Page 35 - New Mexico Summer 2022

And of course, who doesn’t pull for the underdog. And on that first Saturday in May
in 2009, Mine That Bird was the ultimate underdog. Until Rich Strike won this year’s derby at odds of 80-to-1, Mine That Bird was the second biggest longshot ever to win the race.
Dr. Leonard Blach, who along with partner Mark Allen, bought Mine That Bird as a 2-year- old, says hardly a week goes by that he doesn’t get some type of mail or phone call asking about Mine That Bird.
Until last year, Mine That Bird had spent his retirement years at Allen’s New Mexico ranch. But about a year ago, Allen sold the Double Eagle and moved Mine That Bird to a farm he bought in Texas. He and Dr. Blach remain co- owners of the horse and Blach says Mine That Bird has turned into a sterling saddle horse.
But his fame as a racehorse remains intact.
For years, a woman from Connecticut, made the cross-country trip by bus to Roswell just to get a close, extended look at Mine That Bird. She’d spend every day watching Mine That Bird in his pasture. Sometimes, she’d get a chance to pet him through the fence.
“She’d come here and stay two weeks,” said Doc. “We picked out a little shade tree and Mark and I bought a bench for her to sit on. She’d sit and watch Mine That Bird all day.”
Doc would pick her up at her motel every morning and take her back at the end of the day. Doc would usually take her lunch.
“She would talk to him and read her book,” said Doc. “To this day I get a card from her every month. It’s homemade and she never misses his birthday” (May 10). It says the same thing every time: ‘Thanks for taking care of Mine That Bird.’”
There’s a couple from Tennessee that every year sends Mine That Bird some peppermint candy on his birthday.
Mine That Bird in the paddock with handler Charlie Figeroa.
A woman from Oklahoma called Doc this spring and wanted to know the location of Mine That Bird’s new home in Texas. She told Dr. Blach she was planning to visit her brother in Plano, Texas, and was hoping to work in a side trip to see her favorite horse.
“He just has a heck of a following and there’re others like that,” said Dr. Blach.
Dr. Blach says he and Allen have received a lot of offers from individuals who want to buy Mine That Bird. The offers have come from individuals who think Mine That Bird would make a good barrel racer, heeler or roping horse.
“Maybe, if he hadn’t won the derby, we might have given him to somebody to do that,” says Doc. “But I think if he hadn’t won the derby, we would have still kept him. We got attached to him.”
So did a whole bunch of other people.
At age 16, Mine That Bird potentially still has many years left. Horses can easily live well
into their 20s. The great Quarter Horse Go Man Go was 30 when he died. But Mark and Doc have looked into possible options for a final resting place for Mine That Bird.
They had planned to bury him at the Double Eagle, but that option is gone now that Allen has sold the ranch. Doc said noted Oklahoma Quarter Horse owner Joe Merrick has offered to have Mine That Bird buried at his place next to Easy Jet.
Then there’s Old Friends, a farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, that is a retirement facility for Thoroughbreds. Doc plans to inquire as to whether Old Friends has an area or plots set aside for past winners of the Kentucky Derby.
In any case, says Doc, he and Allen will continue to seek the best care for Mine That Bird.
“The way he’s been taken care of, he’s
SUMMER 2022 33
“Until Rich Strike won this year’s derby at odds of 80-to-1,
Mine That Bird was the second biggest longshot
ever to win the race”
probably going to live longer than me for sure and maybe as long as Mark.”
“The way he’s been taken care of, he’s probably going to live longer than me for sure and maybe as long
as Mark.” – Dr. Blach