After our Buying a Retired Racehorse blog post, we received a lot of great feedback about our success stories. Here is another success story from horseOlogy.
Origin Story
Time Will Tell was an outstanding physical form from day one. He had all the parts to be a successful racehorse with owner aspirations of the Triple Crown. After showing early promise, he simply began to lose interest in racing. He was given time off to reset his mind, but ultimately, he decided he preferred a less demanding life. In always putting the horse first, Jena and his owner made the call to retire him from racing. After retirement, he went to Tri-Color Stables in Ocala to start retraining for the next phase of his life. He was instantly a barn favorite and they considered keeping him. And from here the journey begins…
We spoke with Meredith Gallagher of Carriage Hill Farm in South Florida to find out how one of our all-time favorites Time Will Tell, now lovingly known as Gold Label found his new home, career and how he is flourishing in his show horse life!
John R. Beebe, an ex-jockey and the current owner of Arlington Farms, has long been involved in show horses. He works closely with Meredith and called on her to find him a new thoroughbred jumper prospect. After searching near and far unsuccessfully she stumbled upon a Facebook ad with only one conformation photo that read, “Lovely 6-year-old 16 hand thoroughbred gelding.” It may sound corny, but we were almost certain this was THE horse, said Meredith.
Meredith was at a show in Kentucky and sensing this was “the one” practically begged Angie of Tri-Color Stables to hold him for her until she could get the horses at the show loaded up and got on the road. She knew she didn’t have time to waste. Meredith drove directly from the show, 14 hours to Ocala, with all of the show horses in tow! She arranged to overnight the horses in Ocala so she could make sure her instincts were correct. Time Will Tell was the lovely 6-year-old the post had promised. His natural balance, calm demeanor, and correct flat-work were enough to convince Meredith of what she already knew. With a full trailer, it would be the next day that John and Meredith would make a special trip back to Ocala to take possession of the horse who would soon be known as Gold Label.
Competition Jumper
Sunny as he was dubbed on the drive home never batted an eyelash at his new situation. Even though he didn’t show that first winter, he took fieldtrips to WEF to get used to the grounds. With his racing background and confidence, he was genuinely unimpressed by all the goings on.
With Meredith leading (err rather riding!) the way Sunny made his debut in the summer of 2021 at Fox Lea Farms in the .65m baby jumpers division and advanced quickly through the levels. The height of the jumps was never an issue, but slightly more technical courses were a bit of a challenge. They took their time. They just wanted him to understand that this next step was no big deal, he could do it. In the end, he jumped only a single 1.0m round before starting the Winter Equestrian Festival in 2021.
The first season was definitely a work in progress. Meredith admits that she and Sunny both made mistakes with having annoying four and eight fault rounds and a few arguments over which jump was next! But the gamble paid off and Gold Label claimed the 2021 WEF Circuit Championship in the Take2 Thoroughbred Jumper Division.
Over the next year, this great duo kept working hard. They focused on collection exercises and did a lot of schooling with wide ground lines to help him better gauge the distances to and over the height of the jumps. Putting the time in the tack yielded the pair but yet another Winter Equestrian Festival Championship taking the 2022 Take2 Thoroughbred Jumper Circuit Championship. The Circuit Championship was this much sweeter the second time around for Meredith and Sunny as they chose to only show 8 of the 13 weeks and claimed Championship ribbons with mostly clear rounds each week. To say Meredith was proud of Sunny’s consistency would be an understatement!
Continued Success
The Take2 program just announced their 2022 TAKE2 High-Score Hunter and Jumper Champions. John Beebe’s Gold Label was named the Jumper Champion! Way to go team!! https://tinyurl.com/54ht6wpv
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