We activists talk often about horses falling through the ranks – their value dropping with their “production” as they make their way from elite tracks to seedy racinos. More often than not, this ends badly – for most, slaughter, for others, simply being run into the ground, with each successive “connection” trying to suck one last dime from the increasingly spent horse. The recently deceased 9-year-old Ike Walker (below) is a prime example of the latter.

Ike was made by Buck Pond Farm in January 2012. Like the chattel he was, Ike was peddled for $125,000 at a Keeneland yearling sale. First raced at two (of course) in July 2014, Ike would spend the first five years or so of his “career” running at what are considered some of the best tracks in America – Arlington, Keeneland, Churchill, Oaklawn, Del Mar, Santa Anita. Those early years saw several stakes races…