Moving to the Haven was my biggest win!
I used to be a racehorse. During my career, I ran at Santa Anita, Sunland Park, Del Mar, Santa Rosa, Golden Gate, and Charles Town. All told, I ran in 46 races. I started racing when I was just 2 years old. At that time, I ran in the Sunland Derby. If I had won that race, I would have won entry into the Kentucky Derby. After coming in seventh in the Sunland Derby, I raced in California until I was about three and a half years old. After that, I raced in West Virginia until I was about six and a half. After that, I stopped racing and no one really knows where I was. Then, in February of 2023, someone found me wandering by myself in a field. They took me to a slaughter auction in Pennsylvania.
Thankfully, the people who run the slaughter auction took pictures of my tattoos. Thoroughbred racehorses like me have identification tattoos in the insides of their lips. These tattoos are meant to help race officials confirm that the correct horse is entering the race. In this case, these tattoos helped save my life. There are wonderful groups of people who volunteer their time to research the tattoos of racehorses and try to reach the former owners of the horses before they are shipped to slaughter. Some very generous people paid my way out of the auction and contacted Heritage Haven to see if they would take me.
Some of the people at Heritage Haven knew me during my racing days. They were thrilled to be reconnected with me and offered me a stall in their wonderful barn. We had to wait a long time to be reunited. Since my whereabouts were unknown for so long, I did not have a clean bill of health, which was a problem because I needed a health certificate to be allowed to leave Pennsylvania and cross state lines to get to my forever home in California.
I stayed at a wonderful quarantine facility for a month so that they could run the tests that they needed to make sure that I was safe to travel. When I was cleared to travel, I was put on an airplane and flown to California. It was dark when I arrived at the Haven, so I had to wait until the next day to really get to know my new friends. Everyone is wonderful, but I really clicked with Patches and Rocky. The three of us hang out outside together every day. We have a great time together!
