Ever since I first met Dorado nearly two years ago, I’ve wanted to know about his past. He came with very little history from his owner when he was donated. All I knew about him was that he had been a racehorse for part of his life, and then spent about four years of his life munching happily on grass in a pasture. While that history may have been alright for some people, I wanted to know more. The problem? Only three characters in his tattoo were clearly readable.
Before I adopted him, I’d had several of my fellow staff members take a look at it and see what they could come up with. The answer was the same from all of them: “Sorry, Erica, I have no clue.”
When I finally brought him home, I decided it was time to switch the tattoo reading into high gear. I had high hopes that when Dorado got his teeth floated, my vet would be able to take a look and read it off with no trouble. After all, when I’d considered buying a Thoroughbred mare–she had already been retrained when I looked at her–about six years ago, he’d had no trouble with that one. Well, Dorado’s tattoo was a different story. Like the rest of us, he could only make out three or four characters, and the final few characters eluded him as well. With my best hope dashed, should I just let it go and accept the fact that his history would remain a mystery?
That wasn’t an option for me. I searched the Internet from top to bottom for tips on reading a hard-to-read tattoo. One website suggested bringing the horse into a dimly lit area and then shining a flashlight directly on the ink. Since I’d already tried reading the tattoo in countless different lighting situations, I didn’t think it was even worth trying. I kept searching. The other suggestions I found included special ultraviolet lights and other expensive methods. The flashlight was sounding like a better and better idea by the minute!
So before long, I grabbed my father–two sets of eyes are better than one!–and trucked down to the barn with a flashlight in tow. I brought Dorado to the dimmest corner of the barn and flipped up his lip. My father shined the light on the tattoo and, low and behold, we could read it as clear as day!
After letting the horses out from eating dinner, I bounded up to the house, punched the newly found tattoo number into the research form on the Jockey Club’s website, and hit submit. As long as they could find a match, I would have the information I had been searching so long for in less than a week.
Over the next few day, the anticipation was absolutely mind-bending! Where was he born? Who were his parents? How many races did he run in? How much money did he earn over his career? Most importantly, what was his real name? I could barely stand the suspense!
My questions were answered just two days later. The Jockey Club had found a match to the tattoo I submitted and. had e-mailed me the information as soon as they pulled it together.
I couldn’t stop smiling when I learned his real name: Eldorado’s Quest. He was a 1995 California baby by a successful stud named Man From Eldorado, and was in his maiden crop of foals. His dam, Village Secret, is a great-granddaughter of the immortal Secretariat (pictured right).
Looking at his pedigree, I was sure he was a big winner. Dorado is a grandson of the great
Well, as it turns out, a stakes horse he was not. In fact, my “stakes horse” won a grand total of $155 in his entire career. I guess there’s a reason you shouldn’t solely rely on pedigree to purchase a racehorse! He was sold as a two-year-old by his breeder and pulled only $13,000 – an extremely low price for a racehorse with his bloodlines.
He only raced three times. All of his starts were at the track in Albuquerque, NM. His best finish was in his first race, where he ran fourth in a 5 ½ furlong race and won all of his career earnings. From there, it went downhill. In fact, he did not even finish his last race. When I told a good friend of mine about his illustrious career, she simply said, “I guess he’s just meant for something bigger than racing”. I would have to agree.
I’ve just returned from Rolex Kentucky, so we’ve had just a few fun hacks and are set to resume training as soon as it stops raining in Michigan!
On a side note, I was thrilled to see so many off-the-track Thoroughbreds doing so well at Rolex! As we all know, Rolex is one of the elite events in the world and to see so many horses being so incredibly successful in second careers brought a smile to my face. Mike Winter’s Wonderful Will (pictured left) looked exceptional in the dressage. Arctic Dancer, ridden by Ralph Holstein, and Above’N’Beyond and Tiffani Loudon-Meetze (pictured right) made easy work of Mike Etherington-Smith’s cross-country course, and Ashley Adams’ Vaunted jumped beautifully in the show jumping.
