Gina Schick says retired racer Sangster is being retrained before she finds him a new home.
Gina Schick says retired racer Sangster is being retrained before she finds him a new home.
Gina Schick has rehomed thousands of track horses over the past seven years.
When former Auckland Cup winner Sangster injured his leg last year, it was not the end of the line for the 6-year-old thoroughbred.
Thanks to people like Gina Schick, visions conjured by some of former champions being trucked off to pet food factories are false.
The Cambridge woman runs Beyond the Barriers, which educates people about the use of thoroughbreds retired from the racing industry as sports horses - by taking up dressage, show jumping, or eventing.
She also runs business Event Stars that retrains and rehomes retired racehorses.
A few weeks ago, 2013 Auckland Cup winner Sangster came to her, having finished racing in October with a leg injury, and tomorrow he will lead the field into the Birdcage area at Ellerslie raceway - where the horses parade before and after a race - then on to the track for the Auckland Cup.
Ms Schick says Sangster had been in a paddock doing very little since October.
"A good horse like that always gets really well looked after by its owners, but he's used to being in a routine every day and having lots of attention and being worked - so to sit in a paddock is reasonably boring when he's perfectly capable of having another life.
"His trainers saw that he was bored and needed something to do, so they said 'right, you've got to find a very special home for this one' and he was on the truck."
Ms Schick says she is working on retraining the former racer, so she's not actively looking for a home for him quite yet.
A good horse such as Sangster will be given away rather than sold on, Ms Schick says. "Then I can be really fussy about where he goes." But most horses are passed on with a small fee - enough to cover costs such as staffing and farriers.
Beyond the Barriers is in the process of being set up as a not-for-profit organisation to educate people about the options for ex-race horses.
"They can go on to good, useful, athletic lives afterwards," she says.
"There's a real need for it with the amount of thoroughbreds that retire off the track, there's a need to supply post-racing homes."
Jockey Opie Bosson rides Sangster to victory in the 2013 Auckland Cup. Photo / Dean Purcell
She says an average thoroughbred usually races aged between 2 and 5 years old, while most sport horses don't start competing until they are 4 or 5 years old.
In the past seven years, she says, she's rehomed several thousand race horses.
What's on the racing calendar?
March 4 - Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup Day
•The day's $500,000 group one Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup is a 3200m gruelling handicap race for any age horse that dates back to 1874.
•Other races on the day include the group three $70,000 McKee Family Sunline Vase and the group three $70,000 Westbury Classic.
•On the day, Federal Food in the Field will include a selection of dishes on offer from Federal St restaurants The Grill by Sean Connolly and Peter Gordon's Bellota, including duck-fat chips and lamb ribs with apple and honey.
•Gates open at 11am, first race at about 1.10pm, general admission $10, children under 15 free.
March 7 - Diamond Day •Diamond Day supports charity Ronald McDonald House. •Races on the day include the group one $200,000 Haunui Farm Diamond Stakes (for the country's best 2-year-old horses) and the group one $200,000 Ronald McDonald House Charities New Zealand Stakes. •The Whips and Spurs Carnival celebrates the finale of Auckland Cup Week. •BMW Diamond Darling - Diamond Day follows the tradition of Ladies' Day internationally with a focus on style, glamour and fashion. On the day, one well-dressed woman will win a prize package valued at over $10,000. •Federal Food in the Field. •General admission $10, children under 15 free, gates open at 11am, Whips and Spurs starts at 12.30pm.
