One Rescue But Slaughter Continues
Professional Horsemen Worked Together To Save Namesake Little Cliff
As inhumane conditions for horses and slaughter continue, one Little Cliff, a claiming racehorse named for turf writer Cliff Guilliams, was saved by concerned horsemen.
In Illinois and in Indiana, the sales to kill buyers in kill auctions, and the slaughter of reportedly healthy horses continues almost at an uninterrupted pace despite proposed legislation to stop them. There are three slaughterhouses in the United States, all of which are owned by foreign interests who supply the product of horsemeat to the lands of Holland, Japan, Belgium, France, and Italy.
Unabatedly, the kill auctions convene every Friday morning at the Shipshewana Action, Inc. in northern Indiana.
One little fellow, who meant a lot to many people, was saved from a slaughterhouse ending in March when racing records revealed that Nick Zito, a Hall of Fame trainer, and Robert LaPenta, a Thoroughbred race horse owner, had ties with the claimer named Little Cliff. LaPenta owns War Pass, the Juvenile Champion Male of 2007. Zito trains him, as well as two other entries in this Saturday's Kentucky Derby, Anak Nakal and Cool Coal Man.
Little Cliff was discovered in a direct-to-kill pen in New Holland, Pennsylvania March 11. He had last raced on March 1, entered in a claiming race at Philadelphia Park. When Little Cliff changed hands following his 7th-place finish in the claimer event, a former representative of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, Diana Baker, provided the horse's records to Christy Sheidy, co-founder of Another Chance 4 Horses, a rescue agency in Bernville, PA.
Little Cliff and the former champion racer, The Cliff's Edge, were both named for Cliff Guilliams, a Thoroughbred chart caller and turf writer and friend of Zito and his wife, Kim, who are active horse rescue advocates.
A sticker on Little Cliff's Jockey Club papers, written history which follows a horse's career, had been written by Zito. The note said, "If this horse needs a home when he retires, please call." And the call went forth.
Little Cliff had raced in the big leagues briefly. At age two, he finished sixth behind Political Force and Flashy Bull in his second start. As a 3-year-old, Little Cliff had two third place finishes, in the Leonard Richards, a grade 3 race, and in the Sir Barton Stakes. He earned $202,762, starting 27 races and winning three of them.
LaPenta had purchased Little Cliff at the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale, then bought him back at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale the next year.
After Little Cliff's papers were traced to Zito and LaPenta, the two horsemen combined efforts to send Sheidy enough monetary support to handle Little Cliff's now rescued future.
