There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Standardbreds that are stars on the racetrack, setting records and drawing cheers from fans all over the world. Once their racing career ends, this tough and intelligent breed has been surprising horsemen with their versatility to adapt to new careers. One Standardbred went from racing to fox hunting and much more!
Grand Poobah (Mach Three-Warrawee Limelight), trained by Scott Betts, raced primarily at the Meadows until his career ended in August of 2024. At 9 years old, his story continued when he took an unconventional path in retirement which led him to Winter Paxson.
Winter and her family own Whizard’s Lair Farm, with 30 horses, along with cows and sheep, and at another farm they have 80 foxhounds. “Between my husband’s family and my family, we run a fox hunt out of one farm, and show horses. And show horses and farm animals out of the second farm. That’s how the fox hunting gets involved in this, because we run a pack of hounds called River Hills Fox Hounds.”
“My kids fox hunt,” she explained. “My uncle is a Huntsman. My mom is a Master and a Whip (assistant to the Huntsman); I Whip, and my husband Whips, and my kids (Clayton, age 14; Willow, age 10; Lane, age 7) all ride.”
Winter and her group have used Thoroughbreds in fox hunting, but this year, took a chance on a horse who just retired from racing at a harness track. “My good friend Tim Betts, who trains with his brother, said ‘I have one, if you want to try a Standardbred.’ So I brought Grand Poobah home in August, and in September, I tossed tack on him, and thought ‘let’s see what he’s going to do’.” And that is how ‘Pooh’ made his debut in fox hunting!
“He really took to it!” she said enthusiastically. “My son took him out for the first time. He’s one of those happy-go-lucky horses. And we live in hill country, with a massive river/creek that runs on the backside of us, and he literally goes down there and walks right through the water. He swims in the creek. He doesn’t really get bothered by much!”
Winter started him out with trail riding, with an eye on fox hunting to follow. “The funniest thing happened the first time I took him fox hunting. The hounds ran back under him, and he literally never moved! He stood right there!”
She paired him up with a friend of hers who hadn’t been riding in years, and the two have made a perfect team. “She’s been having a blast, feeding her confidence, just having a good time.”
Since ‘Pooh’ has proved how versatile and easy-going he is, her son took him to a horse show, and that was the first show ever for ‘Pooh’. “It was kind of comical because he was like ‘I got this’,” she laughed. “He was so proud of himself, jogging around and cantering around with the other horses and jumping.”
With Winter’s mom Hoppy Elise duPont Stearns
So why stop there, she thought. “I actually had a horse get hurt, and I needed another outriding horse, so we took him to a Steeplechase, and he was an outrider there! Everyone was asking what breed he was because of the tattoo on his neck, and I got all sorts of answers. But when I told people he was a Standardbred, most people couldn’t believe it.”
I think a lot of people don’t give them (Standardbreds) a chance,” she said. “I mean, all of our horses literally came off the track. Standardbred, Thoroughbred, it doesn’t matter now. They turn into my kids’ horses, our family horses, and I have some that are well over the age of 30 that are still living there. They become part of the family. But I think there is this misconception that Standardbreds are only used for selling to the Amish, or for pulling a cart, or that they’re not the quickest animals. It’s obviously a fallacy.”
Grand Poobah went from racing to a Whip in fox hunting to Steeplechase outriding in just under a year. Winter is having so much fun with him, does that mean she sees more Standardbreds in her future? “Oh, absolutely! I’m going to get another one from Tim and Scott ,” she laughed.
Cover Photo Credit to Karen Kennedy
