Industry greats weigh in on how lost their position as America’s dominant sport and whether they could be poised for a comeback Bounding After the Back ‘ By Stephanie L. Church Invasion’

t only takes a amount to five figures or more in But this buzz around the OTTB second to lose a prize money. is, quite frankly, a renewed one. second, but it can A number of Thoroughbreds The celebration of second-career take a minute to — athletes already produced Thoroughbreds has waxed and “Iget it back,” says legendary primarily for speed and waned over the years. Early sport endurance — are game to take on horse arenas were studded with horseman and international these vigorous demands and in retired racehorse greats, along with competitor Jim Wofford on doing so have gained notoriety as many “-type” the challenge of balancing second-career eventers. Several that were seven-eighths or even accuracy and speed during are traversing courses today and fifteen-sixteenths Thoroughbred. today’s technical three-day- have shone a spotlight on the But Wofford and others say event cross-country courses. breed: Thoroughbreds made up that such factors as changes in Complex jump combinations, more than 28% of the 2015 Rolex competition rules and consumer or “questions,” call for the horse Kentucky Three-Day Event entries preference and, hence, demand to have a brave but careful, scopey back in April, and a passionate led to an influx of jump, and long stretches between posse of retired racehorse owners in and other sports. And obstacles demand a nimble, and enthusiasts followed these while the Warmblood has held ground-covering stride. Spend contenders start to finish. strong since this tip of the scale, a little too much time getting We’re also seeing which our sources agree was in through a water complex, and Thoroughbreds excelling in the the 1970s and early ’80s, there are you’ll end up with time penalties show and indications that Thoroughbreds that could cost you a placing, arenas, wearing pads are, indeed, making a comeback in

which, at the upper levels, can emblazoned with “OTTB.” some arenas. KIT HOUGHTON BELOW: WOUDENBERGH/ARND.NL; VAN LYNN ABOVE:

36 OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015 FALL 2015 ❙ OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED 37 Castlewellan Bounding Accolades: Under Wofford, Back After the ‘Warmblood Invasion’ winner of the Radnor Hunt International Three-Day Event in 1982; second at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event SPORT HORSE ROOTS in 1983; fifth at Burghley in George Morris, who is widely considered one of the most influential riders and 1983. Reserve horse and rider trainers in the sport, says the American sport horse, up until the late 1950s and 60s, for the 1984 Olympic Games. was based on the American . “The show hunter was as close as possible Karen Lende (O’Connor) went supposed to be a horse that could go across American hunting country — which on to launch her career aboard is not ditches and banks and the up and down in Ireland, but it’s across fields, Castlewellan. and there’s a lot of galloping, and they’re rather high fences,” says Morris. “So the tradition for the American hunter was a Thoroughbred horse, because he had the FAVORITE THOROUGHBREDS FAVORITE heart, he had the stamina, he had the quality … the substance.” This early Thoroughbred hunter had a very low, big stride, says Morris, that wouldn’t to fatigue the way a higher, choppier stride would. “Lots of hunters became open jumpers, lots of hunters were on the USET (United States Equestrian Team) in the earlier days,” he recalls. These horses were well-suited to the spreads and combinations and the shrinking allowed times for jump-offs. And even with ready access to the purpose-bred jumpers of Europe, some of the European trainers favored these animals. “Bert de Nemethy particularly liked the American Thoroughbred,” says Morris. “I had two European trainers, Bert de Nemethy and Otto Heuckeroth, and both of them said they’re the best horses in the discipline. … Most of the horses up until we started importing these European horses in the early ’70s, even in the ’80s, with For the Moment and Touch of Class,” were Thoroughbred horses. MARY PHELPS PHOTO/COURTESY JIM WOFFORD MARY PHELPS PHOTO/COURTESY Castlewellan

Alex Accolades: Wofford piloted Alex, an 11-year-old 17-hand brown Thoroughbred, to a CCI*** victory at Chesterland in 1980. “Alex was an American Thoroughbred by Crème de la Crème … how in the world they ever got that name through, I don’t know,” says Wofford. “Alex was a gift to the equestrian team as a 4-year-old from Mr. Walter Staley Sr. I loved Alex from the moment I saw him; he was just a quintessential Thoroughbred. He had presence, he had a face to die for, very, very intelligent eyes, mealy nose brown (tan around the mouth fading into bay), and Alex was the laziest Thoroughbred you have ever met in your life. Alex didn’t care if he won or not, and I completely

cared, and we kind of met in the JUMPING HALL OF FAME COURTESY SHOW middle. At least one of us would Equestrian icon George Morris, pictured here, explains that the Thoroughbred was the American sport horse of the 1950s and 60s.

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157986-WinStar-full-V2-OTTB.indd 1 9/11/15 2:19 PM show up for cross-country. He Bounding was a wonderful , After the ‘Warmblood Invasion’ the team retired him and let me Back keep him. He led the field for the Piedmont foxhounds for the next four years.” USHERING IN THE AGE OF CALYPSO Morris feels there was neither a particular moment where the hunter/jumper Fine Tune disciplines turned to Warmbloods, nor was there a “tsunami” of European-bred Accolades: Unraced bay gelding ridden by Tad Zimmerman was horses that covered American show arenas; the shift was more of a subtle pivot in the unriding alternate at the 1975 which he played a significant role. First trips to Germany in the late 1970s with Pan American Team and 1976 Michael Matz (of both Olympic and Thoroughbred race training Olympic Games. “He got about as fame) and Melanie Smith (Taylor, also an Olympian) yielded several notable close as you can get to being on jumpers — American Grand Prix Association Horse of the Year Val de Loire FAVORITE THOROUGHBREDS FAVORITE the team without going on,” says and Olympic team gold medal mount Calypso among them — that caused the Wofford. Americans to pay attention. Thriller II Accolades: An English Thoroughbred that helped launch Derek Di Grazia’s international eventing career in the late 1970s. “He was a bright chestnut, 16.3, with the same attributes — fast, brave, agile — all the things you think of when you think ‘Thoroughbred,” Wofford says. The Jones Boy Accolades: Placed second in the inaugural FEI World Cup Final, in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1979. “He was off-the-track, he hunted a little ,” Morris says. “He tied for the first World Cup final with

Katie Monahan (Prudent). He was KIT HOUGHTON the best 17-hand Thoroughbred Americans began paying more attention to European Warmbloods in the late ‘70s, when horse you can to a 5’ Melanie Smith Taylor’s imported Calypso rose to the top of the sport. vertical.” Calypso, a horse by Thoroughbred Lucky Boy, was a type that For the Moment Morris describes as very fast, sensitive and careful. He recalls, “(Smith) imported Accolades: Won the 1995 him, took him to Florida, he was an intermediate horse and a superstar, and I Budweiser American Grand Prix Association Championship at age entered her with him in the International Jumping Derby in 1979 as a 6-year-old, 21 with rider Lisa Jacquin. because I was afraid she would not have the surety of the Olympic Games in 1980 (due to the boycott of the Moscow Olympics) … so I prematurely entered this 6-year-old and he won.” With Calypso, Smith also captured the other two legs of the Triple Crown of show jumping, the American Invitational and the American Gold Cup, making her the only person to win all three events with the same horse. She and Calypso were also a part of the USET’s gold medal team at the 1979 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico, and she ended up winning the individual bronze aboard the Dutch-bred gelding in 1980’s Alternate Olympics. “Calypso, that single horse, he was the Gem Twist of his era, he was the popular horse of the world,” says Morris, referring to Greg Best’s silver medalist mount (an OTTB) in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. “And everybody had to have a Calypso. It was unfortunately a perfect storm, and about that same time, racehorses were harder KIT HOUGHTON For the Moment at the 1988 Seoul and harder to get, they were breeding them a little different, smaller, more for ­Olympics. sprinters ... and since we started going to European horses, the European horses’

40 OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015 Bert de Nemethy, shown here on Thoroughbred gold medalist Touch of Class, riding alongside Catherine Burdsall, particularly liked the American Thoroughbred. COURTESY USET FOUNDATION ARCHIVE COURTESY USET FOUNDATION dealers got fatter, and ours got thinner, to the point that they’re almost extinct.” “At that point, there was a huge Part of what made the European Warmbloods appealing was the ease and … I mean you call it an invasion of efficiency of buying these animals. Morris explains: “They were much easier to get, Warmbloods, let me tell you, it was an you could go to Europe and in three days, if you want to stay up all night and all onslaught. But, people including myself day, you can see hundreds of horses jump. Or here you had to drive to Maryland, were slow to realize that although we fly to Texas, go out to California to see a horse, you know ... it was much harder, had removed the endurance aspect that’s the reason today it’s still much harder.” from it, by now only doing a cross- country test, the nature of the new CHANGE BEGETS CHANGE course design put possibly even more Wofford agrees that the Europeans have marketed the Warmbloods well — even emphasis on horses’ cardiovascular better than sport horse breeders in the United States. Also, beginning in the early capacity, because course designers ’80s, 747s were flying into JFK every day, making it easier to import these horses. started to build complexes. They didn’t But other factors were at play, including changes in the sport itself. build an in-and-out, they built three, He says that after 1984 it became more and more apparent that dressage was four, five jumping efforts in very quick important to win three-day events, so people began to look for horses with succession — jumping of course being exceptional gaits and movement, as well as the ability to gallop and jump. He anaerobic exercise for the horse.” considers the next bright line through eventing to be 2004, when eventing Wofford says he hasn’t met anyone officials turned away from the “classic format,” which included roads and tracks, yet who foresaw this. Also, as the steeplechase, roads and tracks, and cross-country, to the “short format,” in which number of jumping efforts rose, the the endurance phase only involves cross-country. complexity of those efforts grew and so “Before 2004, the eventing was what they referred to then as a speed and did the need for precision. The more endurance test,” Wofford says. “You needed the speed from the Thoroughbred, and complex each cross-country question you needed the endurance from a Thoroughbred, or almost-Thoroughbred. The became, the more slowly the rider vast majority of the horses competing at the international level in those days filled needed to approach it. that paradigm probably, except for the German team, which was required then to “But the reverse of that statement ride German-bred horses. is that the slower you go on this end,

“Every time you change the rules, you change the sport … every time you change the sport, you change the type of horse that is needed.” Jim Wofford

FALL 2015 ❙ OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED 41 Bounding Back After the ‘Warmblood Invasion’ the faster you have to go on the other end, in order to continue to finish under the movement, extraordinary movement. optimum time,” says Wofford, which can be quite difficult and harkens back to his And so the breeders have responded to minute-to-regain-one-second sentiment. that; they’ve done a better job than the “Concurrent with the change in format, we had a continuing rolling catastrophic event horse breeders … but eventing tragedy of rider fatalities and horse fatalities,” he says, with rotational falls at is harder to breed for because it’s a technical cross-country fences, for example. “And there, of course, was a great deal multiphase contest.” of concern in the eventing world (about horse and rider safety), and that has caused many riders to turn away from pure Warmbloods and they’re starting to look at THE PENDULUM SWING Thoroughbreds and near-Thoroughbreds again. Although the percentage of “Every time you change the rules, you change the sport … every time you Thoroughbred in the Warmblood change the sport, you change the type of horse that is needed. This is not just studbooks has increased, Wofford true (for eventing) but true also of show jumping and Grand Prix dressage. The says these horses are not necessarily show jumpers now have to be not just scopey but increasingly careful, because the bred to gallop and “stay” in the way courses that they’re building are so fragile. And the Grand Prix horses, those horses Thoroughbreds were. have to be born doing passage and piaffe. They have to have not just wonderful (Continued on page 44) KIT HOUGHTON Carawich, pictured here with Jim Wofford at the 1979 Badminton Horse Trials, was seven-eighths Thoroughbred, Wofford says, “by a Thoroughbred sire famous in the north of Ireland for breeding horses that could run a 4-mile point-to-point in deep mud. Many current top eventers are three-quarter­ Thoroughbred.

42 OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015 Keen: America’s Thoroughbred Dressage Legend

appearances. At the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City, Keen and Gurney won individual silver and team gold medals, and at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games they placed fourth individually and helped secure a team bronze medal. It was the first U.S. Olympic dressage medal since COURTESY VALERIE PARRY PHOTOGRAPHY PARRY COURTESY VALERIE 1948. At the 1979 Pan ne of the last great “But when I got him home I American Games, Thoroughbreds we realized how hot he was.” Keen and Gurney won both team “O had in competition Fortunately, Keen’s demeanor and individual gold medals. And, was Hilda Gurney’s Keen,” says didn’t deter Gurney, an after Keen recovered from a legendary horseman George experienced three-day event serious neck injury, he competed Morris. “He was a big-boned, rider. Instead, she worked at the 1984 Olympics in Los rangy, scopey Thoroughbred diligently to focus his energy into Angeles at age 18, finishing 14th dressage horse that was his work. individually. considered the best horse in the “He was just so enthusiastic,” Gurney says that, aside from world at his time.” she says. “The horse couldn’t his neck injury, Keen stayed Keen (Money Broker x Mabel wait to be ridden and couldn’t sound throughout his career. In Victory, by Victory Tower; wait to work. But he was difficult fact, he competed in CDI events registered with The Jockey Club away from home; he’d get so up to age 23 and was still serving as Willoughby) was foaled in excited.” as a schoolmaster when he California in 1966, where he So Gurney, then an elementary was euthanized in 1989 after began his race training. His 17.2- special education teacher for suffering a stroke. hand frame, however, proved the Los Angeles City School “We had a lot of fun, and I was too large to fit in the starting District, and her mother, also an really fortunate to have him,” gate, and he never raced. His equestrian, began taking Keen Gurney says. “He had so much breeder sold him as a 3-year-old on weekly trips off the farm — heart. He was tireless. You could for $1,000 to Gurney, who was on rides, to horse shows always count on him to perform looking for a horse with similar or just other arenas. Once he traits to the dressage mounts reached Grand Prix level, the duo for you. You never had to worry she’d seen compete at the 1968 also performed nearly nightly about putting your leg on and not Olympics in Mexico City. exhibitions at competitions. having something there. He was “His movement was huge, and Keen’s rapid rise up the always there. And that’s really he moved like the Warmbloods levels culminated in numerous special about the Thoroughbred.” I saw in Mexico City,” she says. championships and team – Erica Larson

FALL 2015 ❙ OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED 43 Bounding FACT Back After the ‘Warmblood Invasion’ From 1960 to 2012, 50% of individual Olympic medalists in equestrian He cites a field study that one of his clients — an engineer and an eventing were Thoroughbreds, as enthusiast — conducted on the records of successful elite event horses. “By were 42.5% of horses on successful he means a top-10 finish at the four-star (international) level,” explains medaling teams. Wofford. “Those horses now average 72% Thoroughbred, so you are looking at three-quarter-breds now. Then, the senior riders, especially after the last couple of years (which included several high-profile fatalities) … and the difficulties that already. Some of it also has to do with the horses obviously had at the World Games in Normandy (footing issues, among simple perception of the breed. other cross-country problems), the senior riders are looking more and more to Morris explains: “If they get a a Thoroughbred/Thoroughbred-type. So the pendulum has definitely started to Thoroughbred off the track, maybe swing back the other way.” they’re hot, maybe they have to be The bulk of competitors in the hunter/jumper arenas are still Warmbloods. Much retrained, the people freak out when of it has to do with market preference and some of the factors we’ve mentioned they hear it’s a Thoroughbred — it’s ARND BRONKHORST Courageous Comet is an example of an OTTB who has gone the distance as a sport horse. Here, he and Becky Holder perform their dressage test in Hong Kong at the 2008 Olympics. Comet was named the 2009 Rood & Riddle Thoroughbred Sport Horse of the Year, and he won the 2012 American Eventing Championships.

44 OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015 DRESSAGE EVENTING SHOW JUMPING

investigation, but he U.S. OLYMPIC HORSES says “there are Gem that were 1960- Twists out there, there 2012 are (horses like) Touch THOROUGHBREDS of Class out there, there

5 is Keen out there.” It’s important to keep 4 in mind that for every

3 OTTB Cinderella story — the horse that finds 2 his way to the very top

1 of his sport horse career — there are potentially 0 thousands of others 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 that are excelling and Rome Tokyo Mexico City Munich Europe (Alt) Moscow Los Angeles Seoul Barcelona Atlanta Sydney Athens Hong Kong London will shine at all other levels within the ranks of the discipline. All it more the perception of the Thoroughbred today. Of course I think that the right takes to find them is a discriminating Thoroughbred (would be suitable for these disciplines).” eye for talent. He points out that hunter/jumper breeders are more inclusive of Thoroughbred When Wofford assesses an OTTB blood than historically. “These are way different European horses than 10 years ago, prospect, he says it boils down to 20 years ago, 30 years ago,” he says. “They’re like three-fourths-bred, seven-eighths- evaluating each individual. He ignores bred. Lots of them look Thoroughbred, you couldn’t tell them apart. That’s why in the race record and says, “You need an the hunter division you can’t tell whether they’re an old-fashioned Thoroughbred or American Thoroughbred that has three a modern sport horse. ‘10’ paces, and Mother Nature will take “So, it’s like the melting pot, it’s like the world of people,” Morris says. “You care of the rest.” know in 100 years, 200 years, it’s all going to be one kind of people. That’s what’s happening to horses.” CULTIVATING THE CATALYST So, about getting the Thoroughbred TODAY’S THOROUGHBRED back on top as the preferred sport horse All said, the Thoroughbred racehorse isn’t the same individual that it was in the prospect — what would that take? 1960s and ’70s, either, when it dominated both at the oval and in the show arenas. “I think, you know, it’ll only take one Because everything from surfaces to distances has changed over the years, so has gold medal,” says Wofford, “And people the ideal racing specimen. will suddenly wake up. Someone has Racehorses today are increasingly light-boned and light-framed, says Wofford. to find the individual and get good and “You don’t see quite as many substantial Thoroughbreds as you used to, and that’s get lucky with that horse, and people because of the race influence. You know, they’re breeding for early market and early will then rediscover the Thoroughbred, speed.” at least in my discipline.” That can mean a greater dichotomy between what the hunter/jumper rings might be looking for (substance and size) and the “average” retired racer. Morris says, “I Stephanie L. Church is editor-in- don’t think we’ll ever come back to where (the Thoroughbred was) to replace the chief of The Horse: Your Guide To European horse, because these are horses bred for the track,” whereas the European Equine Health Care and Off-Track breeders are “breeding just for the sport horse, be it eventing, be it dressage, be it Thoroughbred Magazine. She recently show jumping.” purchased her OTTB gelding, graded That said, Morris says he applauds RRP’s and other organizations’ efforts to bring stakes winner It Happened Again, and the Thoroughbred back into prominence — when horses come off the track and plans to event him. He is her second do not find second careers, it’s a tremendous waste of an asset. It requires time and OTTB.

FALL 2015 ❙ OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED 45