I agree with this...Spooky is still in the game...SYD...well, he just isn't.

Me Too:D :D

Hate to post rumors but this is a positive one.....

Word is he's retired. Hope it's true, poor thing.....

Look in Thoroughbred Times for it soon.
It is reportedly in the email version, Retired to a prison program near Ocala.

What in the hell is a prison program?

I believe it is where the prisoners learn to take care of horses to help rehabilitate them (the prisoners not the horses).

Ok, thanks. That doesn't sound as bad as I originally thought. Sort of a "public service" role...

They have similar programs with retired greyhounds.

OHHH in Ocala though? I wonder if they would let me visit him when I go up there?

Same thing I was thinking, but I doubt it.

Those kind of programs are normally really good for the prisoners and the horses. I'm assuming he's a friendly horse because they don't typically let people inexperienced with horses handle horses that are unruly.

The one I heard about is at a prison in Michigan. They actually ship greyhounds from FL to this prison, usually the dogs that aren't as well behaved and aren't ready for adoption. The prisoners train the dogs and I guess the dogs train the prisoners. When the dogs come back, they are ready for adoption.

Sorry Buffy, I just realized you were talking about SYD.

If SYD goes to the Ocala prison program for the TRF it is associated with a
women's prison in Fla. So you ladies go out break the law so you can enroll
in this prison program so you can see him. :D :D

http://www.trfinc.org/farms/farms.php?id=9

TRF
http://www.trfinc.org/about_trf.php

2 links about the Ocala Facility
http://www.trfinc.org/farms/farms.php?id=2

http://dc.state.fl.us/pub/compass/0103/page07.html

A good program.

Shake You Down Link
 

I found a link on line to the story.

LINK

Thanks Echo. I like the one paragraph about the intense debating
on the bulletin board about his retirement. Finally some real good
news about SYD. Maybe it was our constant forum postings that
got this done, you never know. Maybe us on DT can sponsor him as
a whole. I think it will be great

Might be appropriate, Degenerate Gamblers supporting a horse at a Correctional Facility!!

Debating, I'm surprised they didn't say "bickering". I scan several forums every day, and wouldn't blame them if they did.

I sponsor a couple of horses through TRF, and I visited one of them at the Blackburn correctional facility in Lexington a couple of years ago. Can definitely be done.

I will have to have my mom look into it. If it is the facility I am thinking of, it is right near her house.

Are we all happy now that this guy is going to go to a great new home?

EXTREMELY... relieved if nothing else.

There's one person on here that doesn't exactly heap praise on horses unless he truly thinks they're special that called him "America's best sprinter" in 2003 when discussing the Vanderbilt at Saratoga. That says enough.

new link to online story

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/rac...-facility.aspx