Today is Oak Tree Derby Day, and we honor the career of our retiree Mananan Mclir, who placed in the Gr. 2 Oak Tree Derby in 2006. It is a perfect moment to reflect upon the fate of racehorses who are literally abandoned at the racetrack every day. Mananan Mclir started 47 times, and his record was 9-8-4. He was already a stakes winner in England before embarking upon his American career that earned him more than half a million dollars. Among his achievements were winning the Gr.2 American Derby, and placing in the Gr. 2 Oak Tree and Hollywood Derbys. But it seems there was no way Mananan Mclir could do enough to earn the loyalty of any of his former owners, and in the end he was traded down the claiming ranks until he broke down at Hollywood Park on July 4th of 2008. Cast aside and "unwanted", Mananan Mclir became a ward of charity.
Mananan Mclir at Tranquility Farm.
To prevent the exploitation and abandonment of horses at the racetrack is the challenge of our time. But until this is achieved the only thing that horses like Mananan Mclir have to depend upon is charity. The kindness of strangers. California's horses need Tranquility Farm, and Tranquility Farm needs you. We are caring for more than one hundred former racehorses, and the great majority of them have shared the fate of Mananan Mclir. No matter how difficult, they have done everything that was asked of them, because that is the nature of a Thoroughbred. What we have yet to determine is how much longer racing will allow the abandonment of injured horses to be considered nothing more than just the unfortunate nature of a human being?
