ex racers - Do trainers/owners want to know what the horse is doing now?

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Dirty_D

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After reading Ginger Mccains autobiography i was talking with a friend and i just wondered if previous trainers or owners would like to know what their horses were doing now? Ginger kept a lot of his after retirement as he felt they didnt owe him anything. It just makes me wonder whether you are bothering the previous owners/trainers by contacting them?

I can understand with ex racers which have only raced a couple of times but my current boy raced for 11 years and so i would hope that the owners/trainers would have had some kind of bond with him or maybe I'm being a bit soft (i realise its their living and they cant be sentimental about every horses that passes through their door).

I also wondered if there is a website in existence which lists ex-racers with what they are doing now, so you could nosey at other peoples ex racers and siblings/ relatives of your own (and also owners/trainers could look if they pleased)

Has anyone contacted previous owners/ trainers and what response did you have?
 
My friend did - hers did ever so well and raced and won for a number of years. She wrote to his former trainer a while ago...didn't hear anything back.
 
Reg is owned by the person who owned him when he raced still, who takes a very active interest in him and is hugely supportive of my sister's endeavours with him which is lovely :)
 
My horse who I lost in October was well known in the area when he was younger - well known by the trainers and the yard staff who worked for them. The last trainer he was with before he came to me was always interested and he was near enough for me to hack over to see him now and again. When he was PTS in October, I was letting a few people know and I got some lovely messages back from people who had known him in his racing days and I believe his first trainer was informed by one of them. I think the smaller trainers are more interested than the big yards where the horses aren't known so personally. I don't keep in touch with the yard my mare came off - huge yard and not really interested.
 
I'd say on the whole yes-quite a few of the trainers have a section of their website devoted to what their previous runners are up to and like to have updates and a few photos to show what they are doing. I kept in touch with my boy's owner from when he was racing, still do even though I had to sell the horse after I smashed myself up:rolleyes:
 
Ruth Carr and Phillip Kirby list their ex racer/horses that where in training on their websites, really nice to read and see the photos that have been sent in.
 
I tracked down the chap (in Ireland) who bred our TB... I was just curious about him as he was in such a bad way but seemed to be so sweet and I wanted to know how such a young fella ended up rotting in a field...

Ended up with the breeder's wife calling me and bawling about how happy they were to have heard from me as he'd been a bit of a pet that the kiddies played with and they'd kept him until he was three... They were chuffed that I have every intention of keeping him permanently and drop the odd line to check in...

I've got an invitation to hop over to Ireland and visit the stud any time I want... Maybe, one day... :)

His breeding appeared to be pretty good (sire Desert Prince, dam Betelgeuse) so in my naivety it didn't quite compute with what I was looking at...
 
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Thanks everyone for your replies, it seems to be a bit hit and miss whether they want to know or not!

Does anyone know how i would get contact details for charlie's (Charging IRE), I can find his trainer was John Joseph Murphy (who still trains) and owner E Duignan (still owns horses) but i cant seem to find any contact information for them (I'm guessing based in ireland but no website for the trainer)

I suppose if i find them, in for a penny, in for a pound! If they dont want to know then they can disguard and no harm done!
 
Dirty_D said:
Thanks everyone for your replies, it seems to be a bit hit and miss whether they want to know or not!

Does anyone know how i would get contact details for charlie's (Charging IRE), I can find his trainer was John Joseph Murphy (who still trains) and owner E Duignan (still owns horses) but i cant seem to find any contact information for them (I'm guessing based in ireland but no website for the trainer)

I suppose if i find them, in for a penny, in for a pound! If they dont want to know then they can disguard and no harm done!
Click to expand...

Is John Joseph Murphy any relation to Ferdy Murphy who is based in North Yorks?
 
This is something I've been thinking about recently, seeing if my boy's old owner/trainers would be interested to know how he's doing now. When I googled his old owners name though it came up as someone who has quite a few racers, so I doubt they'd be interested in him now, especially as he stopped racing several years ago!
I have found some videos of a few of his races though, but I can't work out what "plugin" I need to install to be able to watch the videos! I'd love to see them though, I think it would be interesting to see him on the track as to me he's the quiet softie who loves nothing more than to munch on his haylage all day :D
 
I contacted my horses ex trainers. All of them were pleased to hear how he is doing and gave me extra info on him. His first trainer friended me on fb so he can follow his progress, which is really nice and one of his ex riders has also done the same. :)
 
I know a few trainers who are always delighted to hear how well one of theirs is doing. I don't think there is a list anywhere but there are a few ex racehorse clubs where people can keep in touch. ours is www.scotnorthexracers.co.uk there is a forum too and we have lots of classes and shows, clinics etc and support if you need it. who trained your horse? I would drop them a line with a pic, like you say if you don't hear back then fair enough, but if you do it will be good to hear what he was like before etc. good luck. x
 
I got my boy from Ruth Carr 3 years ago and still get regular emails asking how he's getting on, it's lovely that she stays in
touch. Its also lovely to read through all the 'where are they now' pages on her website, she's had some fab horses.
 
The trainer of 3 of mine knows how they are getting on as I work for her :D The trainer of the 4th, well his secretaries, send back responses to the emails I send. I don't pester, just the odd one now and then when he has done something noteworthy.

Of the owners, one likes to know what he has been winning since he left training, another still laughs when I tell him of the horses latest antics, the 3rd works on the yard so gets regular updates. The one that came from outwith my work gets forwarded the emails I send to his yard.

Some do appreciate knowing that their horses are safe and well, and yes others couldn't give a monkeys. It generally does depend on how good they were and how well liked they were in the yard as to whether they keep in touch or not.
 
My ex-racehorses old connections enjoy hearing hows he is getting on, especially as what I can gather he was a bit of a 'character' on the yard :p.

My mums ex-racehorse however is a different story. The charity we got him off HEROS's like the updates but I think his old trainers probably wouldn't give a toss. He was just a work horse to them, one of many x.

It's weird as my horse was owned by his trainer and was out of his favourite stallion. My horse is very loved and self confident, he's never known a bad day in his life.

My mums horse is a 'number', he didnt really have a personality when we got him and he was shy, nervous and quiet. He's only just starting to come out of his shell but you can see that he knew his job, did what was expected of him and knew his place. He wasn't a pet, he was livestock.

So I think it would really depend what sort of trainer and yard your horse came from :).
 
I contacted one of my boys trainers, when he was flat for a few years (Henry Cecil), spoke to him on the phone (long story) but he was very helpful and pleased to hear about him. He also was with George Prodromou for a few years, although I haven't contacted him. I did contact Rob Thornton (his jockey a few times) a few months ago and gave him an update, although don't think he was really too bothered!! Also got in touch with juddmonte for a baby pic of him but unfortunately he was a year too early from when they took them routinely :(
 
My friend has sold a couple of racers and so has the yard I have worked in, and although they wouldn't go out of their way to look up a horse they seem interested enough to see how they are doing now. My friend likes to see how the horse she sold is doing in Ror classes and always looks it up on facebook even though she didnt have the horse long, and the trainer likes to know where they are. :)
p.s don't expect a lot from jockeys and trainers, as they probs deal with so many horses... r.thornton rode mine as well but i wouldnt ring him up and ask him how to get it round a point (maybe I should though!).
 
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Oh great thread.. I was trying to contact my boys breeder which was at killeaney stables in Ireland, weatherbys told me he was bred by Patrick tolan who kept him till he was 5.. Googled the names but not a lot came up.. Wrote a letter but post was returned as unknown address??
 
The reason mine came to me was because his owners had raced him till he was 9 and in his latter years the husband raced him in amateur races and the wife rode him in training. They were very fond of him and really made an a real effort to find him a home themselves instead of doing it through a dealer, so I had a different start to the whole rehoming thing! They are very interested, they love receiving photos of him and they came to see him a couple of weeks ago, so they are very involved and interested. As is his trainer through the owners.
 
I contacted Trev's trainer, Paul Cole, to give a quick update & never heard anything.

Trev won nearly £18k & I would also love a photo of him racing. I've watched his vids but they are too blurry to get a good 'still' from. I've also tried the site which specialise in getting archived photos of horses racing, & they couldn't find one either.
 
Handy's last trainer (alan king), was very helpful, and glad to know he's ok, and gave me some extra info which came in useful! His first trainer (John Ryan), not so but still replied, and gave me some info aswell. No photos though.

Breeder:: Nope. Considering it's a well known Racehorse rehab centre (HEROS), nothing.
 
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