Laura Sloan, a well-known foxhunter and trainer of field hunters, won the Field Hunter Division of the 2021 National Thoroughbred Makeover competition on Donna Verrilli’s off-the-track-Thoroughbred (OTTB), Forthegreatergood. But the story doesn’t end there.
On the final evening of competition, October 17, 2021, in the arena, Sloan and Forthegreatergood won a final recognition at the Kentucky Horse Park: Overall 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion of all competing horses in all ten divisions. This was the first overall championship for a horse from the Field Hunter division.
Laura Sloan and Forthegreatergood follow in the mock hunt. / CanterClix photo
Forthegreatergood is by Scipion out of No Peeking by Langfuhr. Coincidentally, the dam’s sire, Langfuhr, was owned by another foxhunter, the late Gus Schickedanz, MFH, Eglinton and Caledon Hounds (ON). Langfuhr (by Danzig), won three Grade 1 Stakes Races in the U.S. and Canada and was Leading Sire in North America in 2005. Forthegreatergood was bred in Maryland, had twenty-two races, won or placed five times at Maryland tracks, and earned nearly $50,000. He was bred, owned, and trained by Donna Lockhard.
Sloan, an equine professional, was employed by Richard Verrilli, Ex-MFH of the Millbrook Hunt (NY), for four years until his passing in December 2020 at age eighty-seven. Verrilli was still foxhunting that year on horses trained and maintained by Sloan. After Verrilli’s death, his wife, Donna, sold the farm in New York and moved the entire establishment, with Sloan and the horses, to the Verrilli winter home in Southern Pines, North Carolina. This is the Moore County Hunt country.
Wanting to honor her husband’s recent wish to acquire an OTTB for the makeover competition and contribute to the welfare of the Thoroughbred horse, Donna Verrilli sat down with Sloan. Their talk ended in a simple plan: Laura, start looking for an off-the-track thoroughbred and train it for the Makeover.
Easier said than done. There are rules to the Makeover competition. After coming off the track, Thoroughbreds can have had no more than ten rides before January 1 of the competing year. It must have at least one race or published work the year before the Makeover competition. The horse cannot have been trained by anyone for any purpose. Basically, the horse has ten months to show its stuff.
Sloan began making inquiries. A hunting friend in Virginia, Catherine Stimpson in the Blue Ridge country, had just acquired a horse off the track. They talked, and the deal was made, sight-unseen, until Team Verrilli arrived to pick him up in Virginia. It was late January 2021, and Forthegreatergood, also known as Dom, was off to Southern Pines.
Thoroughbreds come off the track with little or no experience of the outside world. And no rider knows better than a foxhunter that his or her mount, by the end of its career, will have to deal with everything the world has to offer―yapping dogs and running cats, scary boulders and invisible bogs, gun shots and whip cracks, stonewalls and coops, rails and ditches, frightened deer and cottontails, water, bridges, and road traffic. And foxhounds exploding out of the bush right next to them. On February 1, 2021, training began. Sloan had eight months to do the best she could.
“Dom came like most horses just off the track―head up and ready to run,” said Sloan. “I didn’t have the time to turn him out first to unwind. He came with his racing plates, so if he was turned out, it couldn’t have been for long.
“But you need to set up every day for success. You need to go slow to go fast.
“He was in the trailer five days a week, going to a trail ride in new country, or a lesson over cross-country fences, or a little dressage show, or driving cattle. A busy year for Sloan, but hey, there’s also some serious money in Makeover prizes!
Forthegreatergood wins the Field Hunter division, sponsored by the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America.
During the week of competition, Sloan rode field hunter tests under saddle and in a mock hunt over fences. On the day of the final individual test, she and Forthegreatergood performed a gorgeous round of fences in the arena to lock up her victory in the Field Hunter division. Judges from the other ten Makeover divisions had been monitoring riders during the week and were in the arena to see final rounds. When it was all over, there was one 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion crowned, and that was Forthegreatergood.
Forthegreatergood is the Overall Thoroughbred Makeover Champion. The award is sponsored by Churchill Downs. / CanterClix photo
The purpose of the Makeover competition―a serious retired racehorse project―is to generate awareness among horsemen and women of all equestrian disciplines. Know there is a breed of horses, many of which are retired from racing at an early age, that is supremely athletic, intelligent, and versatile. Thoroughbreds have proved to be topflight competitors and honest citizens in numerous equestrian disciplines over the years. Financial sponsors and supporters of the Makeover program are individuals and institutions from all disciplines, certainly including the racing industry. The sponsor of the Field Hunter division is the Masters of Foxhounds Association. The sponsor of the Overall Thoroughbred Makeover Championship is Churchill Downs.
Winners and sponsors in the ten disciplines of the 2021 competition were:
- Eventing, sponsored by Tipperary Equestrian: Fleet Stepper, trained by Hillary Irwin
- Show Jumper, sponsored by Excel Equine: Raise Em Up, trained by Kristina Aaron
- Show Hunter, sponsored by Beyond the Wire: Icarius, trained by Alexandra Beckstett
- Field Hunter, sponsored by Masters of Foxhounds Association: Forthegreatergood, trained by Laura Sloan
- Dressage, sponsored by PTHA’s Turning For Home: Kubo Cat, trained by Alison O’Dwyer
- Polo, sponsored by United States Polo Association: Ramses, trained by Benjamin Lynch
- Freestyle, sponsored by New Start: Papa Al, trained by Jody Busch
- Barrel Racing, sponsored by SmartPak: Tip Top Diva, trained by Dakotah Rowel
- Competitive Trail, sponsored by Godolphin: Super Terrific, trained by Abbey Blair
- Ranch Work, sponsored by MidAtlantic Horse Rescue: War Candy, trained by Muri Triantafilo
Posted November 2, 2021
A closing note from Sloan: “Cameron Sadler [MFH, Moore County] won the 2020 Field Hunter championship on Zapper this year at the Makeover. Which means both champions two years running are from Moore County!”