Scriptwriter -racehorse

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Ken slack

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Justabob,Kirkby is our local auction ,and quite a nice place to visit!,it's we're you go to sell riding horses and has also got a high calibre of patrons as well as the bottom end,fortunately we had three offers for the horse this morning ,above our asking price and all first class outfits,the horse is going to darley and a sum is going to charity,hopefully one of the other ladies will end up with the horse after darley have retrained him,,,the journalist who started this story has made no attempt to contact us,if she had there would be no story!!,,,we've found many new homes for our retired horses and our local paper often runs story's on them,,I totally understand and share many of your concerns regarding retired racehorse ,but we do try our best ,
 
Cuffey

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As a local Ken Slack you would know that the Friday Kirkby Stephen sale before Appleby weekend is the last place you should send an ex-racehorse

The place will heave with travellers looking for a cheap horse (probably black and white) to swim in the river and trade up at the Fair

So sorry if I dont believe that you were actually looking for a good home for this horse.
 
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neelie OAP

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Jump Racing Rocks said:
I know..... I live and work in Newmarket! And I have ex racers myself.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree these horses have surely won enough in their time to have a well earned happy retirement, I have one, she is the most beautiful kind creature and will never ever be for sale again, these horses have earned a decent retirement not sent to sales, and out of sight out of mind, I just hope this poor horse finds a forever home.
 
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Ken slack

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Amy may,the two ladies who rang this morning saw the horse advertised in the sale,one of the ladies already has a horse from darley,these are exactly the sorts of homes we try and secure,,both ladies made offers on the horse above or matching what we are receiving from darley,,,but once darley phoned I felt they must have first refusal,,,do you truly believe all horses sold at Doncaster or ascot or were ever end up in a happy place??we have been able to pick who our horses go too,or at the very least give them a chance,
 
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Elf On A Shelf

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Why are Darley BUYING a horse to reschool and rehome when they have more than enough yokes being kicked out of their racing opperation each year? Sorry for my skepticism.
 
AmyMay

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No, of course those sold through Ascot or Doncaster don't all end up in 'happy places'. But at least there's more of a chance for them than going through Kirby - especially the week before Abppleby.

I couldn't be happier that Scriptwriter is off to Darley, and I wish him the happiest of retirements.

It's just a shame it took a rather brief social media 'campaign' for that to happen.
 
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Alec Swan

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HHOers, give the man a little room. I'm not defending him, in anyway, and when reading the opening post, as everyone else, I honestly thought that a good servant deserved a better end than what appeared to be abandonment.

When we hear of such sad tales as this, climbing up on high horses, and lecturing the owners isn't the way for progress to be made. To Ken's credit he's bothered to open up a place on here, and however clumsy he may have been he's offered explanations.

The bottom line is that no matter how sad this tale is, Scriptwriter is Ken's property and it's for him to decide the horse's end. Suggestions and offers of help would make for a more acceptable resolve, than criticism from behind a screen.

Ken, whilst credit is due to you for facing up to the music(!), had you accepted the offers made, then this could have been resolved without rancour. The disposal of spent racehorses will always be with us, and I understand that not every racehorse can spend it's retirement skipping about in a field of daisies, but when a horse such as yours, has been such a good and loyal servant, my view, along with those of other's, is that he deserves better treatment.

I suspect that it's fairly common for owners to want to re-home horses which retire from the track, and I would think that there are a very high percentage which don't take to retirement, or being hacked out, or ending up as pets.

Ken, I wish you well, and hope that you will give clear thought to your future disposal plans.

Alec.
 
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Elf On A Shelf

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I sincerely wish the horse well and I hope this will be the end of a very unpleasant situation.

Lets hope many other racehorse owners see the support these wonderful creatures get and think twice about disposing of them without offering them a second chance.
 
justabob

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I have just spent a good 40 minutes talking to Ken Slack, to say I was horrified that they entered this horse in such a sale is an understatement.......... having said that, he comes across as an OK reasonable person. I think that their rational was to get him advertised broadly across the country through the Harrington and Hetherington site, a brave move I think considering our responses. Scripwriter is going to Darly and hopefully will be rehomed with one of the people that showed an interest in him today. I also heard that he was a bit of a handful, he was racing fit and full of grain, so hopefully when let down he will settle. I suppose he is a TB, but my jury is out on that one.

All that matters is that this lovely horse will never see Kirkby Stephen auction mart and will return to where he came from. I truly believe he will to.

Thank you Ken, you are not a bad bloke after all.
 
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Ken slack

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I have spoken to justabob and I'm sure she will post her thoughts later,a lady journalist seems to have started story's off on a number of forums including bet fair and twitter with out contacting us to get our side of the story,what her agenda is I do not know,,I have tried to be as honest as possible here with you guys and I have taken your views on board,to enter for the Kirkby sale was probably a mistake but as a result we've had numerous offers for the horse,he is going to darley but either of the two other interested parties would of been equally as good,I'm sure once you've heard from justabob you will realise we take our responsibilitys to our retired horses very seriously,,,good luck to all
 
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Ken slack

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Justabob,,thank you!!your offer of marriage was most welcome,but unfortunately that position is taken (at the moment)..it was nice to talk to a like minded person ,just a shame that some like to shoot first and ask questions later,,once again thanks for the call and good luck,,and watch out for cattle grids !!
 
justabob

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Ken slack said:
Justabob,,thank you!!your offer of marriage was most welcome,but unfortunately that position is taken (at the moment)..it was nice to talk to a like minded person ,just a shame that some like to shoot first and ask questions later,,once again thanks for the call and good luck,,and watch out for cattle grids !!
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Ken, so very glad this has been sorted and has had a lovely ending. Oh, those bloody cattle grids!!:eek:
 
Jump Racing Rocks

Jump Racing Rocks

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The lady on Twitter was just very concerned for his welfare and wanted to give him a happy home for life.... nothing sinister in that. In the end of the day it is all what we want for racehorses at the end of there racing careers :)
 
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Ken slack

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Jump racing rocks,,there ia supposedly a lady journalist involved somewhere ,and I'm rather concerned that posts here have been reported on betfair,and posters there are obviously posting here??,,,,I think someone has been tying to create a story,without getting all the facts,,,,but the ending is happy so perhaps it's time to move on
 
Luci07

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Nice ending!

I have friends who have owned a small part of a horse in a syndicate. Each time a horse has been retired from the syndicate a real effort has been made to rehome the horse properly. Which is why one of my friends now owns "her" racehorse who is currently settling into life as a whatever he turns out to be. It's not always gloom and doom...
 
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