Saving Takoda: Happy Birthday Takoda!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Ok, so there are a couple surprises I have not posted about Takoda yet. I wanted to save them for a very special occasion, and today happens to be it!

Several weeks ago I did a search on pedigrees, as I was trying to ascertain if Takoda had ever actually raced. I found a site www.pedigreequery.com where any race horse that happens to be in their registry has all sorts of information about them listed. Here are some VERY neat (I think) things I found out about our boy:

He was foaled in Florida on March 23, 2003 (making him 6 years old today!)
He was bought (I believe in November, 2003) for $29,000.
His actual name was Collective, by Charismatic and out of You're A Lady
He has two VERY famous great-great grandfathers: Secretariat (whose earnings were $1,316,808 in the early 1970s!) and Mr. Prospector (who sired a winner of each of the triple crown races)!!!
He has raced 26 times! but did not do so well (fine by me!): 3-1-3 (win-place-show)
His career earnings were a paltry $40,133
His lip tattoo reads G15791 (the letter is the year he was born, and the 5 numbers have to do with his jockey club registration)

But, regardless of all that, he's got a new life now. As Kim emailed me the other day in response to an update I gave her on Takoda she writes, " He has a family that loves him and that's the best part." I couldn't agree more!

Happy Birthday Takoda! May you have many, many more as a member of our family. Of course there are pictures below!

Here he is wondering what the heck we put on his head and why the whole family has come out to see him!

The birthday treats we made for all the horses were carrots with a center carved out to hold a frosting filling - then covered with sprinkles of course! That's my 7 year old daughter feeding his "birthday carrot" to him.