1. Freezing Point (nicknamed Snowball)
Her voice catches and tears threaten to comply with, however Randy Gootzeit desires you to find out about how a strapping grey colt nicknamed Snowball introduced a pair of horse lovers again to the observe, and the way they bought their hearts damaged.
Snowball, recognized on the observe as Freezing Point, suffered a deadly breakdown throughout an undercard race at Churchill Downs on May 6, turning into the seventh horse to die in an agonizing eight days main as much as the Kentucky Derby. The deaths, as but unexplained, have solid a pall over this yr’s Triple Crown and renewed questions on the security of the animals as the sport prepares for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.
But for Gootzeit and her coach Joe Lejzerowicz, the troubles in horse racing are only a backdrop to their non-public grief.
“We’d have completed something to avoid wasting him, however we could not,” Gootzeit stated. “We miss him desperately.”
Gootzeit, 71, lives close to Phoenix. She galloped and educated horses in the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s at Belmont Park, however left the racetrack to return to high school and develop into a bodily therapist. She works on people, however has additionally utilized what she realized to horses.
She had not thought a lot about returning to the sport till she talked to Lejzerowicz about shopping for a 2011 Volkswagen from him. A veteran coach, he had realized his horsemanship underneath the Hall of Fame coach Allen Jerkens and had labored for greater than 30 years in barns from New York to California. Lejzerowicz was in Phoenix as nicely, promoting vehicles and taking a break from the sport whereas studying to deal with Ménière’s illness, a dysfunction of the internal ear that causes extreme vertigo and ringing in the ears.
He and Gootzeit made an instantaneous connection. Their love of horses made them buddies, nevertheless it was their shared view of easy methods to deal with the animals that made them enterprise companions: Don’t push them, hold them sound, select relaxation over treatment.
“We have been popping out of the pandemic, and it was clear nobody’s timeline was assured,” Gootzeit stated, “I instructed Joe that it was time to wager on ourselves.”
With Gootzeit offering a bankroll of simply $20,000, it took the pair a while to get again in the sport. They struck out at three auctions earlier than Lejzerowicz fell in love with No. 954 at the Ocala, Fla., 2-year-old coaching sale final June. The colt was balanced, muscled and declared by a vet to be completely sound.
Surely, they thought, they might not afford him.
“He’s good, however we do not have a snowball’s probability in hell of getting him,” Lejzerowicz instructed Gootzeit.
Lejzerowicz was so sure that their digital bid could be topped that he was taking a nap in his truck when somebody knocked and instructed him the colt was his for $13,000.
The pair took their time with the colt, whose official identify was Freezing Point (a nod to his sire, Frosted), determining his eccentricities and admiring his work ethic.
“He was just a little spitfire,” Lejzerowicz, 53, stated. “He was playful. I’d shake my finger at him, and he’d attempt to push it again at me.”
Lejzerowicz took Snowball to Keeneland in Kentucky to get him able to race. Gootzeit flew in each couple of weeks to assist with coaching and have a tendency to the colt. Snowball received as soon as in three tries as a 2-year-old and commenced catching the eye of deeper-pocketed outfits. Gootzeit turned down gives of $150,000, $480,000 and, after Snowball completed third final month in the Lafayette Stakes, $600,000.
One of Gootzeit’s mentors had suggested her years earlier to take a proposal for a horse provided that the cash was life-changing. This was rather a lot of cash, however Snowball was already life-changing.
The grey colt had reconnected her to some of her happiest instances and provided a possibility to use her information of bodily remedy and check her theories about what makes a contented horse.
In Lejzerowicz, she had not solely discovered a buddy but additionally a horseman who shared her values. “We cherished the horse an excessive amount of to consign him to anybody else’s care,” Gootzeit stated.
And that’s the reason the pair have been at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. They watched their horse run in the $500,000 Pat Day Mile Stakes only a couple of hours earlier than the Derby.
They watched from the rail close to the winner’s circle. Snowball broke cleanly from the beginning gate, however inside a quarter-mile, Gootzeit and Lejzerowicz acknowledged their horse was in misery.
“His head popped up in the air,” Gootzeit stated. “It swung left. It swung proper. Something occurred. I knew one thing unhealthy occurred.”
Within half-hour, Snowball was recognized with a damaged bone in his left entrance ankle. Within an hour, Gootzeit and Lejzerowicz have been saying tearful goodbyes to him. After the colt was euthanized, the vet handed on a locket of hair from his mane as a talisman.
Snowball won’t ever get replaced, however the pair will press on. They are wanting for one other sound thoroughbred whose expertise they will help floor.
“We are usually not going to be pushed out of the sport,” Gootzeit stated. “We need to succeed truthfully and cleanly and provides our horses the love and respect they deserve. “
2. Wild on Ice
3-year-old gelding
Injured his left hind leg throughout coaching and was euthanized
The jockey for this gritty Texas-bred horse, Ken Tohill, has received greater than 4,100 races, however the gelding’s victory in the Sunland Derby in March was his first in a graded stakes race. At 60, Tohill was set to develop into the oldest rider in Derby historical past. “A present,” is how Tohill described Wild on Ice one morning final month. He continued, “He’s nicely bred sufficient and his expertise is beginning to present.”
3. Code of Kings
3-year-old gelding
Flipped in his paddock and broke his neck
This son of Empire Maker was promising sufficient to debut in Saratoga, however he didn’t dwell as much as his promise, failing to complete increased than fifth in six begins. Code of Kings was being saddled when he turned entranced by social gathering lights at a DJ sales space, in line with his coach, and flipped as soon as, twice and, lastly, a deadly third time.
(*7*)4. Parents Pride
4-year-old filly
Collapsed and died on April 29 throughout the eighth race at Churchill Downs
This filly had received two in a row and, with greater than $153,000 in earnings, had tripled her buy value. She was the second betting alternative at odds of 2-1 and had Churchill’s main rider, Tyler Gaffalione, aboard. Parents Pride was sitting a snug second in the backstretch when Gaffalione immediately pulled her up. She was vanned off the racetrack, then collapsed and died in Churchill’s bottom.
5. Chasing Artie
5-year-old gelding
Collapsed and died on May 2 after ending the eighth race, by which he completed final
This versatile gelding had stakes victories on grass and grime. He made a believer out of Albin Jimenez two summers in the past at Monmouth Park when the jockey rode him as a last-minute substitute. “It was shock to choose up this mount,” stated Jimenez. “I stated, ‘Great. Let’s get the cash.’” They did, incomes the first-place test in the My Frenchman Stakes.
Chasing Artie was educated by Saffie Joseph Jr., as was Parents Pride. Churchill and state regulators refused to let Joseph’s colt Lord Miles race in the Derby.
“It crushes you. It knocks your confidence, it makes you doubt every part,” Joseph stated of the deaths.
6. Take Charge Briana
3-year-old filly
Was injured and fell throughout a May 2 race and was euthanized
This filly was bred by Willis Horton, a rancher and builder who died final yr. She was educated by his longtime coach, the Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas: “He had an excellent eye for a horse himself and he understood the sport,” stated Lukas at the time of Horton’s demise final yr. “He was sport, and he wasn’t afraid to step up and spend cash on horse.”
Take Charge Briana was ridden by Luis Saez, the identical jockey who was on Chasing Artie.
7. Chloe’s Dream
3-year-old gelding
Broke down throughout the second race on Kentucky Derby day and was euthanized
Chloe’s Dream was named for the daughter of a enterprise affiliate of Brook Smith, who operates the Rocket Ship Racing syndicate. Smith and his spouse, Pam, are concerned with the Backside Learning Center at Churchill, which gives training and wellness applications for racetrack employees and their households. Rocket Ship donates 10 % of its winnings to the heart. Smith took Chloe and her household to the paddock the place he stated Chloe’s Dream seemed “stunning.” When the gelding faltered popping out of the first flip, Smith stated he and his social gathering have been traumatized.
“It leaves a gap in your abdomen,” Smith stated. He added that he and his spouse weren’t able to return to the race observe. “I am unable to undergo it once more.”