Bobbyn Bouie, denied final chance to win his first race, stares forlornly from his stall.

Horse racing can be fickle.  A trainer spends months getting his/her charges ready to compete.  There is so much work involved in preparing a horse for a race that it would take days to explain it all.

I have a horse, Bobbyn Bouie, who got a late start in his career as a racehorse.  Then he had trouble understanding exactly what his “job” was all about.  There were quite a few bumps in the road to his success but he overcame them.  Today, however, his job was brought to a screeching halt.

Bouie had to deal with abuse and neglect early in his life.  His original owner demanded that he be pushed into racing long before he was ready to run.  His early races were nothing short of embarrassin. I finally found a jockey Bouie would relate to and he responded very well to her. Just when we thought things would turn around for Bouie, his new found friend lost her life in an automobile accident.

 We carried on and Bouie continued to improve. Out of the blue, his owner decided he wasn’t performing well enough and sent him off to another trainer. He was entered  in a  claiming, or selling race, eighteen days later. I promptly put up the money and brought him home.

He ran two very good races, finishing fourth, then second. One week later he injured himself and was off for six months. Racehorses, in most states, must win their first race within a specified amount of time and Bouie’s time was running out. He only had four months left before his date with the deadline, which was December 31, 2008.

After a few uneventful races to get him back in the condition he needed to be in to compete successfully, he got his act together with a fourth place finish, followed by three seconds in a row.  In his final race before the deadline, scheduled to be run at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on December 29, 2008, he was the favorite to win. There were no other horses in the race who had been racing as well as Bouie had. It looked this was the day he would finally win his first race.

Disaster would strike again, not just for Bouie, but for hundreds of other equine athletes.

A horse became seriously ill at the Fair Grounds. It was diagnosed with Equine Herpes Virus 1, or rhinoneumonitis. The stable where this horse was housed was quarantined. Over 70 horses from that barn were at risk of catching this dreaded disease. In the days leading up to Bouie’s race, there were constant changes in the restrictions placed on other horses racing in the Crescent City.

At first, I was told that we would be allowed to came in for the race, provided Bouie had been properly vaccinated and had health papers from his vet as proof. No problem! Due to the distance we had to travel, we left on Sunday. Along the way, my phone starts ringing. Concerned friends were letting me know about rumors they had heard about horses not being allowed to come into the stable area for the race.

I placed a few calls myself. I had heard that horses would be allowed to come into the stable area for their respective races but would not be allowed to leave. That set plans in motion to leave Bouie in New Orleans until the quarantine was lifted. He had to run in this race, and he had to win. It was his last chance.

Halfway through my six hour trip, I got the dreaded call.  My jockey’s agent bluntly told me to turn around and go back home. The officials at the track had decided not to let any horses come into the stable area. All horses not stabled on the track’s facility were ordered scratched out of their races. Only horses residing at the racetrack would be allowed to compete. This left many races with only a handful of horses. Bouie’s race had only two competitors left.

I am outraged about all of this. The Louisiana State Racing Commission clearly posted a rule stating that ALL horses had to be vaccinated against rhino with a letter from the attending veterinarian stating which brand of vaccine each horse received, the amount given and the date it was administered. I abided by all the rules.

What isn’t fair is that these two remaining horses were allowed to compete against each other in what amounted to a match race, which is illegal. They got to take home all the purse money while Bouie, who was expected to win, stood dozing in his stall. Bouie will not get another chance to prove that he is capable of winning, although he is a winner in my heart. He has overcome insurmountable difficulties to achieve the success that he did have.

I called the racing secretary’s office immediately after I was informed to turn around. The lady who answered the call put in my “scratch” card and then instructed me to call the racing stewards in the morning. The stewards are the officials who preside over the racing at each track and make make all final decisions, sort of like a judge in a courtroom.

When I spoke to the stewards they apologized for not allowing me to run, indicated that this was “an unfortunate incident” and actually said “Have a nice day”.  How can I have a nice day after all of this? I have spent nearly a year getting my horse to the point where he was capable of winning a race. Now it is all over. We will miss the deadline. Bouie will not get another chance to race in Louisiana unless we travel to central Texas or Oklahoma and win a race there.

All of this could have been avoided if everyone had followed the rules. Bouie would have been able to race today and there is no doubt in my mind that he would have come home a winner.

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Tags: handicapping, horse racing, thoroughbred, training

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under horses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.