Page 16 - October 2008 The Game

16 The Game, October 2008 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper Lori McMahon: 29 years on ponies and horses
Lori McMahon and Jake, one of the four ponies she uses at the Fort Erie Racetrack.
“My ponies don’t breeze as fast as
a runner working out,” admitted Lori McMahon at Fort Erie. “They put on more -- but slower -- miles. But if my ponies take a runner for a mile and a half or two mile gallop in the morn- ings, I don’t let them take more than ve horses total -- then I let them rest in the afternoon. Some other riders’ ponies work mornings and afternoons. Mine are more spoiled.”
me in Texas because I wanted some- thing good.
the ponies when they’re relaxing at home. “I have to nd a nice little show horse for her; she gets on and lets them jog. She doesn’t know what whoa means yet,” Lori added, continuing:
McMahon, who was an outrider at the Fort for ten of her 29 years in racing, got her rst horse at age ve and her Arabian show hunter, Fancy, became her rst pony horse “when I graduated beauty school and found I didn’t like it. Now my ngers are so stiff from the reins that I’m not even doing any fancy braiding any more.”
“The radio would alert us when a horse was loose and I could hear his heart beating with excitement. We only missed catching four runaways in ten years; the secret was not to try to catch them from behind. When you chase, you slow down, and the horse comes to you. We once caught a runaway
that had no bridle. JR had personality, smarts, speed, everything. I used to
tell the jockeys ‘I might have to retire when I retire him, I’ll miss him so’ and Chris Grif th told me ‘You won’t miss him as much as we will.’
“A pony horse has to have a good personality. They have to like people and other horses, not the kind whose ears are always laid back. They can’t retaliate if a runner bites or kicks at them. My four ponies have different backgrounds. Blue, 7, is a Tennessee Walker who was a trail horse. His brother made the Walker nationals
Her horse skills made her so popu- lar with Fort Erie trainers that “soon more people were hiring me, so I went up to two ponies; eventually I wound up with six.” But perhaps her most rewarding years were those she spent as an outrider with her Quarter Horse JR, named for Jerry and Robin, Sissy Woods’ parents, “who found him for
“He died at age 30 on June 3, 2006; he was jogging a horse on the track trained by Dan Wills, whinnied, stopped, and fell down dead. He’s buried at our farm. And the last horse he jogged won the race, and was the longest shot on the board.”
in barrel racing, and he’s the most comfortable to ride. Heinz is by a Standardbred sire out of a Hal ing- er-Quarter Horse mare. He’s 11. Jake, 15, is an ex-roping horse that I bought just before this season and was the easiest horse to learn to pony that I’ve ever had.”
Lori said. “I buy some, train them and sell them. I once took a trailer and bought eight PMU foals that were headed for slaughter. I kept them until they were two-year-olds, broke them and sold them. I made money on some and lost money on some -- but it was the satisfaction of knowing they still were around.”
Lori met her husband, Bill McMahon, after he had retired as a jockey and was training. He’s now a steward. Their son, Josh, 11, is more interested in soccer than horses but daughter Janelle, 3, rides all four of
Her fourth pony, Booger, is a story in himself. During the off-season Lori visits a friend and attends low-grade animal auctions in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Few of the horses are ridden into the auction ring, so their destination is obvious: slaughter. “Booger had been bought at a ‘killer auction’ and was brought to the Ohio auction for a quick turnover,” she related. “I just thought he was too nice a horse to end up that way. He cost $500.”
Lori and former jockey Lisa Cadeddu do most of the riding on Lori’s four ponies. Two go home every Tuesday after the racing “week” ends and come back on Sunday morn- ings. All four get all four legs done up each day they work. Jake gets extra work in competitive cow sorting on Friday nights. “And Janelle says she’s going to be my sorting partner very soon,” Lori concluded.
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But when the constantly running nose (hence the name) was traced to
a tumor, the McMahons wound up spending $5,000 for surgery on their “bargain horse.” Now he’s a morn- ing pony and the emergency afternoon pony. Usually, though, he spends the afternoons grazing outside Lori’s shed row.
Sneaky Patrol rst winner
for freshman sire Patrol
Sneaky Patrol’s three-quarter-length win in a maiden claiming race August 7 at Woodbine was the rst winner for freshman sire Patrol. Bred by John Carey, this daughter of an Ascot Knight mare, Voices Carry, is owned by Peter Scourtoudis, trained by Sandra Dominguez. Patrol, who has 19 two-year-olds in his rst crop stands at John Carey’s TC Westmeath Stud Farm in Shel- burne, Ontario.
First Winner for sire
Dance to Destiny
Me the Sea and GT became the rst winner for freshman sire Dance to Destiny when he won the fourth race at Woodbine on August 30. Bred by George Therranos, the 2-year-old gelding out of the mare GT’s Miss Gretch, is owned by GT Heat Stable and trained by Steve Owens. Campaigned by breeder and owner Sam Son Farms, Dance to Destiny now stands at Colebrook Farms Stallion Station in Uxbridge, Ontario and is represented by
34 two-year-olds in his rst crop this season.
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