Hap-Pily Ever After

It was just another day making sales calls. About eight years ago, I walked into a Farmstead Veterinary clinic in rural Indiana and looked at their wall-mounted cork board–the kind with tacked-up business cards. There was a gleaming picture of a horse with a flaxen mane and tail. I said to Ken Kimmick, DVM, “I know that horse. That's Hap.”

A stunned Dr. Kimmick replied that was indeed Hap, and the story unfolded.

Hap had a royal pedigree and was bred and owned by Allen Paulson. But Hap's recent passing at age 28 at Old Friends Farm went largely unnoticed even though the colt earned $1.3 million as a multiple-graded-stakes-winning superstar. He won the GII Bernard Baruch twice, the GII Keeneland Shadwell Turf, the GII Dixie Stakes, The GII Fourstardave, and the GIII New Hampshire Sweeps at the now-defunct Rockingham Park. Hap also participated in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf and the GI Breeders Cup Mile.

But eventually his front-page triumphs and supermodel good looks became back-page fodder. In 2009, he was catalogued at the Keeneland January venue and sold for $7,300, the victim of a racing-related ankle injury and dwindled interest in a stallion prospect with a turf pedigree.

A few years later, a client of Dr. Kimmick's named Richard Anderson arranged to lease Hap. However, the stallion was in poor condition. The soft-spoken Kimmick knew something had to be done and recommended Hap be signed over to Richard to avoid involving animal control.

It was estimated that Hap weighed 600 pounds. His once-brilliant chestnut coat was dull and falling out. Richard Anderson, a retired truck driver who suffered from Parkinson's disease, hitched his horse trailer and loaded both Hap and his starving pasture companion-who lay down in the trailer and had to be euthanized. “You could have thought these horses were in a concentration camp,” said Kimmick.

Dr. Kimmick and Anderson nursed Hap back to normal weight. “Emaciated horses require a careful refeeding program. It was a slow process and Hap was on death's door,” said Kimmick. Hap was a model patient who Anderson, despite his illness and cane use, could easily hand graze.

Unfortunately, Anderson's health worsened and Hap needed to be moved. The stallion's future became uncertain again and the teenaged Hap had few options.

I felt Hap's distress. My wife tolerated the idea of buying the five-acre field next to our home to raise Hap. That dream was crushed by financial reality. But what could be done?

Kiaran McLaughlin knew Hap's former trainer and gave me that cell phone number. I called twice, left messages not asking for anything but advice, but didn't receive a return call. Maybe I misdialed. Photographer Barbara Livingston emailed beautiful pictures of Hap during his racing days and offered encouragement regarding Hap's predicament, but a resolution was at impasse.

The situation became so frustrating that Hap's plight became a pledge, one that took on a life of its own.

I met Michael Blowen at Old Friends Farm, and he couldn't have been nicer. It seemed that Hap might land there. But there were only a few slots for the many horses in need. I recall making a small donation, and then prayed.

The months went by. As Richard Anderson became weaker, his wife pleaded for help.

One night lying in bed things changed. Who owned Hap as a racehorse? The Allen Paulsen Living Trust did, but by that time Mr. Paulsen had passed away. What about his wife Madeleine, who subsequently married oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens? And after an internet search, I found Pickens's business website, clicked on the “contact us” tab, and asked that Madeleine be made aware of Hap's journey. Exasperated, the thought was, `why would a billionaire return this inquiry?'

A few hours later the phone rang, and it was Madeleine. We talked about Hap's situation; she was empathetic and kind. About two days later, Cindy Grisolia at Old Friends called and said Hap was accepted. It didn't take a genius to figure that Madeleine pulled some strings, but she never boasted that. Hap was then boarded at Pleasantview Farm in Carlisle, Kentucky.

The farm owner, Stephen Upchurch, took care of Hap for eight years. He nursed the stallion though the ups and downs of aging. When Hap lost his will to live, Stephen asked if Hap could be buried on his farm. From a Saratoga superstar to lying in peace in rural Kentucky, Hap was loved to the end by a person who never benefitted from his racing career, but became a loyal friend.

“We were honored to get a horse like Hap,” said Grisolia. “That's the spirit of Old Friends.”

There are wonderful people in racing that care about horses. They seem immune to compassion fatigue–a term that refers to a loss of empathy due to an overload of stress. Yet, the number of horses in need and the resources required for their care can be overwhelming.

There were 17,000 foals born in 2023, of which 66% are predicted to race. It probably takes 25,000 broodmares to produce these foals and an estimated 10% of the broodmare population are likely replaced annually. Only a few new stallion prospects are retired each year. Over the past 25 years, there have been 643,000 registered Thoroughbreds. As these data are analyzed, it reveals potential for many Thoroughbred racehorses to be unaccounted for.

Hopefully, this story provides hope and a bittersweet perspective. The horses give their all and ultimately rely on us to provide them with a safety net.

The author writes and is an equine pharmaceutical rep.