For Kendal Lehari of Uxbridge, ON, makeovers represent a second chance for talented Thoroughbreds coming off the track. The EC certified Eventing Competition Coach Specialist entered the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, where she turned a former racehorse into the stuff of eventing dreams.
Kendal Lehari of Uxbridge, ON, transformed an off-the-track Thoroughbred into an eventer during the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover, which culminated in a three-day competition from Oct. 2-5, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY.
Photo Credit: Ian Woodley
The Thoroughbred Makeover is a competition featuring hundreds of Thoroughbreds who have each had 10 months or less of retraining after retiring from their racing careers. The adventure culminates in three days of competition across 10 different disciplines, with entries vying for a share of $100,000 in prize money and the title of America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred.
From Oct. 2-5, 2019 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, Kendal revealed the transformation of her ex-racehorse, Remember Gizmo (“Mitchell”), to the world. Read on to find out how they did in the 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover in Kendal’s own words!
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Lexington to compete in the Thoroughbred Makeover with my horse, Mitchell (race name “Remember Gizmo”). This was my second time competing there: I also finished fourth in 2016 on Max Power (“Coltnamedsue”) in eventing, who has now gone on to compete at Young Riders CCI 2*-L with his owner, Elise Hicks! This program is a great way to start a young horse and showcase their potential.
Mitchell is a big, impressive 17.1hh four-year-old gelding by Giant Gizmo. He was sourced through Franz Crean, as were most of my other Thoroughbreds. Franz trained at Woodbine for years and is a trusted family friend, so he knows what we look for in a horse and calls when something interesting pops up. Mitchell had been trained by Bob Tiller, whom my mom had worked for doing winter layups when I was younger. This proved to be very beneficial for my riding career, because I would help my mom ride the Thoroughbreds as they were getting ready for the track. This was an amazing opportunity to learn how to ride a Thoroughbred and young horses.
Kendal discovered Mitchell, whose race name had been Remember Gizmo, through the help of a family friend who worked in the racing business.
Photo Credit: Kendal Lehari
As soon as we went to pick Mitchell up, we knew he was special. The grooms loved him and Bob said I was blessed to be allowed to buy him… this was definitely a first! It turns out they were right, this guy is the real deal. He is so talented and nice to ride, plus he has a great work ethic. I knew from the first time I sat on him that he was the horse I’ve been looking for to help get me where I want to go (to represent Canada in eventing at major games). I decided after the first couple rides that he had a very good shot of winning the Makeover, so I gave him time off until I left for Florida in January to keep his eligibility.
Kendal hopes that Mitchell will one day be her partner on the Canadian Eventing Team at major games.
Photo Credit: Ian Woodley
One of the rules when you plan to compete in the Makeover is that you can’t do more than 15 retraining rides prior to December 1st of the year preceding the Makeover. The horses also have to have raced or have a published work. This way the horses are all competing on a fairly level playing field. (See the complete rules here.) You can choose to compete your makeover horse in two disciplines out of eventing, show jumping, hunters, fox hunters, polo, dressage, ranch, trail, barrels and freestyle. Some people (like myself) choose to compete in the disciplines they’re most comfortable. A few braver people choose to learn about a new sport and compete in it. You also have the option to post your horse for sale. This is a great opportunity to have multiple buyers and sellers in one place.
The Makeover is a fun, different experience from our normal competitions. For example, the scoring is different for the jumping phases. Each jump receives a mark rather than just scoring faults. Another difference is that the 10 different disciplines are competing and stabling together. It’s really cool to meet people from all over North America and hear about how they trained their horse for their discipline, how they sourced it, to learn about the disciplines they’re competing in and then watch them compete!
The variety of Thoroughbreds competing was also very interesting. Horses that I may not pick out for eventing may make fantastic polo horses. This competition is really giving all Thoroughbreds a second chance. It has already started to make a difference in the industry and I think it’s just going to keep benefiting everyone. It’s pretty amazing that around 500 Thoroughbreds who have had less than a year of retraining can perform so well and professionally in so many sports. It really shows how versatile, trainable and talented Thoroughbreds really are!
Mitchell competed very successfully at the pre-training level all season, so I went in thinking we had the best chance competing in eventing, and show jumping was my second choice. It turned out we excelled in show jumping and had some costly mistakes in the eventing… you never know with horses! Competing in eventing the first day really helped take the edge off him for the show jumping competition, so I had a much nicer, more rideable round from the day before. We managed to get in the top five for show jumping, which secured us a spot in Saturday’s finale – and guarantees prize money!
The 2019 Thoroughbred Makeover as seen through Mitchell’s ears.
Photo Credit: Kendal Lehari
Friday was a day off from competition, so I joined Jim Phillips and Frank Tucker to experience more of the Thoroughbred scene at Keeneland, watching the morning works and races. I saw quite a few Thoroughbreds I would have happily taken home! Huge shout out to Jim, who is not only a fellow Ontario eventer and Makeover competitor, but also the top placed amateur in dressage, and he finished third overall!
Kendal (left) took a quick trip to the famed racetrack Keeneland on her day off from competition, joined by Frank Tucker (middle) and Jim Phillips (right).
Photo Credit: Kendal Lehari
Finale day is run in the indoor arena. There is a lot of atmosphere with the jumbotron, spectators and trade fair. This was Mitchell’s first time jumping inside, so I wasn’t sure how he would handle it. He jumped around really well and quite boldly. We ended up finishing fourth out of 95 horses! Mitchell also won Best Conditioned Horse in show jumping. I have Purina feeds and Omega Alpha supplements to thank for making sure he looked and felt his best going into the competition.
This was a great experience to see how Mitchell would react at an away show and perform with atmosphere. I’m very excited to see what the future holds for us as we move up the levels!