By Dick Jerardi
Every horse has a story. The beauty of the PTHA’s Turning For Home race horse retirement program is that those stories continue for years beyond a racing career.
And nowhere was that more evident than on the first day of September at Parx Racing when the annual Turning For Home Day showcased several of the horses that have passed through the program on the way to second careers away from the track.
Spirit’s Hero won just once in 20 races over nearly two years for trainer Dee Curry, but the trainer always believed the horse was destined for greatness, just in another arena.
“I’m ecstatic,” Curry said. “In my heart, I’m all about animal rescue…He was 18 hands at 3-years-old.”
And with such a big horse, Curry wondered “what would he be like as a three-day eventer or a show horse…We always kind of thought he was going to be special…I knew it and I’m so proud right now.”
Spirit’s Hero was paraded before the seventh race by Australian native Ryan Wood of Woodstock Eventing in Unionville, Pa. Wood, an accomplished eventer, has big dreams for Spirit’s Hero. He is thinking about the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles where the equestrian events will be held at Santa Anita.
“He’s turning out to be a top sport horse for three-day eventing.” Wood said of Spirit’s Hero. “He won the training-level event in Bucks County (Sunday). He won the 5-year-old qualifier for the Young Event Horse Championships which will be held in Maryland in October. We’ll be headed there next so he is on the right track.”
Marisa’s Mission raced 24 times with five wins and three thirds. He was a solid race horse who became an immediate show ring star for new owner Alex Scaff. “Mission” was the champion at the All Thoroughbred Showdown. The horse was honored around Monday’s fourth race, termed the TFH Horse of the Year.
“On my 60th birthday, I went (to see him) and paid full price,” Scaff said. “Took him home that very day and it’s been love ever since.”
So, why the love?
“He’s beautiful, a dark gray, he’s very loving and when you ride him, he sort of goes round with you naturally which is something I love,” Scaff said. “I’ve been able to do everything with him as a young horse. I started foxhunting on him and he took to it. I was invited to go to the beach and he ran on the beach. I was scared because he went low, went flat out and I’ve never felt that before.”
“Mission” was originally placed with Kate Goldenberg, a lifelong foxhunter who has tremendous experience with OTTB’s (off-track Thoroughbreds).
“He was always a sweetheart,” Goldenberg said. “We do a little rehab and let down and make sure they’re ready for that moment of getting on.”
It is those two horses, their stories and the thousands more (4,600 and counting) Turning For Home graduates that make the program a model for other tracks around the country.
“Aftercare is all of our responsibilities,” PTHA executive director Jeff Matty said. “We can all come together for aftercare. What these horses give us on the track, it’s up to all of us to give it to them off the track.”
TFH program administrator Danielle Montgomery oversees the massive operation, and one could make a very good case that she is the Most Valuable Person at Parx.
“It’s a great day, it’s a fun day,” Montgomery said of Monday’s event. “It’s a great day to showcase all the hard work that goes into our program. A bunch of our breeders and partner farms are here, our doctors… I’d just like for them to be recognized because they help a lot of horses.”
And that is the Turning For Home bottom line – a whole lot of people helping a whole lot of horses since 2008.
