Sprinter Sacre Gofundme

Realistically he’s lucky that someone is paying and he’s being cared for.
Lots of ex racehorses injured in their retirement homes if not insured may not have been so lucky.
I’ve had several ex racehorses and I’ve never even thought to approach the old owners or trainers for money when they went wrong.
If I did I can see people saying “god she’s got a cheek, given a lovely horse and looking for handouts to pay vet fees” but as I say it’s not something in a million years I’d have ever thought of asking.
I’ve insured them. SS is worth as much as any ex racer really. You can get the same vet bill cover if you state the horse is worth £ or ££££+ just the premiums change.
 
bottletop said:
I understand from Google that Sprinter won over £1.3 million for his owner Caroline Mould. It seems he is now with someone who does not have the money to fund a small operation. Why? Why is the owner for whom he won so much money apparently not prepared to keep control of him and ensure he wants for nothing for the rest of his life? We all know the answer. We keep being told this nonsense about how much the owners care, but that is totally false, except for a few lucky horses. Most are passed on as soon as they come out of racing and the owners do not care two hoots what happens to them. Look at Denman - sent team chasing as his retirement present. Only disposable horses go team chasing. Dead at 15 I believe. Silviano Conti sent the same way and dead even earlier; Kauto Star, sent to do dressage! My useless ex racehorse, who never raced, lived to 35 because I looked after her. This story says everything about horse racing today. All glitz and glamour on the surface but sick and uncaring underneath. It is not the trainer's fault as they have no say, but they get the bad press. Well done to Nicky Henderson who apparently genuinely cares about Sprinter.
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Denman fully retired back to Ditcheat after a successful team chasing career and was PTS aged 18 due to ill health, still owned by the same person who'd had him through his racing career.
 
humblepie said:
It does open up such a wide question, doesn’t it? As to how long does somebody remain responsible for a horse or even a dog or cat. If we move away from the fact that he’s a successful and well-known racehorse, would a breeder or trainer who had a horse until the horse was 3 have responsibility 5 years later after the horse was sold or even given away? I was given mine when he was eight and at that point he became my responsibility as much as if I’d bought a horse advertised in the paper. Of course it is going to vary great beyond different arrangements and there are arrangements where the horse is given on a loan basis to be returned if issues or the owner may still pay. I have known people with ex-racehorses horses who have continued to have some funding from the racing owners.

SS last race in 2016 so he was a racehorse for 10 years and now an ex racehorse for 10 years. If you bought a 10-year-old show jumper when the horse is 20, would you be expecting the seller to help? Does success make any difference?

I think because racing is high profile on welfare there is an added responsibility upon those gifting rehoming reselling horses to suss out where they are going and there is the RoR vulnerable horse scheme and efforts to continue traceability

Did anybody see about the USEF life thing care to have safety net contacts for financial care or a home.

No conclusions, just some rambling thoughts
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I think it's a very interesting concept - how long should responsibility last, and should it be related to what the horse won/how long was it in training. Would someone expect the owners of a low grade all-weather horsse who ran poorly a handful of times to have the same post-ownership responsibility as the owners of SS, who had him in training for several years, and earned 7 figure prize money?

I have a horse now who was in training with a trainer of similar magnitude, and was owned by a millionaire whose silks everyone would recognise. He didn't win 7 figures-worth of money but was quietly successful and was gifted to me when he retired at 10. I would never ever consider approaching either his trainer or owner if I came up short of money. I see the responsibility for his ongoing care as entirely mine, financially and practically.
humblepie said:
I always thought Denman looked like he had the most fabulous post racing time of it. Was always on it at the racecourse when he did gallops up the home straight on parade days. He then returned to the Nicholls yard for full retirement.

I agree I didn't like seeing Kauto Star doing dressage, he never looked happy but that was the owner's decision for him. He may have been happier going team chasing with his old mates. Imagine Denman and KS in the same team chasing team.
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I was on team-chasing teams with Denman. A privileged experience! He very occasionally said 'nah, not today', but the vast majority of the time he was absolutely loving his new life.
 
Gamebird said:
I think it's a very interesting concept - how long should responsibility last, and should it be related to what the horse won/how long was it in training. Would someone expect the owners of a low grade all-weather horsse who ran poorly a handful of times to have the same post-ownership responsibility as the owners of SS, who had him in training for several years, and earned 7 figure prize money?

I have a horse now who was in training with a trainer of similar magnitude, and was owned by a millionaire whose silks everyone would recognise. He didn't win 7 figures-worth of money but was quietly successful and was gifted to me when he retired at 10. I would never ever consider approaching either his trainer or owner if I came up short of money. I see the responsibility for his ongoing care as entirely mine, financially and practically.


I was on team-chasing teams with Denman. A privileged experience! He very occasionally said 'nah, not today', but the vast majority of the time he was absolutely loving his new life.
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That’s fair, when any of mine are retired they are found good homes and then they are the buyers responsibility from then on.

On the other hand we sold a little mare very cheaply to a girl to do PC on and her half sister has subsequently been very successful. Our mare has just been through the sales ring at a profit of £127000 and we weren’t offered any more money.
 
Gamebird said:
I have a horse now who was in training with a trainer of similar magnitude, and was owned by a millionaire whose silks everyone would recognise. He didn't win 7 figures-worth of money but was quietly successful and was gifted to me when he retired at 10. I would never ever consider approaching either his trainer or owner if I came up short of money. I see the responsibility for his ongoing care as entirely mine, financially and practically.
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Same with mine - not the same owner as your's, mine's owner was a high profile millionaire and totally agree with your sentiments.
 
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