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East Coast Mystery Horse-Class Sprite

3K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  workingtrot 
#1 ·
Hey everybody,

Just a little while after I posted my "Eventer Wanted" thread, we found a 2000 bay TB gelding named Class Sprite. He has awesome bloodlines (Secretariat grandson), a great USEA record and a sweet personality, but his current owner can't find out much about his past so I am trying to find facts. All I know is that he competed on the East Coast up till last year at Training level with his owner, and that he was a steeplechaser before that. Also, he was a stallion until about 3 months ago. It appears that he was completely dumped by his owners, ended up with somebody in MD, and then his current owner picked him up from there about 2 1/2 months ago and brought him here to Colorado. He was skin and bones then, although he is not a hard keeper, and is very whip-shy. We're trying to figure out why such a nice horse was abandoned so quickly...anybody know anything about him? :-|
 
#2 ·
Try contacting the Jockey Club - you can get to his registered owners and try tracing him that way.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Oh, ok...maybe I will do that. We're pretty sure we're going to buy him, anyway, but it'd be nice to know more about him. :) We've gotten him vet-checked and he is in super health...a bit of mild soreness in his right hock, but that's to be expected of a horse that was a steeplechaser and then an eventer. So that's not why he was abandoned. Please, anybody, feel free to post here if you think you might know something about him!
 
#4 ·
Brickland Eventing

MCTA HT - 3rd Training - Emily & Class Sprite
Loudoun PC HT - 10th Training - Emily & Class Sprite
Morven Park HT - 3rd Novice - Emily & Class Sprite
Southern Pines I HT - 2nd Beginner Novice - Emily & Class Sprite
CVACTA Combined Test - 2nd Novice - Emily & Class Sprite


This one showed up on Google, but I can't find Class Sprite
"... hurdles Class Sprite. Clog Hoofer is a weanling of 2005 by Senor Speedy and out of the Northern Dancer mare Hanoof. Senor Speedy is a New York stallion ..."
Page Title

They seem to have a lot of 'Class' horses, maybe they know Class Sprite or bred him? They're website is horrible, but on the 'News and Info' page they have a text with 'Steeplechasing'.

I would definitely check with the Jockey club and see if he if he was tattoo'd at some point. Do you know who his sire and dam was? That would help with the information search.
 
#5 ·
Yes I actually did a google search on him too and managed to find his pedigree...at least I think it's his. That's how I know he's a Secretariat grandson...his father is Class Secret, who apparently turns out some decent Steeplechasers. The website, though, I will be looking into...it looks like Brickland Eventing is the farm he competed through, with Emily Beshear. I wonder if there's any contact info on there...
 
#8 ·
You just click on the Horse Forum.com logo at the top of the page, then select the category you want to post in, and then when the page comes up, then click the small "New Thread" button at the top of the result list. :-p
 
#7 ·
Class Secret Grandson in the news:
Class Bopper leads all the way to win Ferguson Memorial - Thoroughbred Times

I also thought this was interesting:
http://studslife.com/excerpt.html
"Class Secret, a twelve-year-old son of Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, had to be euthanized after a mare he was mounting broke his leg"


Class Sprite was also mentioned here:
http://www.steeplestakes.com/2005/races/images/05gwpad.jpg
Scroll down to the big post with the list
Or go here (same thread, better format)
Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com - Horse Racing Message Board - First Woman Jockey

CLASS SPRITE 148
(Petty??) Lilith Boucher
Mede Cohaba Stable (guys with horrible website)

Potomac Hunt Races Attract Hundreds to Bittersweet Field
"Adding to the popularity of this race, Potomac member Mignon Smith’s horse, Class Sprite, won a decisive victory over Bruce Smart’s Lord Emulous."

Lilith Boucher is mentioned as a trainer.

"The others in the field are: Meadow, Say What You See, Orchid Princess, Desert Swing, Class Sprite, and Mulahen."
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/32418/nsa-starts-season-at-little-everglades

Thats about all I'm able to find. Good luck!
 
#9 ·
Two geldings, thank you so much for finding all those links...I will definetly take a look at them! :)
 
#11 ·
A little bit...I'm in the process of trying to contact his previous eventing owner, but I had a thrill when a friend of mine found a link to a website full of pictures from one of the events Sprite competed in (this is Eventing, not steeplechasing) and she found a page with like 70-something pictures of him jumping. He looks really good! :)

We're still trying to figure out why he was dumped, though. It looks like he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe his owner couldn't handle him? She is using a gag on him in the pictures, and although he loves to run and jump he is a pretty sensitive horse. Still, though, if she sold him, why did he end up being given away in very poor condition to the lady we are buying him from? Lots of weird stuff to sort through still. :-\
 
#13 ·
Hoping to bump this up and get more info... I happened to be Googling for this horse's name and was very surprised to find this thread! I was a working student at a barn with a stallion named Class Sprite from Nov 2008-Feb 2009, he was a TB and about 8 or 9 and it sounds like he might be the same horse!

I was going to PM the OP but apparently I can't do that since I just joined. ;P So please, any updates? The Sprite I knew was a big sweetheart (definitely a stud, but still a nice boy) and it makes me sad to think he was just dumped somewhere.
 
#14 ·
Sounds like my horse! I did find his old for-sale ad from about that time last year. I have tried to contact his previous owner but no luck. My best guess is that he was bought by someone who maybe had some issues handling him (he is quite a lot of horse sometimes) and maybe they got hurt or something...the fact that he was gelded last spring adds to that suspicion. Whatever the case, he ended up passing through a few owners very quickly February through June last year, and ended up dumped at a farm in Maryland where no one had time to ride him (or, it appears, even to feed him). He has no medical problems at all and is in general a very sweet, well-mannered boy and bonded with me very quickly after I gained his trust. His only flaw is that he is very cold-backed when mounting and so sometimes I need someone to hold him for me and lead him around a bit after I get on. Other than that (and the usual OTTB attempts at rushing if he can get away with it) I can't find a reason someone wouldn't want him! He is my complete dream horse and I already love him to death.

Workingtrot, there are some pictures of him from the first day I tried him out under his link in my "horses" tab if you want to take a look to see if he looks like the same horse...he is a bright bay, 16 hands, with a hind sock, a tiny star, and a cute head with a long forelock and a bit of a dished profile (unusual as he is a TB). If you don't mind me asking, what state was the barn in which you worked? I know the gal we bought him from picked him up from Maryland, where her friend just wanted to get rid of him. Did they call him Sprite? He seems to respond to it and it is easy, as his show name is Class Sprite. Did you google him just to find out what happened to him?
 
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