Page 160 - Speedhorse March 2018

Sergeant Reckless Statue Gets May 16 Unveiling
Kentucky Horse Park Statue Will Honor Korean War Hero
By Lenny Shulman, BloodHorse.com Reprint
Alife-size statue of Korean War hero Sergeant Reckless will be dedicated
at the
Kentucky Horse
Park May 16.
The mare shut-
tled ammunition
and the wounded
up and down hills
while under fire
during the Korean
War, and is the
most decorated horse
in the history of the
United States military.
The mare learned new de-
livery routes after being led just
a few times and would subsequently
make trips on her own, including 51
solo journeys in a single day, carrying 9,000 pounds of ammunition and covering 35 miles during the Battle of Outpost Vegas in 1953.
“If she were a human, she would have worn the Congressional Medal of Honor,” said James E. “Ted” Bassett III, who served in the Marines during World War II and
is the former chairman of Keeneland. “She wasn’t a horse; she was a Marine!”
Bassett is spearheading a drive to raise $250,000 for the cost of the statue and sur- rounding landscaping at the Horse Park. Ser- geant Reckless has been previously honored with statues at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va., and at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, where the mare lived from the time she was brought to the United States in 1954 until her death in 1968. Sculptor Jocelyn Russell will be memo- rializing Sergeant Reckless for the third time with the installation at the Horse Park.
“I love the great racehorse stories like Sec- retariat and Seabiscuit, but ‘Reckless’ served our country and saved lives, and you can’t
beat that,” said Robin Hutton, author of “Sgt. Reckless,” a 2014 New York Times best-seller.
The Horse Park, celebrating its 40th birthday this year, has selected a site for the statue on a hill overlooking the park, symbol- izing Sergeant Reckless’ travails going up inclines in Korea. Tax deductible donations for the statue can be made out to the Sergeant Reckless Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 1125, Moorpark, CA, 93020.
“If she were a human, she would have worn the Congressional Medal of Honor.”
—Former Keeneland chairman and World War II veteran James E. “Ted” Bassett III
158 SPEEDHORSE, March 2018