Unlikely Suspects
23 July, 2015
Off The Track
Sometimes the most unlikely horses can turn out to be a good thing. They can be right under your nose and in your face every day and still you don’t realise. People can be like that too. “It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch”, I’ve always been told.
From what I can work out, Eric Wake is a Thoroughbred trainer who works tirelessly around the clock (like the majority of trainers do,) so he can work in an industry he loves, while caring for and training his racehorses, all the while trying to make ends meet. Between his fencing business and training his small team of racehorses at Ascot, there is very little spare time to indulge in some of the pleasures in life.
This is why, for a man who is so busy, I find it surprising that of the 7 horses of Eric’s Off the Track has assisted to rehome in the past year, six of them are turning out to be outstanding mounts in other equestrian disciplines. The 7th horse sustained an injury while racing, deeming it unsuitable to race and is now used for breeding purposes.
All of these horses have lovely manners on the ground and in the saddle, are good to float and shoe, they are very brave and not easily spooked and they enjoy their work.
Could it be that Eric does more with his horses than simply train them to race? That he sees these horses as more than a business and has their future livelihood in mind and not just their immediate racing future? I think so! Obviously he is nurturing and educating them along the way.
Thinking about your racehorse’s future from the day it is born, or the day it is bought at the sales, or even as it enters your stable as a training prospect, increases the chances of the horse living an eventful and healthy long term life post racing.
I hate to say it, without sounding like an animal activist, but a racehorse is not just for racing. Yes it is bred to race, but that does not mean when it is finished racing your duty of care ceases. Failing injury or bad temperament ex racehorses can move onto second careers.
Thank you Eric for taking the time to educate your racehorses along the way. It makes them so much more valuable and easier to find them suitable homes when they are finished racing. You are obviously doing all the right things.
Eric is successfully helping to increase the demand for and dollar value of retired Thoroughbred racehorses. No longer should they be given away for free, they are worth far more than that.
It is no spate of good luck or coincidence that when I am out and about at different equestrian events, the 6 horses Eric has successfully rehomed in the past year are absolute standouts outs.
Congratulations Eric.