Erik Johnson is a superstar hockey player for the Colorado Avalanche, but he's also a racehorse owner. This past weekend, he became part of the story swirling around racing in California when his filly Princess Dorian broke down at Del Mar in an $8,000 claiming race. “How could we not step up and do everything we can to save this horse,” he asks on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast.
Johnson told the writers–Joe Bianca, Alan Carasso, Bill Finley and DJ Stables' Jon Green–about what happened at Del Mar, and why they decided to spend $20,000 saving an $8,000 claimer with, he admits, no residual value.
“She was entered Sunday in an $8,000 claiming race going six-and-a-half furlongs at Del Mar,” he said. “Se was approaching the top of the stretch and it looked like she was going to go right on by and she took a real bad step. Immediately, I was watching the race, and my stomach sunk. It was the worst feeling ever. I reached out to (trainer) Andrew Lerner, and he let me know it didn't look good. And I told him, `”Listen, do whatever you can to save this horse's life. I don't care what it costs. She deserves it.”
Johnson said not only was it the right thing to do, but that he hopes that it will serve as a representative example to people both in and out of the industry. “I think everyone knows the negativity surrounding California racing right now,” said Johnson. “I hope that most owners would do what I did and give the horse a chance to recover. I look at it like, `how much money do you spend on bills every month? How much money do you spend on buying horses? And you're telling me you can't fork over $20,000 to save a horse's life?' I mean, come on. It seems like a no-brainer to me. How could you not do everything you could?
“I think people need to see that people care for their horses in this way–not that they don't, because think 99.9 percent of them do, but I think it's important to show the general public. Look at the lengths that people are going to to save this horse's life. Princess Dorian is worth nothing if she retired as a broodmare today, but she's worth everything to try and save her life and give her a good life. She earned $150,000 on the racetrack. She deserves nothing less.”
To listen to the entire podcast, which includes an extended interview with Johnson as the Green Group guest of the week, and also visits the topics of the two-year-old and three-year-old divisional pictures and the 2020 Derby prospects, click here.
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