it was. After the highs and lows of the day before, and into the next morning knowing the new filly was OK, Z Z Pop gave birth to a new colt! This colt was born right as the Kentucky Derby horses were on the track in Louisville, and Rush with her partner Dale Ingram (50/50 partner on Z Z Pop and her new colt) were heading to Fairmount Park to watch the Kentucky Derby. They were gone for a mere 90 minutes when “Z Z” went into labor, this time no complications. This colt is a “perfect little foal,” a lot smaller than the filly, yet by the same sire. Z Z Pop’s story has an intriguing connection in itself. On the day that Rush’s boyfriend’s (Jim Watkins) father had died; Z Z Pop was entered in a race at Fairmount Park. The horse must have had some help from the heavens as Z Z Pop won by 5 ¾ lengths, and as everyone was shedding tears in the winner’s circle, they knew that she won the race on Kentucky Derby day.
(A new colt - born on Kentucky Derby day!)
And there we have it, a filly born on Oaks day, and a colt born on Derby day with previous connections to two of the biggest racing days of the year. How amazing is that?
Fast forward a week and this long-legged filly is doing great! Rush is so thankful that she came around; the filly is gaining weight and is getting stronger every day. Yesterday, “Goldie” sailed around ring twice, made jumps! Rush knows that “Goldie” will be special no matter what the filly grows up to be. Rush will try to integrate her into a horse herd situation and will even see if the baby filly and colt can grow up together! She doesn’t want the filly to have no love or contact, but the weanling had identified so much with people, that she thinks she’s a person!! The half-siblings are even touching noses through fence line to get to know each other!
(The new filly)
Many smaller racing operations pin their hopes on breeding and dreaming of having just one good horse. They give their love to the sport, and for the last 9-10 years, it’s been no different for Rush. She remarked on the labor, money, heartache and never getting a day off. With this special filly, Rush thinks it would be phenomenal to see “Goldie” on Oaks day at Churchill Downs. She thinks it would be an unbelievable story for this filly to achieve great things! Sometimes all you need is luck, fate, and breeding a horse with a heart to run. “It only takes one,” Rush said, and “always put the horse first.”
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The highs and lows of horse racing are much more beyond just winning at the race track. As Rush says, “A race is a minute or two long, and that is a split second compared to the total time spent in the journey to get there.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.