Last Thursday, 7-year-old Shotgun Hottie died of colic at a farm in Kentucky. As she ran her last race two years ago, normally this would not be something I note on the site. But then someone sent me this from her racing owner, Jeff Ganje:
But it’s actually even worse. Here is his FB page. For the full effect, make sure to unmute the audio in the lower right of the multi-picture box of Shotgun.
He spews all this maudlin muck – “One Moment in Time”; “beyond devastated”; “meant everything to me” – after he had sold her, after he had treated this beautiful, intelligent, sensitive being like any other item of personal property (his car, his boat, his set of golf clubs) that he was done with. Couldn’t leave any money on the table, could you, Mr. Ganje? Her future safety and well-being be damned. And after all that, you still have the audacity – the shamelessness – to talk of how you “haven’t been the same person” since you sold her, and that “it’s like a piece of [you] has been missing since that night [you] said goodbye to her, crying like a baby, in her stall.” You, sir, are an unmitigated obscenity.
By the way, as a racehorse, Shotgun was a “star” – stakes level, $1M+ “earner.” And this, folks, wholly explains Ganje’s emotional attachment to her (Ganje was actually her owner from beginning to end – all $1,104,757). Here is his pre-sale ad:
Nancy, if you search the different types of contracts you might be encouraged to know that there is a type of contract that says “Right of First Refusal” which is the option for the horse to be bought back by the United States seller for $1 or the cost of shipping back to the United States when the South Korean owner is done with him.
Since there has been this major announcement by Tripadvisor and since there is such a thing as the Thoroughbred industry being under more scrutiny for Animal Welfare violations, I am hoping the connections to TACITUS will provide a humane retirement for him. But I don’t have enough information to know which contract applies to this horse. Is it possible for you to contact the seller to ask for that information?
Wanda, not knowing any details except private farm. I don’t know what that actually encompasses.
Nancy, it depends on whatever conditions or options might be included in the sales contract of the horse you mentioned. If the sale has no “strings attached” for the lack of more clarity in my choice of wording, and the Korean owner/owners is/are free to do what they will, when the horse gets to the end of his useful life at stud, the end game for this horse’s life is the slaughter house, as I’m sure you know.
It would be interesting to know if the seller/sellers retained any rights to the horse in the sales contract.
This is a great spot to say this. I was hesitant for a week now. On Sep 12, Tacitus arrived at his new home in a private farm in South Korea for breeding. Having followed him for his career and he is a gray(regulars here know I love the grays). So are the connections going to follow his future? My heart ❤️ breaks.
I am so sick of these people claiming to love their horses who are truly commodities, their personal trophy and bragging rights, worst of all EGO. Saw more dumped young race horses in the low end auction…I bet they loved them too. I can’t wait until every track is shut down!
Thank you for sharing this information, Patrick. This is a distinct snapshot of the moral depravity and greed of the horse racing industry as a whole. This “man” epitomizes the selfishness, greediness, and self-righteousness of the whole equine industry that exploits horses as chattel and for bragging rights within their own social circle.
There are thousands of horses who suffer miserably and die in agony of colic or other life-threatening emergencies and their owners won’t go so far as to make a drama queen post on social media, one reason being they don’t have the same “social standing” within their social circle.
That “missing piece” of him is his moral compass!
They’re always “devastated”, but never devastated enough to change their behavior going forward. He’ll be right back at it…
Save some of those tears for your next horses.