Page 23 - November 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, November 2005 23
A Second Career for Thoroughbreds - There are Plenty of Options
Polo Anyone?!
Brian with 7-year-old thoroughbred Polo Pony, Pinky, whom he has owned since she was 3 months
Brian O’Leary is the vice-president of Kwik Kopy Printing Canada Corporation and as a form of recreation he has a second business, Polo Management Services, in Kettleby, Ontario. Brian’s Polo business handles the everyday training, grooming and trailering of horses and equipment for area polo players. His services allow a player to “just show up” at a polo match and everything will be ready for them to get on their horses and play.
Brian took up Polo as a hobby more than a dozen years ago and he himself plays the game 5 times a week. He has more than 40 polo ponies in his barn, the majority of which are ex-thorough- bred racehorses which he has re-trained to play the game.
The average size for a
polo pony is 15.1 to
15.3hh which can be the
perfect fit for a small thor-
oughbred racehorse look-
ing for a second career.
When a thoroughbred is
brought to the farm the
first “test” they must pass
is the mallets in the stall.
According to Brian, if a
thoroughbred shys away
from or is unable to func-
tion in the stall with the mallets dangling over their hay, then they are not going to make it as a polo pony. The next step is to put them out in a field for six months to “get the racetrack out of their brain”. Once settled, the horses are taught to steer by reining and eventually they are ridden with a mallet being swung around them. They are then given six weeks off, and the process is
repeated. After six months of
training the horses are then loaned to match referees as umpire horses which allows them to get used to horses running all
around them.
The re-training
process generally takes from one year to 18 months before a horse is ready to play polo competitively.
You can reach Brian at 416-707-7955
Brian (white shirt) & thoroughbred Calista
Giving Thoroughbreds a New Opportunity
Linda Hasmatali believes that when a horse tells you that they don’t want to be a racehorse, then you should make plans to have them go on to a second career.
“End their racing career before it ends them.” said Linda in a recent interview while discussing the success of her re-trained thoroughbreds, “Horses tell you when they don’t have the ability. Listen to your horse. If it doesn’t want to race then let them do something else.”
Linda has been buying thoroughbred racehorses off of the racetrack since 1982 and through re-training has provided numerous horses with the ability to enjoy life in a second career.
“Thoroughbreds excel at eventing where they have to gallop cross country while clearing ditches, water banks and natural fences. They also do well at show jumping and dressage.” says Linda.
Eight-year-old thoroughbred gelding, Simply Ben, is a prime example of the potential of a thoroughbreds if given the opportunity.
Simply Ben raced until he was a five-year-old under the name, Misquote. He won a Maiden Special Weight on the turf and then never won again. By the time his owners decided that he should be retired, the barn had nicknamed him, Mistake. He was purchased for a riding horse however Linda bought him a few months after the original purchaser had given up on him too.
Today, Simply Ben is owned and ridden by Daelin Verkindt and it looks as though he could get top honours for the training level in eventing in Ontario this year and the pair hope to make the Young Rider Team for Ontario in 2006.
Linda has seen both sides of the thoroughbred business, both showing and racing.
Born and raised in Toronto, Linda’s first love was baseball. She played on the all star baseball team, which was her passion before she sat on a horse at the age of fourteen.
“I thought I would go somewhere with baseball,” recalls Linda, “That was before I went to ride my friend’s mother’s horse. Then I said, ‘this is my new career.’”
Linda did the pony club circuit and because she didn’t come from a family with money, she learned to ride using other people’s horses commenting that that privilege provided her with the opportunity to learn the differences between many individual horses.
She made the Junior Team in 1983 and tried out for the Pan-Am Games in 1986 and began riding at the Advanced Eventing Level in 1990 and ‘91.
Coaches John McPherson and Peter Gray were predominant in her show career and now Linda is a Level 2 Equine Canada coach herself, teaching more than a dozen students the joys of riding and competing.
Linda is married to thoroughbred racehorse trainer, Daryl Hasmatali, who along with his brother Roger, grew up in Trinidad where their father was a thoroughbred trainer.
For four years of their seven year marriage, Linda
Linda Hasmatali with ex-racehorses, 4-year-old Royal Ciano (left) and 8 year-old, Misquote, now know as Simply Ben (right)
helped run the racing stable at Fort Erie when Daryl had to intermittently travel around the world for his “other” job as an Engineer drilling for oil.
“I get first option of any of his horses coming off the track,” says Linda, who explains that not all horses meet her criteria, “I only consider those horses that are able to pass a vetting. They must be able to go onto another career.
“I look for a good eye. The eye is the window to the soul.” Linda also added, “They have to have a good walk. Generally if they have a good walk they will have a good gallop.”
How the horse is “put together” and the horse’s temperament are also deciding factors for Linda, “I don’t get the opportunity to see if the horse can jump when I am buying them off the racetrack. I don’t get to sit on them or ride them, so I am taking a bit of a risk because if they can’t jump, I can’t sell them.”
Linda puts in many hours and expense re-training the horses for their new careers and re-selling them to a suitable permanent home is of utmost importance.
So far the majority of her re-trainees have proven to become quite successful in their new careers and Linda displays great pride when talking about them.
The now 4-year-old Royal Ciano, whose show name is Royal, was retired from racing at the age of three, after becoming distressed and quite a handful whenever he was asked to race.
Linda put him in a field for six months so he could regain his composure be re-training began in January of this year. He has since competed in seven events, winning three, including the Ontario Championships in London in the pre-training eventing division.
“I can’t believe how bold he is.” Linda beams, “With time and patience, I got way more out of him than I expected.”
Some of the other horses that Linda has had the pleasure of re-training are: My Imperial Gem, who is a part-time school horse in Minesing, Ontario; I’m a Smarty Pants, who is enjoying his life as a pleasure horse; and Charging His Way (a.k.a. Chester) who Linda says, “sold himself as a showhorse.”
If you have a horse that would be better suited in a different career contact Linda at 416-892-3725.
LongRun Gala Raises $70,000
LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society's first annual Black & White Gala, held on September 23 at Woodbine's trackside tent, raised just over $70,000 including some $40,000 from live and silent auctions, for its retired racehorses awaiting adoptive homes.
featured two performances by award-winning musician Jeff Healey and his band the Jazz Wizards.
In honour of the black and white theme, guests were also treated to a photo opportunity with Pepsi the Zebra and a riding demonstration by Jean Milligan and ex-race- horse Kemp Road Cavalier.
ing a trip to Barbados, was also part of the extravaganza. LongRun would like to thank all of the sponsors that helped make the initial gala such a tremendous success. We would especially like to thank Woodbine Entertainment, the Krembil Foundation and the Steve and Sally Stavro Family Foundation for their donations
and continued support. www.longrunretirement.com
More than 300 people attended the gala, which
A plated dinner, door prizes and the auctions, featur-