Page 96 - Speedhorse July 2018

Filling A Need
Joe Rios & Family: Racehorse Employment Specialists
by Diane Rice
Joe & Leslie Rios
Every day, social media bemoans the plight of racehorses once their track careers end. Sanctuaries house and rehome some; others find new homes as therapy animals or backyard companions; and some are lost to sad ends. But many find new jobs in performance disciplines such as barrel racing, roping, jumping and polo.
Joe Rios and his family not only find race prospects for clients and race several horses themselves each year, but also train off-the-track racehorses for suitable new careers.
“We buy ex-racehorses and make barrel horses, roping horses and polo prospects out of them,” Joe says. “We try to place all of them.”
The Family Framework
Joe grew up in El Paso, Texas, the son of a truck-driving father and a mother who worked as a nurse at Fort Bliss in El Paso. “I’ve been around horses pretty much all my life,” he says. “My dad had horses, and my brothers and I broke horses for other people when we were kids.”
Joe’s wife, Leslie, grew up 250 miles southeast in Marathon, Texas. “I’d moved out here to work for my dad, and Joe and I met through mutual friends,” Leslie says. “We dated for about a year, then got married in 1983.”
In his early years, Joe worked at the El Paso Livestock Auction. Then, when the opportunity arose, he founded the Rio Grand Classic Livestock Auction as a family undertaking,
with Leslie taking on the bookkeeping role and 28-year-old son Karl as the yard manager.
“I’ve bought and sold for years, and along with running the livestock auction, Karl and I train and sell team roping horses,” he adds. “We also import a lot of Mexican horses that people from all over the country come to buy for dude riding stables. People have been coming to us for 20–25 years
to buy horses, including racing prospects. And
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aining barrel horses. The talented rider won the
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e buy ex-racehorses and make barrel and roping
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orses out of them. The tall Thoroughbred-type
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orses we sell as jumping and polo prospects.” Joe and Leslie’s 33-year-old daughter, Callie,
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ontributes to the family’s reclaiming and c
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purposing efforts by pursuing her passion for
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The connections of Suze Returns after her victory in the West Texas Futurity-G2 include owner Joe Rios, trainer Juan Gonzalez and jockey Jaime Leos.
Suze Returns, winner of 3 of 4 outs, wins the 2018 West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park.
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reg Olson Memorial Barrel Futurity in Buckeye,
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rizona, in 2011 aboard the unraced 4-year-old
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akan Brigadier (by Frenchmans Guy son French
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rigadier and out of Magnolia Bar granddaughter
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awnee Maganna, by Pawnee Ring).
Then, two years later, Callie piloted the brown
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ew Mexico-bred Quarter Horse gelding Blazin
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aby J (Dash Ta Fame–Medley A Blazin, Chicks B
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94 SPEEDHORSE, July 2018