A Fairytale OTTB Reunion at Powder Basin Horse Trials

When Thoroughbreds are on the track, the details of their lives — from pedigree to race record — are easy to access. But it's not nearly as easy to track that information once their careers as racehorses end. Maggie Miller, mother of teenage eventers Emma and Zoe, tells the story of a happy surprise reunion between two former owners and an OTTB named Ginello that took place at Powder Basin Horse Trials earlier this month.

Susan and Dave Yip reunited with their former racehorse Ginello. Photo courtesy of Maggie Miller. Susan and Dave Yip reunited with their former racehorse Ginello. Photo courtesy of Maggie Miller.

Engineer Susan Yip of Phoenix, Arizona, asked her pediatrician husband Dave why he looked so tired one weekend morning last December. He responded, “I found him!”

“Who?”

“Ginello!”

The Yips had been 5 percent owners in a lovely 17.2-hand horse raced out of Southern California by West Point Thoroughbreds. Perhaps because the Yips were so much fun (and actually horse competent and useful), they were allowed lots of access to the colt, whom they visited whenever their professional lives became too stressful. Then he was injured and retired; they had no idea what had happened to him.

This spring — merely on a hunch — the Yips penciled in vacation time for July and purchased plane tickets to Gillette, Wyoming. Their destination: Powder Basin Horse Trials, a venue where they figured the horse would likely be competing since the internet suggested that his teenaged girl owner, Emma Miller, competes in Area IX.

Emma Miller and Ginello. Photo courtesy of Maggie Miller.

Emma Miller and Ginello. Photo courtesy of Maggie Miller.

They arrived unannounced, out of the blue and complete strangers the night before cross country at a meeting called by the infinitely patient and professional technical delegate Michelle Henry due to the antics of a local governmental official.

The Yips wondered if someone could help them find a particular retired racehorse. But for the fact that they came armed with a huge binder of 8×10 photos of Ginello as a youngster — being bathed by them, breezed by jockeys and even winning a race — we would have considered them stalkers.

We ended up spending the entire weekend together, learning about Ginello’s early days at the track, his injuries and his terrible habits. Once a Kentucky Derby jockey rode him and swore he would never get on him again (Ginello was a very, very bad actor).

Susan Yip sitting astride her former racehorse, Ginello. Photo courtesy of Maggie Miller.

Susan Yip sitting astride her former racehorse, Ginello. Photo courtesy of Maggie Miller.

So it was a great moment when, on the last day together and after the event was finished, we gave Susan a leg up onto Ginello’s back so that they could take a photo back to the track to show some of the frightened exercise riders.

I don’t know if the weekend meant more to them or us; it was simply unbelievable and topped off by the perfect fairytale ending: Emma won her Novice division, a first for her.

I am not sure what the future holds for any of us — life is so fleeting and fragile — but I am 100 percent certain it will absolutely include the amazing Yips.