(PHOTO - Millionaire Thoroughbred Desert Waves is shown playing in a mud puddle at Sam-Son Farms last year at the age of 25. He's the horse that changed the life of Sarah Moore - photo courtesy Sam-Son Farms)
Sarah Moore has one of the most important jobs during raceday at Ajax Downs. Moore is an official outrider for each race and also accompanies any starter trained by Jason Pascoe to the gate. She’s hard to miss too as her mount is a pretty guy fellow named Prince, a Quarter Horse and former racehorse.
And while in the three months since Moore has been working at Ajax Downs she has got along famously with Prince (who is owned by Pascoe and Bryanne Langford), there was another horse who kick-started the 43-year-old’s career in racing.
It was 1998 and Moore had been riding show horses but she could not afford the upkeep of her own horse. A friend suggested she try the track and a year later she was working for the famed Sam-Son Farms, a Thoroughbred stable, at Fair Grounds racecourse in New Orleans.
“I had no intention of grooming horses at the time,’ said Moore. “The asked me to look after this horse called Desert Waves at the time. I didn’t know who he was at the time but I loved him.”
Desert Waves, trained by Mark Frostad, was in fact, closing in on $1 million dollars in earnings and was a veteran of the racing game at nine-years-old.
“He was a really cool horse,” said Moore. “He was known as a horse who didn’t often socialize with people much. I remember he would take the rub rag from me and try to beat me with it.”
Desert Waves led all the way to win the King Edward Handicap at Woodbine that summer, upsetting his stablemate Sky Colony. He was retired at the end of 1999 and lived out his retirement years at Sam-Son's Ocala, Florida division and then in Milton, ON before he passed away this winter from colic at the age of 25.
“I learned a lot from Dessie,” said Moore. “I learned about racehorses and how to respect them.”
Her year with Desert Waves led Moore to many successful jobs including a managerial job at Colebrook Farms in Uxbridge, ON, close to where she currently lives with her husband, Dan, and 10-year-old daughter, MacKenzie.
However, three years ago, Moore was away from racing when Dan lost his arms in a tragic farm accident. The family's strong bond helped them through the tough times.
Working with Prince (the gelding starred this year in the commercial for Ontario Racing) at Ajax Downs this year has rejuvenated the personable Moore.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed it. I am enjoying the Quarter Horses and loving what I do.”
(PHOTO OF SARAH MOORE AND PRINCE by Laurie Overton)
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