Off-track Thoroughbreds proved once again that they are the horses with heart at the 2016 Rolex Kentucky 3-Day Event. Finishing a four-star takes toughness, and doing it in the rain takes Thoroughbred blood.
Fifteen off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTB's) started the competition and all but one finished. That is an almost unheard-of 93% completion rate. Five of the OTTB's finished in the top twenty.
Horses that did not start their lives as racehorses seemed to be at a disadvantage this year. Only forty of the 56 non-OTTBs completed the competition, for a 71% completion rate. The heavy footing took its toll on these horses. Some of the heavier warmbloods were visibly tired on the final day and pulled uncharacteristic rails that dropped them significantly in the standings.
We sometimes hear that horses off the track don't hold up due to the hard work they did as youngsters. Consider this statistic.
Six of the 54 horses who completed Rolex this year were age 17 or older. All but two of them were Thoroughbreds that raced. Yes, you read that correctly. Put another way, two-thirds of the oldest horses finishing the event were OTTB's despite that fact that they were only 26% of the finishers. So 29% of our OTTB's were age 17 or older while only 5% of non-OTTB's were that old.
The durability argument extends to the average ages of horses competing as well. The average age of all horses competing was thirteen, but 71% of OTTBs were thirteen or older.
And one final stat to smash a stereotype is average number of races run. Some people believe that they should be looking for ex-racehorses with very few starts, thinking erroneously that the longer they race the less sound and trainable they will be. Our Rolex OTTBs had an average of 14 starts. They were real racehorses with significant careers on the track before beginning their training as event horses. Leading the group was Steady Eddie with 36 starts. Frankie had the most winnings at $99,310.
Enjoy the stats below and never, ever doubt the trainability, durability, and heart of the Thoroughbred racehorse.
Proper conditioning is a very important factor in getting the most out of a competition horse. There are two elements to fitness—cardiovascular and musculoskeletal. They are equally important. Both are ideally developed through long slow distance work (LSD).
For some riders, it’s easy to miss the moments in between the big goals like a championship or a long format event, but Jennie Brannigan is savoring her moment today at the Setters' Run Farm Carolina International CCI4*-S, where she took home the win on Tim and Nina Gardner’s FE Lifestyle.
Riders in the CCI4*-S at the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International CCI4*-S were in for a change this afternoon as Brody Robertson made his show jumping course design debut in the class and built a challenging track that shuffled the top 10.
When Monbeg Zebedee came to Allison Springer’s barn nearly three years ago, she wasn’t sure where he might end up or how far his talent would take him. The Irish Sport Horse gelding (Dignifed van’t Zorgvliet x Bolacreane Dolly) had been purchased out of the Monart sale in Ireland by British five-star rider Kitty King as a sales prospect when he was 3, and King had started him but never competed him.