On the racetrack, Keystone Blade was a mild-mannered trotter who enjoyed a long career, maybe not with world record performances, but with races that still put a smile on the faces of his connections, and some money in the bank.
Now off the track, the 11 year old’s star has a chance to shine even brighter, as he is beginning his new career under saddle in partnership with MMXX Standardbreds and ColdWin Farm.
“He was a steady horse his whole life,” said Randy Taft, his former trainer. “I had him the last two years of his career. We just wanted to let him retire with some dignity. He sure found a good spot up there at ColdWin Farm.”
Randy, who has been training horses for almost 50 years, enjoyed his time with Keystone Blade, now known as ‘Blade’. “He was very professional on the track, and he loved his work. He was not difficult to train at all, but there was one thing. He raced in a lot of amateur races his whole life, but there were a few incidents that occurred on the racetrack, minor accidents, so he was a little gun shy. I just had to change his equipment a little to make him relax, but other than that, he was a sweetheart.”
The decision to retire him was made while he was still in good health and sound. “He is well enough that if somebody does want to ride him, that’s not going to hurt him. We wanted to give him that kind of retirement as opposed to selling him to the Amish where they really work them hard. He’s been good to us, so we wanted to be good to him.”
Blade went to MMXX Standardbreds, a retraining and adoption program for retired Standardbred racehorses, to begin his journey to a second career as a show horse. “We are a non-profit organization and we have two prongs of activities,” explains Molly D’Agostino, Director of MMXX. “We have an all Standardbred show team, and we have an adoption program for off-track Standardbreds.”
Molly, who had a retired horse who became a top show horse, saw what would be a successful venture, directing off-track Standardbreds into show and riding horses. “I’ve been involved in racing my whole life, and a lot of people want to make a good choice for their horses. The show team, we stock it with Standardbreds, and every year, we go around the country and show in hopes of getting people interested in them. And because I’m connected to the track, I on-board any horse from any racing connection that is looking to retire the horse off-track, and is not necessarily concerned about anything but them having a good home. So the two programs kind of work together. The show team is the marketing, and the adoption program is the end goal of getting them out there, showing or doing riding stuff.”
“Randy (Taft) had called me a couple weeks ago, that Keystone Blade was ready to retire, so we connected him with Aideen from ColdWin Farm, and we’re going to work together and put him on the show team next year!”
“It’s rare to find a Standardbreds that doesn’t take to riding quite easily. They’ve got all the tools. They know how to steer, they know how to stop and start because they’ve been driving all their lives. The second part is just, ‘how do I balance myself by carrying someone on my back?’ It’s really simple and they’re really easy to restart. Most of them have fantastic brains, like Keystone Blade.”
The adoption program at MMXX Standardbreds is in existence just over a year, and Keystone Blade is the 199th horse in the program.
Blade’s new home, ColdWin Farm, is owned by Aideen Siniscalco and her husband. In 2016, she was a volunteer at the Connecticut Draft Horse Rescue, and was on hand when the rescue was contacted about five Standardbreds being shipped to New Holland from a local carriage company. She and her husband were among those on hand to prepare the stalls, and it was there she fell in love with a Standardbred named Cold Winner. And he with her. They adopted each other.
Her family bought the farm property in December of 2019 and started working on the paddocks, fencing and run-ins. Cold Winner, sadly, never got to live on the new farm. “He was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2020, and I lost him. The farm is named ColdWin after him,” she said, her voice shaking.
“That’s how I got into Standardbreds,” she said. “From there, we’ve adopted several draft horses, and more Standardbreds. And just recently, Keystone Blade came to us.”
“Keystone Blade is doing perfect,” she said. “It’s like he’s been here his whole life! He’s very quiet, a very typical Standardbred, in my experience with them. He’s just taking it all in. He’s very happy with his paddock mate, which happens to be a Mustang. He wants to meet you at the gate. Happy-go-lucky so far!” she laughed.
To Standardbreds owners and trainers who are looking to retire their horses, Aideen says there are many options. “The nice thing about what I’m seeing, especially what Molly at MMXX is doing is called ‘sensibly retiring them ‘. And I’m seeing that a little bit more over the past year or two, I’m seeing more signs of that with racing barns and trainers. They’re starting to reach out to others, instead of, and I don’t want to point out selling to the Amish. They’re starting to see that that is not the only option for Standardbreds. The mindset is changing, too, about Standardbreds, they are very capable of doing almost every discipline.”
As Randy bid farewell to Keystone Blade, wishing him the best in his new career, he held onto the thought that he had, in a way, ‘paid back’ the trotter for his loyalty and hard work on the track, encouraging others to do the same. “You have to give them some dignity, and a good send-off,” Randy said.
MMXX Standardbreds
Facebook – MMXX Standardbreds
Facebook – ColdWin Farm
Keystone Blade
278 starts
1st – 38
2nd – 39
3rd – 29
Lifetime best – 1:54.2
$309,990 Lifetime
Cover Photo Credit to Chris Gooden
