Stories about your favorite retired racehorses. For archived stories, click here.
You can’t go for long in the Mid-Atlantic without encountering an off-track Thoroughbred who spent time in the care of Ann Merryman and Holly Robinson. The veteran Maryland trainers crafted a strong network with a steady pipeline filtering retirees into solid second careers with devoted owners.
After steeplechaser Sermon of Love won the Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes and New York Turf Writers Cup-G1 in 2010, trainer Jonathan Sheppard casually told the press, “He seems to like Saratoga.”
Twenty-two years after Power by Far’s last race, breeder/owner Barbara Geraghty still recounts his career with wonder and awe. Those sentiments resonate with everyone who knows the 27-year-old stallion.
In her role as program administrator for Beyond The Wire, Jessica Ryley Hammond routinely meets Thoroughbreds transitioning to new lives after racing. She’s passionate about the job and the cause.
It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. Poppy’s Punkin earned high marks in both cases. He began his career with a resounding win on debut as a 3-year-old at Laurel Park in 2007. He finished six years later with another score at Pimlico. Now 18, the bay gelding enjoys a privileged retirement on Christy Clagett’s Larking Hill Farm in Harwood, Md.
“I want to ride HIM, Mom.”
The announcement struck momentary dread into the hearts of trainer Sherene Bracho and her former husband, jockey Jesus Bracho, when uttered by their young daughter Jacqueline 12 years ago. “Him” was Gilded Cove, a recently retired 8-year-old gelding trained by Sherene’s father, Victor Chung.
In his “Broker’s Tip” column in the January 2021 issue of this magazine, Rick Abbott wrote:
“Some clients are a pain in the ass. Some know nothing about horses in general and Thoroughbreds specifically. Some clients are a dream come true, and Adele Paxson was one of those.”
The day after Maryland-bred Trifor Gold won the Sussex Stakes at Delaware Park, Anchor and Hope Farm’s Grace Merryman reached out to say she had “a fun Pensioner On Parade if you are looking.”
