Introducing Little Jim

On March 17, 2022, Weekend Madness foaled a healthy colt. As it was a bread-themed year for foals, he was nicknamed Whole Wheat. He spent his first eight months at St. Omer’s Farm in Maryland, before shipping to Kentucky for the Keeneland January Sale. “Whole Wheat” was purchased by Kaya Racing.

Little Jim as a foal
Little Jim as a foal

In September 2024 he had his first timed work at Thistledown. Following this he moved to Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, where he continued to train in the barn of Anthony Farrior. Given the Jockey Club-official name of Gym Bome, he made his debut at Timonium on August 24th. He returned to the track for a timed work on September 20th but unfortunately suffered an injury.

From his trainer, “Gym Bome had a small injury come up after a work out. He could have made it back to the races, but the owner and I decided that he’d be better off to move to a new job and not risk further injury and the chance to excel in another career. We think that he will make someone very happy moving forward.”

After deciding that the best option for him was retirement. Farrior’s barn foreman, Jeffrey Allen, and his girlfriend, Elliza Truslow, offered to rehab Gym Bome, now nicknamed Little Jim. Eliza also reached out to me to provide Wasabi Aftercare Fund with this health update. I spoke with Eliza, and she provided more information.

“We are following a plan of stall rest and hand walking through October 20. We then will start limited turnout in a smaller paddock. 
He has remained super sound and happy so far throughout handwalking, so we are really hopeful for his next stage in turnout.
We plan to recheck radiographs at 6 weeks and hopefully can stay on track with a longer turnout routine. Since he is a big, growing 2 year old, we really feel it’s best to just give him the rest of the year with no true expectations from his body other than to heal up and grow. The vet doesn’t see any major limitations to come from this, (just maybe not a true upper level prospect), so we are excited to see where a second career takes this big, kind guy.”

I love sharing stories like this that show how ALL connections of a Thoroughbred can work together in the best interest of a horse. Many thanks to Gokmen Kaya, Anthony, Jeffrey, and Eliza for making it all about the horse, Little Jim.

To read about another WVS homebred who we are following post-racing, check out the article on Vibrant Force.