A good horse is hard to let go.

Sharon Ross should know. She keeps some of her top Thoroughbreds nearby – on her Auburn farm and in her efficiently run stable at Emerald Downs.

One of Ross’ special horses is 10-year-old Starbird Road, among the track’s finest sprinters, who finished in style last season by winning his final two starts going long.

Sentimentally attached to the horse, Ross couldn’t part ways, so she retired the champion gelding to her stables, where he shines brightly today as a star alumnus. Fully sound, often playful, Starbird Road remains too feisty to mingle with her older retired horses on the family farm.

“He would be too bossy with those two,” said Ross, referring to her two keepsake legendary champions, 32-year-old Marketal and 27-year-old Military Hawk, a nominee for the Washington Racing Hall of Fame. “He still likes to be ridden. He’s having more fun here.

“He would make a nice riding horse for somebody someday, but for now he likes hanging around the barn,” said Ross, who took part ownership of Starbird Road with Rick Beal. “It’s a good transition from his racing to realizing he’s not racing anymore. But he can still be ridden. And he likes it.”

For every horse Ross trains – even those that never discover the winner’s circle – she is obligated to find a suitable caretaker for them once they finish their racing careers.

It’s a challenging task she shares with fellow trainers and owners, a majority of whom support a horse’s retirement plan. Some trainers willingly inherit that responsibility from owners, others do not.

Some owners and trainers have the resources and property to keep retired horses, many of which are retained for breeding, others for pleasure riding. Once a horse retires from the race course, they can go on to second careers in therapy, sports, and be used as rehabilitation animals.

But keeping horses is a challenging proposition given the expense, nature and professional care required to keep them.

According to owners and trainers, a retired Thoroughbred can demand between $3,000-$5,000 in basic care a year, including feed.

“All of them need to be looked at. It’s not about just champions. It’s really about what makes up the bulk, the horses who are grinding it out in the claiming ranks,” said Jack Hodge, Emerald Downs vice president who owns a farm of about 30 horses, some of which are retired, formerly heralded Thoroughbreds. “Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a farm to take them. Owners like myself are fortunate to own their land to rehab and find new jobs for (horses).”

Many horses, few spots

There are few sanctuaries, “retirement centers” and reputable foster homes for retired Thoroughbreds. Finding those proper places and brokering trusted partnerships take time and effort, owners and trainers agree.

“It’s not like giving away a kitten. They’re 1,100 pounds, they eat a lot, and they live a long time,” Ross said. “So, for a lot of people, it’s a financial burden to keep retired horses.

“It’s a problem across the country. There’s more retired horses than donations for them.”

Katie Merwick is well aware of the trials. She is the founder and executive director of Second Chance Ranch, a nonprofit animal rescue sanctuary in Elma. The Northwest’s first no-kill sanctuary began as a free-roaming environment for dogs and horses but shifted to an equine transitional and rehabilitation center.

Merwick’s 25-acre facility accommodates 40 horses, in addition to 14 that are in foster homes. She takes care of nine permanently retired Thoroughbreds, including a pair of Longacres Mile champions – The Great Face (2007), owned by Ron Crockett, and No Giveaway (2005), owned by Herman Sarkowsky.

“I could start a living museum of Washington champions,” said Merwick, an author, behaviorist and award-winning worker with Thoroughbreds.

Merwick perseveres, despite her facility bringing in twice the number of horses in recent months but 50 percent less in private donations and grants to support her program.

“(The Thoroughbred owners and trainers) support me as much as they can, but we definitely need more funding,” said Merwick, who has been in business for 25 years. She hopes to lease a more convenient arena closer to the Auburn racing community.

That community tries to do its part. Emerald Downs established the Prodigious Fund in 2008. The fund, named in honor of a former classy race horse that finished his career at Emerald Downs, gives owners the opportunity to easily make contributions to accredited Thoroughbred rescue, retirement and rehabilitation facilities.

The fund is dispersed at the end of each racing year to approved organizations. Emerald Downs will match every dollar raised by contributing owners. Among the track’s designated charities have been Second Chance Ranch and Chez Cheveaux of Monroe.

Hodge hopes the fund expands and more options become available to help owners and buyers locate and secure second careers for horses.

Despite the efforts, not every retired Thoroughbred finds a good place.

“It has to be the right individual,” said Jim Penney, a longtime trainer, who has saddled a record five Mile champions. “If they are not, then they become sometimes a burden … or in the wrong place. And those are the ones who slip through the cracks.”

Many horses fall into the wrong hands, some are unable to be saved, still others are sold to the highest bidder and slaughtered.

Merwick said it’s the secondary market – those owners who don’t understand how to successfully transition hunters, jumpers, sport and event horses to second careers – who wind up “dumping” the animals.

As Penney pointed out: “People don’t realize the versatility of a Thoroughbred. A horse most of the time will adjust to the next life if given the right chance, if it’s the right place and choice.”

Trying to do the right thing

Still, many horses don’t find the right home.

Out of the 52 horses Merwick’s operation took in last year, 30 were rescued from the feedlot, but few if any came from the Thoroughbred racing community, she observed.

“I save them from slaughter. … I am good at matching the horse to a new home,” Merwick said without hesitation. “I understand that there is no choice for some horses … and some owners and trainers often give them off to the wrong people.”

But many owners and trainers, especially in the Thoroughbred racing community, are trying to do the right thing. Eager to avoid 10 years of feeding and boarding a retired racehorse, some owners try to cut their losses by offering horses for sale to slaughterhouses. But luckily, the horse community is fighting back.

Transactions now bear sensibly-constructed contracts, so that owners and trainers can better track and place retired horses.

“If something happens, if things go wrong and they can’t keep them, we will try and replace them,” Ross said. “We will take them back and try to find them a new home.”

Merwick added: “They try really hard, and they all have good intentions. My only criticism is they often pick the wrong home, and that’s why I have a job.”

Penney and other trainers do their part to care for their prized athletes.

A mighty horse, 2006 Mile champion Flamethrowintexan, is a good example. After his racing days were complete, ‘Tex followed others, finding a transitional home on Penney’s family farm.

Life couldn’t be better for one of Emerald Downs’ greatest runners.

“He’s at the spa,” said Paul Heist, ‘Tex’s owner. “He was spoiled when he was racing, and he’s still getting spoiled today.”

Note of inserted photo: Papi Chullo and jockey Robby Alvarado, left, battles Flamethrowintexan and jockey Ricky Frazier in the homestretch of the 71st annual Longacres Mile in 2006. Flamethrowintexan won by a neck and became the track’s all-time leading money winner.