Page 10 - August 2005 The Game

10 The Game, August 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Phase II - Her chosen Path
For some people finding your way in life comes easy. The boy who erected tall structures with lego becomes an architect or the girl who tended to the imaginary wounds of the family dog becomes a veterinarian. It would appear that their destiny chose them and not the other way around.
However for others the path they take is not as straight forward but eventually they get to wherever it is they’re are supposed to be.
At age fourteen, Elissa Blowe had dreamed of having a retirement farm for horses. She had visions of retired horses in her paddocks and imagined that she could lease them out to families knowing that at any time, the horse could come back to a good home.
Elissa grew up around horses on a small farm in Greenbank, near Port Perry,
Ontario. Her mother was a standardbred trainer and her father a standardbred driver. Their horses were trained on a 1/4 mile track in their back paddock and racing was definitely a family affair. Elissa’s chores were mucking stalls and picking stones off the training track and all of the money she earned, she saved because she wanted to
buy a horse she could ride.
At the age of ten, a surprise arrived by
the way of a horse trailer, and after Elissa handed over her hard earned savings (mostly for the sake of learning values), she was officially the owner of a 2-year- old quarter horse gelding.
The gelding proved to be too much to handle and he was sold for $1000 after which Elissa purchased a Commodore 64 computer, thinking maybe a riding horse was not to be.
A couple of years later, Penny Ryan, a pony rider at Fort Erie, was looking to retire her 18-year-old thoroughbred “pony” Robert, and found the perfect fit with Elissa. The now twelve-year- old was the owner of a riding horse...one that she
could ride.
Not long after, in
1990, Elissa’s parents got out of racing and sold all of their horses and equipment, until the only horse left on the farm was Robert.
It was also around this time that Elissa had graduated high school and had to
decide on a career. She chose broadcast- ing, “How many essays could there be in broadcasting?” was her thinking, looking for an “easy” path to take.
Some evenings, while on her way home from school, Elissa would stop in at Mohawk Racetrack with her Dad and the pair would enjoy each other’s company while watching the races. One evening, while still in school, Elissa decided to ask about employment and given her background in racing, she was offered a part-time entry position in the publicity department working for Bruce Murray.
The position blossomed when Elissa was asked to help with the media book and some press releases on the thoroughbred side of racing and eventually she began working solely with the thoroughbred side of the media department.
Upon her graduation from school in 1998, John Whitson, then the Vice President of Thoroughbred Racing, offered Elissa a position in the Race Office at Woodbine.
“I was young and I had my mind focused on racing.” said Elissa about her decision, “I knew I wanted to work at the track, but just not in the barns.”
Elissa was the entry clerk in the race office and also continued to help out in the thoroughbred media department as well as the standardbred side of things and she was asked to be the part-time assistant to thoroughbred bookkeeper Frank Courtney which eventually became a full-time position.
It was obvious to Elissa at this point that she was unsure of the direction her life was taking however she was getting to know quite a few trainers and riders in her position at the race office while working in the bookkeepers office introduced her to many of the owners. This would prove to be an important part of her journey, although she did not know it at the time.
Through her connections, Elissa also spent the next four years working as part of a racing stable, running the business end of things - managing the books and handling the clients.
It was during that time that Elissa felt that there was something else that she was supposed to be doing. “I remember thinking.” said Elissa, “I could do anything
if I only knew what it was.”
Elissa had come to a crossroads.
Then, on a whim, she purchased an
eleven-year-old thoroughbred, named West Kent. After 109 career races, he was being retired, and Elissa thought he would be a great eventing horse. He was purchased for $1000 and with the skills of Lisa Courtney (Frank’s daughter) he was retrained and sold for $5000 within four months.
In passing at the bookkeepers office, Elissa mentioned the story to trainer Audre Cappuccitti, who in turn said that she had 5 fillies that were not going to be racehorses and “can she sell them for her.” Elissa took on the challenge by running a classified ad in the Toronto Star which simply read “Five flashy fillies for sale.” She kept records of everyone who called, even if they didn’t purchase. That was the start of what would become her first client list.
The fillies got sold and then through word of mouth, more trainers and owners began asking her to sell their horses.
“And that was when it became my life.” said Elissa quite matter of fact.
Elissa didn’t know much about selling horses but what she did know was that she should definitely give it a try.
CONTINUED PAGE 34 - SEE ELISSA
Elissa Blowe is the owner of Phase II Thoroughbreds, a business which finds second careers for thoroughbred race- horses. www.phase2thoroughbreds.com
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