1. Freezing Level (nicknamed Snowball)
Her voice catches and tears threaten to observe, however Randy Gootzeit needs you to find out about how a strapping grey colt nicknamed Snowball introduced a few horse lovers again to the monitor, and the way they acquired their hearts damaged.
Snowball, identified on the monitor as Freezing Level, suffered a fatal breakdown throughout an undercard race at Churchill Downs on Might 6, changing into the seventh horse to die in an agonizing eight days main as much as the Kentucky Derby. The deaths, as but unexplained, have forged a pall over this yr’s Triple Crown and renewed questions concerning the security of the animals as the game prepares for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.
However for Gootzeit and her coach Joe Lejzerowicz, the troubles in horse racing are only a backdrop to their non-public grief.
“We’d have accomplished something to avoid wasting him, however we couldn’t,” Gootzeit stated. “We miss him desperately.”
Gootzeit, 71, lives close to Phoenix. She galloped and educated horses within the Seventies and ’80s at Belmont Park, however left the racetrack to return to high school and change into a bodily therapist. She works on people, however has additionally utilized what she discovered 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 discovered his horsemanship beneath the Corridor 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 effectively, promoting automobiles and taking a break from the game whereas studying to deal with Ménière’s illness, a dysfunction of the interior ear that causes extreme vertigo and ringing within the ears.
He and Gootzeit made an instantaneous connection. Their love of horses made them mates, nevertheless it was their shared view of how you can deal with the animals that made them enterprise companions: Don’t push them, maintain them sound, select relaxation over medicine.
“We had been popping out of the pandemic, and it was clear nobody’s timeline was assured,” Gootzeit stated, “I informed 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 within the sport. They struck out at three auctions earlier than Lejzerowicz fell in love with No. 954 on the Ocala, Fla., 2-year-old coaching sale final June. The colt was balanced, muscled and declared by a vet to be completely sound.
Certainly, they thought, they couldn’t afford him.
“He’s good, however we don’t have a snowball’s likelihood in hell of getting him,” Lejzerowicz informed Gootzeit.
Lejzerowicz was so sure that their digital bid can be topped that he was taking a nap in his truck when somebody knocked and informed him the colt was his for $13,000.
The pair took their time with the colt, whose official identify was Freezing Level (a nod to his sire, Frosted), determining his eccentricities and admiring his work ethic.
“He was a bit of 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 gained as soon as in three tries as a 2-year-old and commenced catching the attention of deeper-pocketed outfits. Gootzeit turned down affords of $150,000, $480,000 and, after Snowball completed third final month within the Lafayette Stakes, $600,000.
One among Gootzeit’s mentors had suggested her years earlier to take a proposal for a horse provided that the cash was life-changing. This was some huge cash, however Snowball was already life-changing.
The grey colt had reconnected her to a few of her happiest occasions and provided a chance to use her information of bodily remedy and check her theories about what makes a cheerful horse.
In Lejzerowicz, she had not solely discovered a pal 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 had been at Churchill Downs on the primary Saturday in Might. They watched their horse run within the $500,000 Pat Day Mile Stakes simply a few 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 within the air,” Gootzeit stated. “It swung left. It swung proper. One thing occurred. I knew one thing unhealthy occurred.”
Inside half-hour, Snowball was identified with a damaged bone in his left entrance ankle. Inside an hour, Gootzeit and Lejzerowicz had 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’re in search of one other sound thoroughbred whose expertise they will help floor.
“We aren’t going to be pushed out of the sport,” Gootzeit stated. “We wish to succeed actually 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 gained greater than 4,100 races, however the gelding’s victory within the Sunland Derby in March was his first in a graded stakes race. At 60, Tohill was set to change 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 effectively 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 grew to become entranced by get together lights at a D.J. sales space, based on his coach, and flipped as soon as, twice and, lastly, a deadly third time.
4. Mother and father Delight
4-year-old filly
Collapsed and died on April 29 in the course of the eighth race at Churchill Downs
This filly had gained 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. Mother and father Delight was sitting a cushty second within 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 Might 2 after ending the eighth race, during which he completed final
This versatile gelding had stakes victories on grass and dust. 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 alternative. “It was a superb shock to select up this mount,” stated Jimenez. “I stated, ‘Nice. Let’s get the cash.’” They did, incomes the first-place test within the My Frenchman Stakes.
Chasing Artie was educated by Saffie Joseph Jr., as was Mother and father Delight. Churchill and state regulators refused to let Joseph’s colt Lord Miles race within the Derby.
“It crushes you. It knocks your confidence, it makes you doubt every thing,” Joseph stated of the deaths.
6. Take Cost Briana
3-year-old filly
Was injured and fell throughout a Might 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 Corridor of Famer D. Wayne Lukas: “He had an amazing eye for a horse himself and he understood the sport,” stated Lukas on the time of Horton’s loss of life final yr. “He was recreation, and he wasn’t afraid to step up and spend cash on a superb horse.”
Take Cost Briana was ridden by Luis Saez, the identical jockey who was on Chasing Artie.
7. Chloe’s Dream
3-year-old gelding
Broke down in the course of 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 Bottom Studying Middle at Churchill, which affords training and wellness packages for racetrack employees and their households. Rocket Ship donates 10 % of its winnings to the middle. Smith took Chloe and her household to the paddock the place he stated Chloe’s Dream regarded “stunning.” When the gelding faltered popping out of the primary flip, Smith stated he and his get together had 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 racetrack. “I can’t undergo it once more.”