by Katherine O. Rizzo & Kim Egan w/photo by Erin Gilmore Photography (first published in the November 2024 Equiery)


The Retired Racehorse Projects’s annual Thoroughbred Makeover and Symposium took place at the Kentucky Horse Park October 9-12 with several Maryland trainers earning top placings.

In the Show Hunter division, Anissa Butler rode He Did It to win both the preliminary competition and the finale. He Did It is a 2020 Pennsylvania-bred that ran at Laurel Park with trainer Arnaud Delacour. Butler and He Did It also placed eighth in the Show Jumper division.

Second place in the Show Hunter Former Broodmare division finale went to Maryland-bred Miz Rey. The 2013 mare is by Smarty Jones and out of the Meadowlake mare Rey Lake and was trained and ridden by Erin Butler of Indiana at the Makeover.

Caitlan Brooks won the Field Hunter finale with In The Air as well as finishing second in the Show Hunter finale. In The Air was fifth in the Field Hunter preliminary competition. The 2021 Pennsylvania-bred last raced in February 2024 at Penn National.

Sydney Solomon rode Mulling to win the preliminary competition in the Eventing division and then finished second in the finale. Mulling is a 2019 Kentucky-bred mare that Solomon is also competing at the Novice level in Eventing.

Maryland Horse Council board member John Nunn rode Free Birds to finish fifth in the preliminary competition for Dressage before taking third in the Dressage finale. Free Birds is a 2020 Kentucky-bred that ran twice at Gulfstream before Nunn began retraining him. Nunn and Free Birds had the top score in the first round with a 76.207%.


Fifteen Maryland-breds competed this year at the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover at the Kentucky Horse Park, some with professional trainers and some with amateur trainers, and six of them finished inside the top 25 in their divisions. The two divisions with the most entries were Dressage – with a whopping 99 horses completing the test — and the Show Hunters, with 49 horses completing the classes. (Each division also had a number of retirements, withdrawals, scratches, and eliminations.)

The highest placed Maryland-bred at the Makeover was Quarantini, a 2020 filly by Paynter out of Divine Plan (Holy Bull), who end up an impressive 10th out of the 99 Dressage entries finishers. Quarantini was bred by Big Lick Farm and Erin Atkiss, and retired from racing last August, after four starts.

The second highest placing Maryland-bred was The Fire Within, a 2017 gelding by Friesan Fire out of Skip (Skip Away), who finished 16th out of the 49 finishers in the Show Hunter class. He was bred by Mr. & Mrs. Talbot Jones Albert IV, and had 13 starts at the track before retiring last July.

In addition, 2019 gelding Call Me a Dreamer made a strong showing in the Show Hunter and Show Jumper classes. He finished 22nd out of the 42 show jumping finishers, and 28th out of 49 in the show hunter class.

The other Maryland-breds that completed their classes at the makeover were:

Dressage

  • And Whistle, a 2020 mare by Long River out of Little Inkling (Great Notion).
  • Hokua, a 2018 mare by Despite the Odds out of Full Circle (Louis Quatorze)
  • Jasper’s Girl, a 2021 filly by Hoppertunity out of Speciality (Circular Quay)
  • Mizwarrior, a 2020 gelding by Poseidon’s Warrior out of Miz Penelope (Mizzen Mast)

Eventing

  • River Full, a 2020 gelding by Long River out of Fullerene (Quiet American)

Field Hunter

  • Mor Than Tough, a 2020 colt by Mor Spirit out of Resilient One (Hard Spun)

Freestyle

  • Baltimore Babe, a 2015 mare by Baltimore Bob out of Ducky McLean (Stormy Atlantic)

Show Hunter Broodmare Division

  • Miz Rey, a 2013 mare by Smarty Jones out of Rey Lake (Meadowlake)