Until We Meet Again

On February 12, 2020, Wasabi Ventures Stables’ broodmare, Waveland, foaled a healthy Jump Start filly. As it was “bourbon year” for foal nicknames, she was given the moniker, Willett. Willett had a typical foal-hood, enjoying life on the farm frolicking with her mare and other foals.

Then when she was almost eight months old, she developed lawsonia, a fairly common bacterial infection of the GI tract. Unfortunately, she did not respond to treatment at the farm and needed to be sent to the clinic on December 9th. She ended up staying at the clinic until January 7th, as she battled lawsonia, an infection in her lungs, and another infection in her hock. Although she was sent home in early January, it took a few months for Willett to recover fully. However, by late February she had access to a paddock with another yearling, and by April she was back to a state of solid health.

While all of this time in the clinic and being unwell was not good for Willett, there was a silver lining. Willett met Courtney. Courtney worked at the clinic where Willett was treated and fell in love with this very sickly, but also very lovable, filly.

Ready for racing

WVS sent Willett to the 2021 Fasig-Tipton MidAtlantic Yearling Sale, where she RNA’ed. Rather than selling her privately, WVS decided to keep her to become part of their racing stable. Like the other yearlings in the group, she was sent to Zoe Valvo at Middleburg to begin her racehorse training. In November Zoe received an email from Courtney, asking about Willett. Zoe forwarded this email to me. Via this conversation, Courtney became listed as Willett’s potential, future adopter.

As she prepared for her racing career, she received her JC-official name, Make a Splash. Being a Pennsylvania-bred, she was sent to trainer, Mark Salvaggio at Penn National in the spring of 2022. Splash made her racing debut in March 2023, coming in a respectable third. Her sixth race was her lucky charm, and she broke her maiden in a claimer at Penn.

Two races later, Splash was claimed by Bonnie Lucas at Penn. When she was claimed away, I reached out to Bonnie to let her know that Wasabi Aftercare Fund had a placement for Splash when she was ready to be retired. Bonnie let me know she would be in contact. Then, in June, WVS received an offer to privately purchase Splash. The answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

After two races, it was obvious that although Splash was sound, she wasn’t interested in racing.

Until We Meet Again

Since my initial introduction to Courtney in 2021, she and I stayed in occasional contact. Courtney was a member in both of Splash’s groups at Wasabi, allowing her to keep even closer tabs on her special horse. When Splash’s racing career was beginning to wind down, Courtney began to make a plan to bring Splash to her forever home in Kentucky.

On August 2nd, after Splash finished her final race, I texted Courtney to tell her it was time to set her plan in motion. She already had a stall for Splash, she just needed to line up shipping and associated details. On Friday, August 9th, Splash arrived in Kentucky at her new home.

At this point, Courtney does not have a set plan for Splash. She simply wants to give her time to be a horse. When both Splash and Courtney are ready, together they will work on a new discipline that is the best fit for Splash.

I often talk about finding happily ever afters for horses. This story truly delivers one of those. I am excited to follow the story of Splash and Courtney for many years to come.

To read another retirement story, click here.