“I would have to say that Stars to Shine, aka, Badger, was the first horse that was a life-changer for me. She came to our barn during the Keeneland meet with the sweetest doe-eyed look. I soon learned that she had a voracious attitude both with the amounts of love she demanded as well as the sass that she doled out.
She earned the nickname Badger because she had a black tail with two shocks of white down each side. She was a game changer for me from the first day I met her. She had an incredible amount of heart. She was full of sass, but if you were one of her people (which amounted to about three of us) she had a huge amount of love and trust for you. That's not to say she wasn't against doling out a little toughness if you stepped out of line though. I can still remember the day that I spritzed sheen in her tail and the mist must have hit her on the leg where she could feel it. Badger had never been a lover of things being sprayed on her and promptly reminded me of that by kicking me in the knee. Lesson learned.
She won her first start at a whopping 25-1, but then was promptly disqualified to third for ducking in and almost putting a (trainer) Roger Attfield horse into the rail. I knew that day she was a fighter and as much as that race was not her day, I knew she would have plenty of others.
As much as she was one of "my horses," in the end I felt more like I was owned by her. She demanded everything from love to candy and wasn't too happy to share me with other horses. She was the first horse I shipped out of town with and my first multiple stakes winner that I groomed. She would have been just as special without all of that, but we had a lot of firsts together.
Some of the best times I had with Badger was when she wasn't racing and I would just take her out to graze. I could do that for as long as she wanted and just watch her. She was so smart and knew if you were having a rough day. Those would be the rare times she might spare you of some of her spicier moments.
Badger was an incredible athlete and had a fiercely independent personality. At the same time she was one of the most loving horses I have ever worked with. She had heart. She was proud. She was what I thought of when people talked about the excitement of coming to the track and watching horses race down the stretch to the wire.”
By Sarah Ritchie (@Gatorkitten), for Ontario Horse Racing
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