Post by diamondindykin on Sept 22, 2006 15:13:56 GMT -5
Luckily, not everyone takes slaughtering of racing horses in stride
By PAUL DALEY, Sun Horse Racing Columnist
On Sept. 12, Hip number 425, a brown colt by Kingmambo out of the mare
Crown of Crimson, was led into the Keeneland Sales Ring. The striking
yearling topped out at a staggering price of $11.7 million.
The purchase slip was signed by John Ferguson, bloodstock agent for
Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. The colt was bred by Richard Santulli.
Just one week later, another horse bred by Santulli, 6-year-old Navesink
Tide, by You and I out of Filly Triple Crown winner Mom's Command, found
itself a few short hours and steps away from being led into a killer van
in New Holland, Pa., sold for slaughter for a paltry $425. How could
this be possible in a Sport of Kings? Here's how such things happen.
Kelly Young, from Lost & Found Horse Rescue in nearby York, Pa., and a
network of confederates, including Dawn Mellen of California, routinely
attend the sales for slaughter in places such as New Holland, the
largest venue in the East. They try to ferret out horses that look
healthy enough to be saved for a second career as pleasure horses or use
in activities such as eventing, dressage, polo, therapeutic riding,
police mounts, and pony and 4-H clubs.
"I look for a kind eye and good conformation in a horse," said Young on
Wednesday. "Sometimes I just have a feeling about a certain horse or
horses, that there's a story behind them. That certainly was the case on
Monday."
When Young, Mellen, and others identify horses with promise they then
write down the lip tattoo numbers and call people such as Lisa Amarino
in Norwich, N.Y., or Diana Baker at the Thoroughbred Retirement
Foundation (TRF) in Shrewsbury, N.J.
Because it costs $35 to run a lip tattoo number through the Jockey Club
to search a horse's history, Amarino and Baker turn to the TRF's Sue
Finley, who has a contact in the Jockey Club. Otherwise, out comes the
credit card, often to the chagrin of family who see those vacations
flying out the window like Pegasus soaring into the clouds.
Anyway, last Monday, Young identified five horses which looked promising
and relayed the lip numbers to Finley, via Amarino and Baker. The
horses, all thoroughbreds, turned out to be Brummy, who won $118,680 in
68 career races, Outsparkle, bred by Milfer Farm in New York, Shah of
Shah, by King of Kings, Navesink Tide, who won five races in 11 starts
and $38,800 from 2003-04, and finally a son of Pine Bluff, winner of the
1992 Preakness Stakes. Each was marked for slaughter at pricetags
ranging from $400-500.
"I know this horse, Navesink Tide," Baker said at the time. "He was bred
by Richard Santulli, whose wife Peggy is on our Board of Directors."
Baker made a few hurried phone calls, then returned Young's call,
telling her to try to get Brummy and Navesink Tide out of the pens. The
TRF would take them.
Young did better than that. Outsparkle was bought by a gentleman
privately, while Shah of Shah's will stay with Young at Lost & Found.
She'll also board Navesink Tide until he can be shipped home to the New
Jersey farm of the Santullis, while Brummy, still very lame and in need
of tender care, will land, through the TRF, at either Wallkill
Correctional Facility in New York or Blackburn Correctional Complex in
Lexington, Ky.
At both facilities, horses and inmates are simultaneously rehabilitated
through caring interaction with each other.
Regarding Navesink Tide, who last raced for a claiming tag of $12,500 at
Penn National on June 3, 2004, finishing eighth for owner Brian D.
Rovner and trainer Joey A. Martinez, the question must be asked -- where
has he been for two years? Perhaps we'll never know. However, Baker
informs that of the 80 horses at the killer pens in New Holland in the
last three months, 50 arrived from Penn National.
Also, Young reports that the numbers of horses slated for slaughter at
New Holland on recent Mondays has risen dramatically due to the imminent
closing of some of the fall race meetings, coupled with the recent
passage of Bill HR 503 through the House of Representatives. The
American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, if also passed by the Senate
and ratified by the President, would ban the slaughter of horses for
human consumption and the domestic and international transport of live
horses or horseflesh for the same purpose.
"It comes down to being responsible; a horse is a big commitment," Young
said Tuesday night, while petting Navesink Tide. "They can't speak for
themselves. It's so cruel how some people just throw them away like
garbage."
With that in mind, were Richard and Peggy Santulli aware of the possible
fate of Navesink Tide? The answer is an emphatic no.
When Peter Fuller decided to retire his champion filly, Mom's Command,
now 24 and pensioned at Runnymede Farm in North Hampton, N.H., in the
fall of 1985, Santulli approached Fuller about buying the daughter of
Top Command as a broodmare.
Fuller sold Santulli half of the breeding rights to Mom, meaning that
for $2.5 million dollars, Santulli would set up the first two matings,
and then alternate with Fuller on the rest until Mom's Command was
retired. Also, Santulli would sell each of his yearlings at auction,
with a 10 percent service fee going to Fuller, while the latter would be
free to race or sell his yearlings.
When Navesink Tide came up for auction, per the agreement, Fuller's
trainer, Ned Allard, who had trained Mom's Command throughout her
career, advised one of his other clients to bid on her, which they did.
Navesink Tide was sold for $75,000 and ended up running for a claiming
tag as low as $4,000 at Penn National. As can be seen, it's very easy
for a horse to fall through the cracks, especially with the killers even
approaching trainers and owners on the backstretch for possible purchases.
That may change, or at least become more difficult, if the American
Horse Slaughter Prevention Act becomes law.
Anyone can become involved by sponsoring a horse, becoming a donor, or
adopting a horse for personal or group use.
By PAUL DALEY, Sun Horse Racing Columnist
On Sept. 12, Hip number 425, a brown colt by Kingmambo out of the mare
Crown of Crimson, was led into the Keeneland Sales Ring. The striking
yearling topped out at a staggering price of $11.7 million.
The purchase slip was signed by John Ferguson, bloodstock agent for
Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. The colt was bred by Richard Santulli.
Just one week later, another horse bred by Santulli, 6-year-old Navesink
Tide, by You and I out of Filly Triple Crown winner Mom's Command, found
itself a few short hours and steps away from being led into a killer van
in New Holland, Pa., sold for slaughter for a paltry $425. How could
this be possible in a Sport of Kings? Here's how such things happen.
Kelly Young, from Lost & Found Horse Rescue in nearby York, Pa., and a
network of confederates, including Dawn Mellen of California, routinely
attend the sales for slaughter in places such as New Holland, the
largest venue in the East. They try to ferret out horses that look
healthy enough to be saved for a second career as pleasure horses or use
in activities such as eventing, dressage, polo, therapeutic riding,
police mounts, and pony and 4-H clubs.
"I look for a kind eye and good conformation in a horse," said Young on
Wednesday. "Sometimes I just have a feeling about a certain horse or
horses, that there's a story behind them. That certainly was the case on
Monday."
When Young, Mellen, and others identify horses with promise they then
write down the lip tattoo numbers and call people such as Lisa Amarino
in Norwich, N.Y., or Diana Baker at the Thoroughbred Retirement
Foundation (TRF) in Shrewsbury, N.J.
Because it costs $35 to run a lip tattoo number through the Jockey Club
to search a horse's history, Amarino and Baker turn to the TRF's Sue
Finley, who has a contact in the Jockey Club. Otherwise, out comes the
credit card, often to the chagrin of family who see those vacations
flying out the window like Pegasus soaring into the clouds.
Anyway, last Monday, Young identified five horses which looked promising
and relayed the lip numbers to Finley, via Amarino and Baker. The
horses, all thoroughbreds, turned out to be Brummy, who won $118,680 in
68 career races, Outsparkle, bred by Milfer Farm in New York, Shah of
Shah, by King of Kings, Navesink Tide, who won five races in 11 starts
and $38,800 from 2003-04, and finally a son of Pine Bluff, winner of the
1992 Preakness Stakes. Each was marked for slaughter at pricetags
ranging from $400-500.
"I know this horse, Navesink Tide," Baker said at the time. "He was bred
by Richard Santulli, whose wife Peggy is on our Board of Directors."
Baker made a few hurried phone calls, then returned Young's call,
telling her to try to get Brummy and Navesink Tide out of the pens. The
TRF would take them.
Young did better than that. Outsparkle was bought by a gentleman
privately, while Shah of Shah's will stay with Young at Lost & Found.
She'll also board Navesink Tide until he can be shipped home to the New
Jersey farm of the Santullis, while Brummy, still very lame and in need
of tender care, will land, through the TRF, at either Wallkill
Correctional Facility in New York or Blackburn Correctional Complex in
Lexington, Ky.
At both facilities, horses and inmates are simultaneously rehabilitated
through caring interaction with each other.
Regarding Navesink Tide, who last raced for a claiming tag of $12,500 at
Penn National on June 3, 2004, finishing eighth for owner Brian D.
Rovner and trainer Joey A. Martinez, the question must be asked -- where
has he been for two years? Perhaps we'll never know. However, Baker
informs that of the 80 horses at the killer pens in New Holland in the
last three months, 50 arrived from Penn National.
Also, Young reports that the numbers of horses slated for slaughter at
New Holland on recent Mondays has risen dramatically due to the imminent
closing of some of the fall race meetings, coupled with the recent
passage of Bill HR 503 through the House of Representatives. The
American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, if also passed by the Senate
and ratified by the President, would ban the slaughter of horses for
human consumption and the domestic and international transport of live
horses or horseflesh for the same purpose.
"It comes down to being responsible; a horse is a big commitment," Young
said Tuesday night, while petting Navesink Tide. "They can't speak for
themselves. It's so cruel how some people just throw them away like
garbage."
With that in mind, were Richard and Peggy Santulli aware of the possible
fate of Navesink Tide? The answer is an emphatic no.
When Peter Fuller decided to retire his champion filly, Mom's Command,
now 24 and pensioned at Runnymede Farm in North Hampton, N.H., in the
fall of 1985, Santulli approached Fuller about buying the daughter of
Top Command as a broodmare.
Fuller sold Santulli half of the breeding rights to Mom, meaning that
for $2.5 million dollars, Santulli would set up the first two matings,
and then alternate with Fuller on the rest until Mom's Command was
retired. Also, Santulli would sell each of his yearlings at auction,
with a 10 percent service fee going to Fuller, while the latter would be
free to race or sell his yearlings.
When Navesink Tide came up for auction, per the agreement, Fuller's
trainer, Ned Allard, who had trained Mom's Command throughout her
career, advised one of his other clients to bid on her, which they did.
Navesink Tide was sold for $75,000 and ended up running for a claiming
tag as low as $4,000 at Penn National. As can be seen, it's very easy
for a horse to fall through the cracks, especially with the killers even
approaching trainers and owners on the backstretch for possible purchases.
That may change, or at least become more difficult, if the American
Horse Slaughter Prevention Act becomes law.
Anyone can become involved by sponsoring a horse, becoming a donor, or
adopting a horse for personal or group use.
