Colleen O'Hagan and Aberta bred Midst of Chaos

  • By Admin
  • •
  • 25 Oct, 2018
  • •

I COULD TALK ABOUT HIM ALL DAY LONG

I COULD TALK ABOUT HIM ALL DAY LONG.....

These are the words of Colleen O’Hagan when speaking of her beloved OTTB ‘Zach’.

O’Hagan and Zack just recently competed in the 2018 ‘Thoroughbred Makeover’ in Kentucky. Here is their story...

Colleen O’Hagan is a successful thoroughbred trainer. The 31 year old Saskatchewan native started riding at a very early age and started training racehorses just five years ago. She has raced at several racetracks including Marquis Downs, Assiniboia Downs, Northlands Park and Turf Paradise in Phoenix. This fall O’Hagan made the trip here to race at Century Downs with a 5-horse stable and has had a very successful race meet with 5 wins in just 12 starts.

Rewind to 2015! O’Hagan bought an unraced 3yr-old thoroughbred gelding named Midst Of Chaos, aka ‘Zach’ from horseman Rob Chabot. At the time the gelding had a cracked knee so he was a gamble for O’Hagan.

“Zach was very tough to gallop but he quickly became my favorite horse,” said O’Hagan. “He always got the number one stall in the barn and had his share of treats which include rice krispies and fruit loops. There was a lady at Marquis Downs that would bring him homemade rice krispie squares every weekend.”

After some hard work and perseverance, Zach made an awesome start to his racing career at Marquis Downs in Saskatoon where he won his first two races by an impressive 10 lengths. O’Hagan has also had victories with her loved pupil at some of the bigger tracks and he achieved over $25,000 in lifetime earnings.

Last winter O’Hagan shipped her stable down south to Phoenix to race. “Someone convinced me to run Zach cheaper then I had ever ran him and he got claimed,” stated O’Hagan. “I was crushed and I remember crying the entire night. I finally messaged the people who claimed him and they sold him back to me. I then decided to retire him because he did have some soundness issues and I couldn’t stand losing him. Reasoning with myself I realized that if I wanted horse racing to be my career I would need to stop thinking of every horse as my pet. I decided that I would keep Zach as my riding horse and him being the only horse I would allow myself to do this with. He will be my forever horse.”

“I had heard about the ‘Thoroughbred Makeover’ in Kentucky and thought it would be a fun thing to do and give me a goal and a purpose for him. Zach has always been a brave and willing horse to ride and catches everyone’s eye. His only downfall is he still is a racehorse at heart and still has a lot of energy. I don’t think he will ever lose his ‘racy’ behaviour but I feel completely safe on him in every situation and I trust him with my life,” says O’Hagan.

After extensive training, the duo packed up on September 28th and headed down to Kentucky which took three days of travel. The events were held October 3 – 7 at that the Kentucky Horse Park. They competed in ‘Eventing’ and ‘Field Hunters’. ”The weather was a little extreme,” states O’Hagan. “It was over plus 30 and very humid. But Zach was amazing and received some top marks in all his jumping events. We went off course in my dressage test so over all we did not make the top placing but we scored well in classes of 100 horses plus.” “I’m so proud of him,” boasts O’Hagan.

“Zach and I will also be entering the Saskatchewan Makeover as well and I hope to take Zach to the US to show this winter and get some shows in next summer.”

O’Hagan also owns a boarding stable in Saskatoon and has re-homed all of her thoroughbreds to great homes. “I think it’s very crucial to make sure they get good retirement homes because they serve us so well” said O’Hagan. “Most of my borders are horses I have sold off the track. I have re-homed well over a hundred thoroughbreds. Every horse that goes through my stable ends up with a good forever home and this is VERY important to me.”

We wish continued success to both O’Hagan and her beloved OTTB ‘Zach’!

Written by Orianna Scheck

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