The Georgia Horse Racing Coalition visited Hannah and Mistie Lewis yesterday at the Southern Grace Equestrian Center in Dawsonville, GA and while he has a long road to recovery, you could feel his happiness radiating in his new home.
In case you do not know the story, here is the must read piece by award winning writter Margaret Ransom:
The Sad Tale Of Zenyatta’s Little Brother
by Margaret Ransom
In 2008, just under two months before the great race mare Zenyatta won the first of her two Breeders’ Cup races in that year’s Distaff at Santa Anita, her half-brother by Giant’s Causeway was making headlines of his own at the annual Keeneland September Yearling Sale in Lexington, Kentucky.
The handsome chestnut, who was bred by a high-profile partnership consisting of of Maverick Racing and Ashford Stud, and who carried what could be considered the bluest of racing blood, was already a half-brother to a Grade I winner — Balance — and his connections were comfortably riding the wave of his at-the-time-undefeated sister Zenyatta, which no doubt helped boost the final bid on him from Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation to $1.15 million when the hammer fell.
The colt out of the Kris S. mare Vertigineux, who would eventually be named Souper Spectacular, was one of 12 youngsters who brought seven figures on the second night of the annual yearling sales marathon. With both looks and pedigree on his side, just about everyone agreed his future was bright.
Fast forward to just a few nights ago at a tiny livestock auction located in a small, yet historic “blink and you’ll miss it” Georgia town called Eastanollee. Souper Spectacular passed through a sales ring once again, but instead of any fanfare, he was almost an afterthought in his grossly underweight body and depressed state, his recent past shrouded in mystery.
At this Georgia auction, instead of being paraded about as an example of thoroughbred breeding’s excellence, he quickly became an example of the industry’s darker side and also of a horse that, despite having everything going for him from birth, never really had much luck — but finally had it come back around in his favor.
Continue reading at US Racing