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Equine Protection Network
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July 22, 2003

The EPN is disgusted to learn of yet another famous TB stallion
being slaughtered.

The EPN's Christine Berry accomapanied the Daily Racing Form's Mike
Mullaney to the New Holland auction in 1998 after Mike had uncovered
the slaughter of Excellor.

The following news release is from the Bloodhorse:

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 21, 2003, 08:00 PM ET
Contact: Jay Wallace; (859) 276-6790; [email protected]


Death of a Derby Winner


The Blood-Horse Magazine Reports

1986 Kentucky Derby Winner Ferdinand
Believed to Have Been Slaughtered in Japan


Lexington, Kentucky, July 21, 2003 ­ In an exclusive report in the
July 26th issue of The Blood-Horse magazine, the Thoroughbred
industry¹s premiere weekly news and information magazine, 1986
Kentucky Derby-winning horse Ferdinand is reported to have been
apparently slaughtered in Japan. Upon retiring from racing,
Ferdinand originally stood at stud in Kentucky but was later
exported to Japan.

The following news item published on bloodhorse.com summarizes
Barbara Bayer¹s exclusive feature in The Blood-Horse magazine:

Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner who went on to capture the
following year¹s Horse of the Year title with a dramatic victory
over 1987 Derby hero Alysheba in the Breeders¹ Cup Classic, is dead.
The Blood-Horse has learned the big chestnut son of Nijinsky II died
sometime in 2002, most likely in a slaughterhouse in Japan, where
his career at stud was unsuccessful.

Reporter Barbara Bayer, as detailed in an exclusive story in the
July 26 issue of The Blood-Horse, attempted to learn of Ferdinand¹s
whereabouts after a member of the Howard Keck family that owned and
bred the horse inquired about having him returned to the United
States, where he began his career at stud in 1989. As a racehorse,
Ferdinand won eight of 29 starts and earned $3,777,978, retiring as
what was then the fifth leading money winner of all time. His
victory in the Kentucky Derby gave trainer Charlie Whittingham his
first success in that classic, and it was the final career Derby win
for jockey Bill Shoemaker.

Ferdinand was retired to stud in 1989 at Claiborne Farm near Paris,
Ky., where he was foaled. His initial stud fee was $30,000 live
foal, but he achieved little success as a stallion from his first
few crops of runners.

Sold to Japan¹s JS Company in the fall of 1994 at a time when
Japanese breeding farms were aggressively pursuing American and
European breeding stock, Ferdinand spent six breeding seasons at
Arrow Stud on the northern island of Hokkaido, from 1995-2000.
Initially popular with local breeders (he was mated to 77 mares his
first year), Ferdinand was bred to just 10 mares in his final year
at Arrow, and his owners opted to get rid of him.

After efforts by the farm staff to place Ferdinand with a riding
club failed, he passed into the hands of a Monbetsu, Japan, horse
dealer named Yoshikazu Watanabe and left the farm Feb. 3, 2001. No
attempt was made to contact either the Keck family or Claiborne Farm.

Bayer at first was told by Watanabe that Ferdinand had been ³given
to a friend.² When she asked for more information, she was told
Ferdinand ³was gelded and I think he¹s at a riding club far away
from here.² In fact, records showed Ferdinand was bred to six mares
in 2001 and then two in 2002. He spent a period of time at Goshima
Farm near Niikappu, where a former handler at Arrow Stud had seen
him.

Finally, when Bayer told Watanabe she wanted to see Ferdinand, the
story changed yet again. "Actually, he isn't around anymore," she
was told. "He was disposed of late last year." Ferdinand¹s
registration in Japan was annulled Sept. 1, 2002, Bayer learned.

In Japan, the term disposed of is used to mean slaughtered," Bayer
wrote in The Blood-Horse. "No one can say for sure when and where
Ferdinand met his end, but it would seem clear he met it in a
slaughterhouse."

"Unfortunately, to those well-versed in the realities beyond the
glitter and glory of the racetrack, it comes as no surprise," Bayer
wrote. "Ferdinand's story is the story of nearly every imported
stallion in Japan at that point in time when the figures no longer
weigh in his favor. In a country where racing is kept booming by the
world's highest purses and astronomical betting revenues,
Ferdinand¹s fate is not the exception. It is the rule.

"That's just disgusting," said Dell Hancock, whose family operates
Claiborne Farm, upon hearing the news of Ferdinand's likely
fate. "It's so sad, but there is nothing anyone can do now except
support John Hettinger's efforts to stop the slaughter of
Thoroughbreds in this country. That wouldn't change anything in
Japan...to have this happen to a Derby winner is just terrible."

While the Japanese are among the societies that consume horse meat,
it is more likely a slaughtered Thoroughbred would be used for pet
food, since the meat consumed by humans is a certain breed of horse
raised specifically for that purpose. The slaughter of no longer
useful imported breeding stock and many domestic Japanese
Thoroughbreds is not uncommon. Shortages of land and the high cost
of maintaining a pensioned horse are reasons slaughter is considered
an alternate. As in the U.S., where slaughter is also an option
available for horse owners, a number of organizations are attempting
to provide homes for retired and pensioned racehorses, stallions,
and mares. The Japan Racing Association funds one program that
currently benefits 90 horses.

Among the people Bayer met and spoke with while trying to learn of
Ferdinand¹s fate was Toshiharu Kaibazawa, who worked as a stallion
groom at Arrow Stud during the horse¹s years there. He called the
former champion ³the gentlest horse you could imagine. He¹d come
over when I called to him in the pasture. And anyone could have led
him with just a halter on him. Š He¹d come over to me and press his
head up against me. He was so sweet.²

³I want to get angry about what happened to him,² Kaibazawa added.
³It¹s just heartless, too heartless.²

The Blood-Horse has been published by Blood-Horse Publications since
1916, an international publishing house for top Thoroughbred and
general equine magazines, books, and videos. In addition, Blood-
Horse Publications also publishes The Horse, a monthly equine health
care magazine; the official Kentucky Derby and World Thoroughbred
Championship/Breeders¹ Cup souvenir magazines; Auction Edge, and
Keeneland magazine. Blood-Horse Publications also publishes books
and videos under the Eclipse Press banner and operates Exclusively
Equine, its e-commerce and mail-order catalogue division; and a
family of leading Web sites  including bloodhorse.com and
TheHorse.com.

Evan Hammonds, Managing Editor of The Blood-Horse is available for
interview.

For more information contact: Evan Hammonds, Managing Editor; The
Blood-Horse, Telephone: (859) 276-6732 or e-mail:
[email protected]

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