SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – “We go to the yearling sales to buy some good horses,” Jack Wolf, co-founder of Starlight Stable and founder of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, said. “Unfortunately, most of the time, they’re not.”Of the thousands of Thoroughbreds born in North America each year, a relatively small percentage will find true success on the racetrack – and an even smaller group is worthy of becoming breeding stock. Thoroughbreds, as a breed characteristic, thrive on activity – meaning they are typically happier being transitioned into a second career following their racetrack life. “Thoroughbreds are better when they have a job to do,” said New York trainer Rick Violette, who serves as president of Take The Lead, a retirement program for horses stabled at NYRA tracks created by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “If they’re sound enough, and can [do more than being] a backyard ornament, they just function better when there’s a purpose in life for them.” Indeed, Thoroughbreds have gone on to success in a variety of post-racing careers – most recently prominently highlighted in summer 2016, when ex-racehorse Blackfoot Mystery became the latest off-the-track Thoroughbred to compete at the Olympics. While some sport-horse careers, such as Blackfoot Mystery’s sport of eventing, are more demanding than occupations such as recreational trail riding, horses must still emerge from their racing careers without an excessive amount of wear and tear precluding them from moving on.Noted veterinarian Patricia Hogan says that educating owners and trainers about how to keep a racehorse sound enough that he or she can have a productive post-racing career is a major piece of the aftercare puzzle the Thoroughbred industry grapples with. “What we’re trying to do is avoid the ‘one-last-race’ syndrome, where the horse is racing, has a problem, but you keep it in check,” Hogan said at a seminar titled “Knowing When To Retire Your Racehorse,” presented in Saratoga Springs in August and counting toward the required continuing-education hours for trainers and assistant trainers. Hogan explained that if a racehorse has a chronic, minor problem that is brushed aside to the point where it progresses into an acute injury “it changes completely what the horse can do. Everyone loses in that scenario. You can’t squeeze the lemon dry.” Most fractures in racehorses are the result of stress, Hogan said. Some bone remodeling is a natural response to training and is even beneficial in the development of stronger bones. But those changes can extend further into a pathological state as a result of fatigue, meaning connections must be vigilant as to when the horse may be near that tipping point. To that end, Hogan cited advancements in modern veterinary technology, with radiographic exam, skeletal scintigraphy, MRI, and robotic imagery becoming more affordable and accessible. “You can’t really see from an X-ray that a bone is actively remodeling,” Hogan said. “There’s a lot in tissue that you can’t see, except with an MRI.” Hogan added that the next major advancement in-progress in veterinary technology that could help pinpoint injuries before they occur could be a blood test to check for the elevation of enzymes associated with bone remodeling. Of course, not all horses retire from racing due to injury. Lisa Molloy, director of ReRun Thoroughbred Adoption, says owners are more receptive to retiring a sound horse who is not as competitive than they were 10 years ago. Aftercare organizations are able to more quickly place sound horses in adoptive homes, allowing more horses to come through the organization for help, rather than spending limited funds and time in rehabbing horses from injury. “If the horse is not thriving or doing well in the career that they’re doing, you move on to another career,” Molloy said. In order to maximize the success of horses after leaving the track, aftercare organizations employ various screening processes to place horses with suitable adopters with goals the horse may thrive in. This evaluation process can, informally, start before a horse leaves the track. Trainer Graham Motion and his wife, Anita, have sent a number of former Herringswell Stable trainees on to successful second careers – including classic-placed Icabad Crane, now a winning eventer in two-time Olympic gold medalist Phillip Dutton’s barn. Anita Motion said that a racehorse’s way of moving, personality, and physical build can provide clues as to where a horse might thrive in a second career. “Leading up to the end of a horse’s career, you pinpoint a horse,” she said. “Some are incredibly quiet, placid, maybe not such a fancy mover. Some are very zippy and quick, small, maybe suited to the polo field. . . . I think while they’re still in training, we start to find of figure out where they might go next.”