Life After the Track

Each year on the first Tuesday of November crowds flock to Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia, to be a part of the biggest racing event of the year.  At 3pm AEDT time (5pm NZDT) on the first Tuesday of November, this race that stops the nation and other parts of the world, commences.  Cup goers well and truly dress for this momentous occasion, and while they make the most of a great day out, wining and dining and having a flutter here and there, they await with anticipation the outcome of the biggest race of the year, known as the Melbourne Cup.  Around 300 – 400 horses are nominated each year but the final field is limited to 24 starters.  Those 24 eligible to run in this race will be going all out to win the $6.2million prize money.  Three kiwi horses will be loaded into the starting gates this year, including the 2014 Melbourne Cup third place getter, Who Shot the Barman.  The Melbourne cup race is certainly not for the faint hearted.  Sheer determination and grit from both horse and rider is needed to break the field if you want any chance of winning.

But sometimes these racehorses are just not cut out to run along the inside barrier or take a punt at swinging wide among the dozens of horses.  For these horses however, there can be a life after racing.  New Zealand is renowned for re-homing racehorses and producing them to a competitive standard, only to go on to compete on the world stage.

The now World Cup NZ Show Jumper Tinapai was re-homed to the Akers family after his racing career ended at age six.  Lucy Fell (nee Akers) has had Tinapai for 12 years, with several accomplishments in the show jumping circuit to date.  The most recent being the win at Hawke’s Bay A&P in the opening round of the country T.V World Cup.

New Zealand bred Parklane Hawk spent the first seven years of his life taking racing in his stride, only to have now changed career paths.  The British Eventing star William Fox-Pitt has ridden Parklane to several titles, including Rolex Kentucky and Burghley.  Prior to this, Parklane was the one to watch on the New Zealand circuit.

Promised a fresh start after a short lived racing career, Clifton Promise was re-homed with Frances Stead, where Jock Paget secured the ride and succeeded on both a national and international level, bronze medaling at the 2012 London Olympics.

Revo, an unbeaten horse on the New Zealand circuit went on to compete on the international level and represent the country at the 2004 Athens Olympics and prior to that won the Adelaide International Three Day Event.  A scrawny tried but unsuccessful racehorse turned superstar.

These horses are prime representations of good, honest ex-racehorses that, given the opportunity can dabble successfully in a fresh interest.

So today, as millions tune in to fixate on the action at the fabulous Flemington racetrack, plans may well have already begun to retire some of these horses and new homes will be found, offering a very likely probability of a fresh start.

There are invaluable people in the New Zealand equestrian community that show an immense interest in re-homing ex-racehorses.  Wairarapa rider, Jake Barham takes on unsuccessful racehorses, schools them and sells them on to suitable homes.  Waikato based Gina Schick, imports ex-racehorses from Hong Kong and offers them a life after the track.  As one door closes, another door opens.

To read more about Jake’s story and how he came to rescue and rehome retired racehorses see the link below.

http://www.ispyhorses.com/ispy_new/news/39/86