Sarah Wincikaby says her primary role with her family's successful Quarter Horse operation in Englehart, ON is to give plenty of love and carrots to their equine family. However, Wincikaby is also an integral part of the process of raising father Richard and mother Linda's runners. In 2016, the Wincikabys and DK Training Centre were the High Point Owners in Ontario Quarter Horse racing.
Sarah took some time to talk to
Ontarioracing.com about the horse who changed her life:
"Her name was
Cold Hearted Calcar (Calcar - Cold Hearted Kathy by Webb County) and she was purchased by my parents to race back in 2008/2009 when we were first starting out. She was a beautiful mare; big, strong, dark. Growing up I had always dreamed of owning a horse that looked just like the one in the movie "Black Beauty" and for me, it was her, she was my black beauty.
The fall following her [final] season racing at Ajax Downs my parents brought her home, and I was in awe. If you could imagine what it would be like meeting the great Secretariat - that's exactly how I felt.. That Christmas I had an envelope with her AQHA papers and she was in my name! My first racehorse ever.
I rode her in the paddocks bareback during the summer and fall and she was in foal to champion and Grade 1 winner Desirio for the upcoming spring.
We were all there to witness the birth just like every other foal born here. It's pure magic witnessing life happen and her baby Kyrie (Hearts On Valkyrie) was nothing short of a miracle.
But about a week after foaling and a visit to Guelph I had lost my mare due to complications from the birth, and there is no heartbreak on this earth like that let me tell you.
For me it was Cali who started it all: she was my first mare, my first real horse to call my own. She blessed me with a beautiful filly (which is another miracle story on its own) who she gave her absolute best to. And that filly, Hearts on Valkyrie,in turn, won two races ran her heart out on the track for the both of us."
(PHOTO BELOW - HEARTS ON VALKYRIE as a foal, the only offspring of sarah Wincikaby's mare Cold Hearted Calcar)
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