Lights On Broadway Is HOME!!!

Lights On Broadway is home in Texas. He arrived here about 6:30 pm on Thoroughbred Transport. My first impression of this horse was he is a champion. He knows it too. We had a small group of people waiting for him to unload from the van. He walked off slowly and then struck a pose as if he was waiting for the cameras to start flashing.

After a few quick pictures I led him to out to the pasture to hand graze and let him get a good look around the farm. Every time a horse would winnie he would strike the pose again. So Funny!! After grazing I took him to his stall, ( huge foaling stall ), and turned him loose. He seems very content and nickered for some grain. Although he is still thin he looks to be in very good health and seems sound. I think we are going to be alright but I am going to give him a power pack and start him on some ulcer medication just be sure. He still needs about 200 pounds.

Lights seems as gentle and kind as everyone has said. A total class act. I am very thankful to everyone that worked so hard to get this horse back to Texas. Thanks so much to The Sanders who purchased him from the killer buyer, Mary Overton and all the folks who sponsor the TOP BUNK LIST, The Alex Brown Racing Site, and every person who gave from their hearts by making a donation to make this happen for Lights On Broadway.

I will keep you guys updated on his progress and attach more pictures soon.

Peter Rabbit, 32 year old horse evicted from the only home he knows

Shame on Hickman, Nebraska who has evicted this horse from his home. 32 year old Peter Pan was born in a 4 acre pasture and has lived his entire life there. Now the city of Hickman has annexed the property and has sent his 76 year old owner notice to move the horse. This will be catastrophic for Peter Rabbit at his age.
Please call the city of Hickman and tell them what you think. The more phone calls and letters the better. The clerk of Hickman is keeping a log of calls. Let's do what we can to keep this horse at home.

Anyone with more info or other links with information about this story please post a comment here on the blog.

City of Hickman115 Locust Street P.O. Box 127Hickman, NE 68372
Telephone: (402) 792-2212E-mail: bbaker@hickman.ne.govwebsite: CITY OF HICKMAN
NEBRASKA - CITY OF HICKMAN

CLICK HERE TO SIGN A PETITION TO KEEP PETER RABBIT AT HOME

Rescue Update for Lights On Broadway

We are impatiently awaiting the arrival of Lights of Broadway. He is supposed to start his journey back to Texas this afternoon when his current owner Gregg Sanders will transport him from his 30 horse stable in Henryetta, Oklahoma to Remington Park in Oklahoma City. Lights will then rest there until Saturday when he will be brought to our farm in Burleson, Texas by Angelo Trosclair, owner of Thoroughbred Transport.



The story of Lights On Broadway is an incredible one. This horse has been through so much and we have so many people to thank for helping in this nationwide effort to get him home to Texas.


Lights On Broadway is a 11 year old Texas bred gelding who until last month was still racing. He has 83 lifetime starts with 15 wins, 13 seconds and 14 thirds and earning of over half a million dollars, most which came in allowance and stakes company until recently when he dropped to the bottom claiming level.


About 3 months ago owner/trainer Gregg Sanders was approached by a killer horse buyer with a gooseneck trailer with approximately 40 horses crammed in it. The man told Gregg he needed to show something to him. He pulled a old worn set of papers off his dash and Gregg was blown away when he saw the horses name on the papers. Lights On Broadway was remembered as being horse of the year. How in the world did he end up here?




Gregg asked to see him and the horse trader showed him a big chestnut gelding 3 from the back of the overfilled trailer. Thin and lame, Lights On Broadway was led off the trailer and purchased by Gregg. The trader told him he would be glad to come back and get him if he didn't work out. Gregg and his family wouldn't let that happen.




At the same time this was going on Lights On Broadway had been placed on a watch list by a group that calls themselves the Fans of Barbaro on the Alex Brown Racing Site. These compassionate folks keep a watch list for thoroughbred racehorses in need of retirement and try to relocate them to new homes off the racetrack through donations from horse lovers.



They contacted Gregg when they saw him show up on the list. Gregg was happy to help in the efforts to get Lights back to Texas.



We can not wait to have him home and give him some well deserved time off. He will be turned out with a couple of other geldings in a big paddock with a nice size pond. When he is ready we will start retraining him for a new life. Whether it be a racetrack pony, a dressage horse or just a plain ol' trail buddy for someone he will be loved and cherished by all the wonderful people that worked so hard to make this happen.



I will be posting lots of pictures as soon as he arrives. Thanks so much to everyone, Lights On Broadway will be a living testimony to show that exracers are worth giving a second chance to. Shame on the folks who almost doomed the future of this outstanding athlete and all the thanks and appreciation in the world to Gregg Sanders and his family for saving his life.

Stranger things have happened, Foal Born at LaD

This morning when we arrived at the track for training a rumor was floating around about a foal born on the backside in the middle of the night. By 6 am it was confirmed, a 2 year old filly gave birth to a filly during the night in the Pat Mouton Stable at Louisiana Downs. Now I know for sure the filly was born but the rest of the details may or may not be totally factual so take them with a grain of salt, (although they came from a pretty good source). Rumor has it this filly had been in training with Mouton for a while and was being kept at a nearby training facility. She was brought to Louisiana Downs sometime before Sunday morning where she worked 3 furlongs in 36 and change. She has been in the Mouton's regular barn on the backside since then. Boy, I wish I would have seen the look on the grooms face this morning when he arrived at her stall.
I heard one trainer mention that he noticed the mare waxing and dripping milk while coming of the track yesterday morning. I have heard others say she didn't have a bag formed but was an 'easy keeper' so to speak and was a little over weight. Who knows...
What I do know is that someone should have noticed something wasn't right with this filly. Whether it was her weight problem, her enlarged bag, her absence of a cycle, something, someone needs to be responsible. This filly could have caused serious danger to herself, her foal, and her exercise rider on Sunday or any day prior to that while she was in race training. Ultimately I guess the trainer responsibility rule is in effect here but then again, he surely wasn't the one who left her out with the colts too long.
Breeders and owners alike and not to mention trainers should learn 2 valuable lessons here.
1. Don't leave fillies and colts together, even when you think they are too young to breed.
2. If you have a filly in training that is gaining weight and looking and little thick through the flank spend the twenty bucks and palpate them.

Looking for Partners for Four 2 year old fillies and geldings

We have 4 two year old thoroughbreds for sale at out farm that are currently in training and almost ready for the racetrack. We had originally decided to keep them and try to prove our new stallions but with Dallas breaking his hand this summer and a few other set backs we decided to sell them either in a package or individually in partnerships. We would still like to keep an interest in all of them if possible. Please email us at dallaskeen@hotmail.com if you have any questions on how we do partnerships.
The first is La Oro Diva, a gray Texas Bred filly by Oro Negra and out of Open Fairway, by Open Forum. She is a January foal and is very mature. She should be ready to start by the end of the summer. La Oro Diva is 15.2 hands, correct and very feisty.
Second is Clearly Persuaded, a bay Texas Bred filly by Oro Negra and out of Auntie Adele, by Carborundum. Auntie Adele had earnings in excess of $97,000 and Clearly Persuaded is her third foal, with one winner from two starters. Clearly Persuaded stands 16.2 hands tall and has correct conformation. She is currently in training at our farm.
Next is Diamante De Oro. He is a 2 year old Texas Bred brown gelding by Oro Negra out of Diazo Sport, by Diazo. He is a second foal, the first foal out of this mare broke his maiden at Lone Star Park this meet by 8 lengths. Diamante De Oro is currently in training at our farm.
Last is Texas Treat. Texas Treat is a 2 year old bay Texas Bred gelding by Oro Negra and out of Storm In Texas, by Storm Boot. We are very fond of this colt for several reasons. He is a first foal and his mother died having her second. The foal suffered from a one in a million birth defect that causes the unborn foals joints to form as solid bones. Somehow she carried to full term but we but her down when attempts to remove the foal failed. She was our favorite mare. Storm In Texas' second dam earned over a million dollars. We had high hopes for her as a broodmare even though she didn't make it on the track due to an ankle injury. To make a long story short we would like to keep at least 50% of this colt. He is an outstanding individual.
If you are interested in any one or making a package deal on these 2 year olds please contact me or Dallas directly by phone, or email at dallaskeen@hotmail.com and go to our website at http://www.teamkeen.com/ . We would like to have all of these guys ready and running by the end of the summer.

Too Funny Not To Share

Big Brown Seen Leaving Belmont Carrying Large Sacks Of Cash
June 12, 2008 Onion Sports
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/big_brown_seen_leaving?utm_source=slate_rss_1
NEW YORK—Shortly after finishing in last place in the Belmont Stakes Saturday, Big Brown was reportedly seen leaving through the back exit of the Belmont stable locker rooms carrying several shopping bags stuffed with cash, which the 3-year-old colt placed into the back seat of his Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe. "I could hardly tell it was him because he was wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes, and a long trench coat, but I remember thinking he was so tall he had to be one of the athletes," said horseracing fan Jason Larson. "Still, I didn't figure it out until I saw the 'Big B' vanity plates on his car." According to numerous witnesses, Brown spent five minutes urinating on the windshield of trainer Rick Dutrow's car before driving off erratically at high speed.

Foaling time is over, now the real work begins

Everyone looks forward to the new foals each year and thanks to technology it is easier to ever to watch mares as they get close to foaling time. After years of getting up every hour or sleeping on cots in barns just to miss the wonderful event as you try to catch a nap or run a quick errand, we now have foaling down to a science.

Three years ago we invested in foal cams and a foaling alert system. Now we sleep through the night and don't feel as if we are chained to the barn. We can carry on as usual until the phone rings to alert us of mare laying down and then we log on to the computer to watch the mare in case assistance is required. Isn't technology great?

This year we had a small crop, only 4 foals. All but one were incredibly healthy. The other needed a little help. His mother had dripped milk for over two weeks and didn't provide her foal with adequate colostrum. The foal responded fine and would get up and visit with us each time we went into the stall but as we monitored his behavior from the computer we noticed he was not as active as a normal foal and spent a lot of time laying down. We called the vet early the next morning and as expected he was in need of plasma. Almost immediately the colt recovered and is now doing wonderful. Without the monitoring system we may not have noticed the lethargic behavior as quickly and been able to take the action needed in as timely of manner.

I recommend anyone with mares and foals get a foal cam and a foaling alert system. If you save one foal you will repay yourself hundreds of times over. Anyone interested in the system can contact us or go to our website and see our cameras at the farm. We also have a camera system at the racetrack where owners can log in to see their horses anytime during the day.

Incidentally one of my little boogers kicked the snot out of me a couple of days after he was born. Got to love them though... Now all four are halter broke, picking up there feet and on their way to a good start as being racehorses.