Off Track

We know that not every horse was meant to be a champion on the track. But sometimes you find a Thoroughbred that is meant to be a champion in another sport. Enter Lainey Ashker, five-star eventing and professional dressage rider, who has plucked two geldings from obscurity and turned them into eventing machines. Anthony Patch (Al) is deathly afraid of cows, and Paddy is allergic to flying changes, but line them up to jump a five foot ditch and their ears go forward and they soar.

From gamblers to exercise riders to former trainer and Hall of Famer Bill Mott, they all have asked or told me their own stories about Ninety One Assault, aka Boo. So, we had to do an episode about him, right? This is his story from gangly young racehorse to Louisiana bred champ to OTTB.

For seven racing seasons we watched the fiery, sometimes cantankerous, chestnut gelding named Whitmore blitz down the racetrack. We all cheered him on as he finally got his Breeder's Cup win in his fourth try at the ripe age of seven. But did you know that when he came to the track as a two year old it took him nearly two months to be able to just canter around the track? He would likely have never gotten to all those winners circles without the horsemanship and guidance of Laura Moquett. Now she is guiding him through his second career off track.

When I began Off Track, I described it as a personal passion project. It is my way of expressing the impact that Thoroughbreds have had on my life and how much they've done for me. This podcast has allowed me to tell so many other people's unique stories with OTTB's that I hope they've inspired others to become involved with former racehorses in one way or another. Though at the end of the day, I was happily sailing this ship solo. But then one day Maddie Hogan jumped on board to manage an "Off Track" Instagram account, without me even knowing her personally. So, it's Maddie's turn to tell her story of Wepner.

Lindy Gutman is living proof that the Off Track Thoroughbred community is one of most supportive, encouraging, and energetic horse communities there are. And why wouldn't she be? When you own a horse like Talk Show Man, who was a rock star on the track and off the track, you make sure he has a fan following.

Their relationship began long before he was born. Having worked with his Dam Unspurned as a yearling, Natalie Voss, vowed to meet her first foal and someday make him hers. And while Underscore's (aka Blueberry) days on the track were relatively unproductive, he is more than making up for it now with Natalie in the show ring.

For Tim Lanahan, the race track has always been a constant. Whether it was going to Saratoga as a fan when he was young, or photographing the stars of the game for the Bloodhorse, he has always been connected in one way or another. But riding is where he found true happiness. Yet finding a horse to become his own, took a Hall of Famer. Enter former jockey Braulio Baeza, whom Tim had hosted at his house for a Saratoga summer, who said one day "I have a horse for you". That horse was war horse Vosges, or affectionally known now as Edward.

Bob Edwards' e Five Racing Thoroughbreds has seen enormous success in only six years with multiple Breeders Cup wins, countless graded stakes victories, and over 10 million in earnings. But the real push to get into the racing business came from daughter Cassidy, who has always loved horses, but her passion for Thoroughbreds goes beyond the track. Her girl Nell Gwyn, aka Gigi, has been her traveling companion, jumper, and teacher since she adopted her.

As the saying goes, home is where the heart is. But for Kelsey Riley, International Editor for the Thoroughbred Daily News, home is where "Morris" is. Kelsey's passion for Thoroughbreds and racing was cultivated at Sovereign Award winning owner and breeder Gus Schickedanz Schonberg Farm, where the first foal that she ever helped bring into the world and later break, was the horse who would go on to be known at the track as Say No More. But that was only the first chapter of their story.

Konni Harrison got the call that no one from the track ever wants to get...

"Do you remember Pleasant Italian?"

"Yes of course, the 18 hand goofball that used to walk to the track on his hindlegs when I galloped him."

"Good, because if you don't get him him, he's likely heading to slaughter"

Of course Konni stepped up and rescued "Magnum", but several years later after she suffered a stroke, he would become her protector and rescuer.