What Happens to Horses After Their Racing Career?

Horse racing will always be a curious sport because you’re dealing with a large number of fair-weather fans who only come around for races that gain the attention of the online horse racing betting community. Too often we forget there’s a literal live being at the centre of picture so what happens to these horses once their career on the track comes to an end?

Potential Options for Retired Horses

When a horse has run its last race, the hope is that they can live a peaceful life after that. Some horses are kept by their owners, adopted or given to stables to live out their days simply by grazing on food and potentially as horse-riding companions for someone on a sleepy farm.

Another option for horses that have lost their speed but are still pretty agile is to retrain in other equine sports. Cheeky Wee Red was a 15-year-old former racehorse who debuted in dressage and went on to win some sports competitions.

Sportivo is another excellent example of a horse that had a career after racing. The stallion successfully became a ‘polo pony’ and succeeded in this new sport well after he had retired from the track.

If a horse is racing at a high level but is no longer competitive, it may be reconsidered for a lower grade. Countries like the UK and France have many tiers of horse racing, which means that even if a horse is past its best days, it can still race with other horses of similar quality.

The most successful horses are often used for breeding after their race careers to pass on their genes to the next generation of racehorses.

Unfortunately, there are some upsetting alternatives. If horses are no longer financially lucrative to keep around, they can be slaughtered or abandoned—neither of which seems amicable for 2024.

Frankel Kept to Breed

Frankel won all 14 races between 2010 and 2012, as he was an unbeatable horse—becoming one of the best online horse racing betting phenomenon’s of all time. Even after he stopped racing, money was still being made from breeding Frankel. As such, his owners charge exorbitant fees to prospective breeders who want a bit of the Frankel energy in their new racehorse. Frankel has excelled in this vocation as he did on the track, being named one of the best sires in recent years.

Barbaro Injured

One of the more tragic stories concerns Barbaro. The American thoroughbred had great success on the North American circuit, having won the Holy Bull Stakes, the Florida Derby, and the Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, he shattered his leg two weeks after the latter race in 2006.

Even though his racing career was over, his owners wanted to save the horse – but complications arose. He seemingly got no better after several treatments and surgeries which tried to allow the horse to have a pain-free life, but nothing worked, and he was put to sleep peacefully in January 2007.

Ferdinand’s Impact

In the 1980s, there were few better horses in America than Ferdinand. In the late 80s, he won both the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which led him to be named the United States Horse of the Year in 1987. As such, he enjoyed a tremendous studding career after he finished racing.

In 1994, he was sold to a breeding farm in Japan as the country became more interested in horse racing. However, eight years later, it was reported that the championship-winning horse had been sent to slaughter. This prompted outrage amongst the US and other horse racing nations, as they believed that Ferdinand should have been offered to his prior owners before being sent to his death.

While Ferdinand wasn’t saved, his misfortune prompted several initiatives amongst the horse racing community to keep retired racehorses alive. The ‘Ferdinand Fee’ is a standard clause where a prior owner has first refusal to repurchase a horse. ‘The Friends of Ferdinand’ is a charitable group that tries to transition retired racehorses into new careers when their time on the track has ended.

Willy Trout Turned to Dressage

While Great Britain is seen as the world leader in dressage in the contemporary era, there was a time when Team GB wasn’t that good at it. In 1976, a racehorse, Willy Trout, was preparing for a race with his jockey, but he got a pretty bad injury. As a result, the horse lost all his speed.

While Trout was a decent racehorse, the injury led his owners to send him to dressage training, which he excelled at. He would go on to represent the British team in the dressage world championships between 1981 and 1987.