Alexandra the Great: The Story of the Record-Breaking Filly Who Ruled the Racetrack
2 3 AlexANdrA the greAt 4 with sweat In the early ghostly hours before the dawn her water broke amniotic fluid gushing onto the dry clean straw Then Jim called Dede McGehee the owner of Heaven Trees Farm and a well-respected horse veteri narian Miss Dede Lotta Kim is in labor Jim told her If Dede had been home she would have headed to the barn Her pink confection of a house complete with turrets a room filled with a bountiful display of Kentucky Derby hats and a chicken coop miniature of her house that she called Palais de Poulets Poultry Dede McGehee’s all-pink home Deb Aronson
3 A Nobody 4 3 Palace was just a short walk to her foaling barn But Dede was on the road heading home but not close yet Lotta Kim was young and healthy and Dede did not expect any complications so she thanked Jim and told him If anything changes let me know Next Jim called Don Barcus the farm manager who joined him at the foaling barn to watch over Lotta Kim She was a maiden which meant this was her first foal The always high-strung mare was scared and tense she sweated and panted her eyes wide Normally first foals are on the small side but this one was large and space in the mare’s birth canal was tight Over and over Lotta Kim got up and paced and then lay down with a grunt in the pale-pink cinderblock stall in the dark quiet barn For several hours she labored painfully until finally with Don and Jim gently pulling on the foal’s forefeet the newborn slid onto the hay It was a girl This was just one foal of hundreds born that season in the Kentucky bluegrass the nerve center of Ameri can horse racing It would have been impossible at that moment to imagine that this little creature more leg and bone than muscle and heart would grow to become a racehorse for the ages breaking track records and introducing thousands of people to horse racing In a few short years little girls and their moms would fall in love with the filly faster than you can say girl power Jim and Don cleaned out the straw now wet and dirty and replaced it with dry bedding They medicated the
4 3 AlexANdrA the greAt 4 filly’s naval and watched to make sure she would begin to nurse She nosed around Lotta Kim’s belly looking for her udder But Lotta Kim had no milk Often once a foal starts nursing the mare’s milk comes in But not this time Instead when the filly tried to nurse clambering around underfoot and rooting around in sensitive tick lish areas Lotta Kim furious sore and exhausted almost stomped her newborn Don and Jim rushed to protect the baby Whoa whoa settle down now Lotta Kim Don called out He and Jim grabbed her halter and led her from the stall They tried over the next few hours to interest the mare in her new baby leading her back into the stall several times to see if she would let the filly nurse But Lotta Kim ignored her Finally they took Lotta Kim away The mare never looked back never once whinnied for her baby As soon as he had led Lotta Kim away Don climbed the stairs in the foaling barn two at a time The next few hours were critical for the filly Right after a mare gives birth she makes a special first milk or colos trum Colostrum is full of antibodies that help protect a foal from disease Without colostrum a foal can get seriously ill and even die And a foal can only absorb colostrum’s antibodies within the first 24 hours of its life though sooner is better On the upper level of the barn Dede kept spare colos trum in a freezer When a mare has a stillborn foal or makes extra colostrum Dede collects and freezes it just
3 A Nobody 4 5 for situations like this Don grabbed a container and thawed the thick sticky bright-yellow liquid As he fed the little creature in the quiet stall Don admired her two white socks and her unusual blaze an upside-down exclamation point By now Dede had arrived home She set out to find the filly a nurse mare a horse that is producing milk but has no foal or whose foal has been weaned stopped nursing A mare like this can nurse a foal that is not her own if she is willing Often mares are very willing but not always Dede called a nearby farm with an available nurse mare and had them deliver her that day Time was of the essence Dede also called Lotta Kim’s owner Dolphus Dolph Morrison Dolph a retired steel mill manager bred and raced Thoroughbreds as a hobby He loved the combination of science and art that was involved with matching one of his mares he owned mostly mares with a promising stallion This latest filly was the off spring of a big strong stallion named Medaglia d’Oro who Dolph thought was underappreciated Arriving at Heaven Trees the nurse mare’s owner sedated the horse lightly to make sure she was doc ile and led her off the trailer Dede brought the nurse mare into the foaling barn The filly saw a short squatty mare with some Appaloosa markings walk toward her She smelled the Vick’s VapoRub a powerfully minty smelling ointment which the owner had rubbed under the mare’s nose and on the foal’s back to mask the
