Blood

If there is something worth appreciating with an OTTB, it's that you know a big chunk of their story as far as who their mom and dad and ancestors were. I had a gorgeous *gorgeous* 14.1 hand pony mare, Bella, prior to Maxwell. Not a clue who mom or dad was, just knew she came out of a backyard at 2 years old. No tattoo to check into her, and be sure of who she was. She's a "your guess is as good as mine but we like to call her anything from Connemara to Thoroughbred/Welsh to Quarter Pony depending on who you ask".

 Yep, she's quite the looker, that one. I miss her, but of course I don't regret my decision and LOVE having Max. Anyways, the point is, I never knew, and most likely NEVER WILL KNOW her story and her ancestors and where she came from and what she is. I'm happy to be able to tell you exactly who Maxwell is, where he came from and what his family is. In the course of researching Max, I decided to look up the two racehorses my mom and dad owned back in the 80's, prior to me. I guess it's in the family, sort of, to have an OTTB. They weren't HUGE into it, and both race horses, though showing true promise, weren't holding up on the track. I can't recall what happened to each, I know one was put down on the track (allegedly) from a training injury, but my parents never saw the horse once it was 'put down' and the there had been a rival at the track (Hawthorne) that had eyes for the horse. So much drama, man! The other one I believe retired but I don't know the details. I've decided to share a bit of Max's history as well as the two other track horses that were in the family, even if it was before I existed!

I'll start with Baby Maxwell:

 This is pretty much self explanatory. I have heard many good things about Skip Trial having some nice jumper babies. As you can see Max is well bred on both sides. He has Storm Cat, thankfully far enough back that he doesn't display the 'standoffish' personality associated with his offspring. However, maybe that's where Max's grouch face comes from when it's grooming time!

Power Turn:

Power Turn was the race horse that I saw most pictures of from my parents growing up. He was the horse that they had high hopes for. There's a little bit of his blood in Max's blood, through that Secretariat lineage. It was neat to still see my parent's names on Equibase under connections as of last start.

Tiltawhirl:

I don't know as much about this guy, aside from the fact that I always loved his name.

I just think it's so awesome to be able to track an OTTB's pedigree back as far as we can. To know a bit about their history at the race track, and to really know the life they led and what they did. Obviously many other breeds have books dating back much farther, but really so much is lost when an animal is imported, including career records.

I've got the OTTB bug, everyone!