Racehorse May Become GOAT*, Thanks to a Goat

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 29 January 2020)

//Ed. note: * Greatest Of All Time//

another horse story click here for a recent TNT report about
a less happy horse story.



               Fast friends (one a bit faster than the other).

Racehorse 'Hasfırtına'' was born on 15 March 2016,  the foal of
parents 'Torok' and 'Sollevare'.  The foal was bought by businessman
İlhami Türe, who was living in Germany, and brought to Izmir to be
prepared for racing.  Hasfırtına seemed to have the 'right stuff' to be
a champion but the horse loved the outdoors and couldn't adjust to
the racetrack stables, kicking in the stalls and unable to sleep.

So after coming in first in his fourth race, Hasfırtına failed to win
the next 11.  The stables still wrankled the horse and even his
groom staying there with him failed to make him comfortable.
At their wits' end, Hasfırtına's minders got the idea to make a goat
the horse's friend and in October 2019 'Taner' the goat began living
with Hasfırtına in the stables at the Şirinyer Hipodrom racetrack in
Izmir.


                               The stables' odd couple.

For a few days the two creatures ignored each other but on the fifth
day they became friends and are now inseperable.  Hasfırtına
calmed down and another fortuitous friend appeared in 17-year-old
apprentice jockey Muhammed Mir Bilgin.  Hasfırtına was taken
to Bursa for a race and Taner rode with him in the horse-carrier. With
Bilgin in the saddle, Hasfırtına won the 1,800-meter race. 

Hasfırtına and Bilgin won three straight races but at a 1,900-meter
race in Izmir on 29 December, with champion jockey Halis Karataş
up, Hasırtına could only manage fourth place.  So Bilgin returned to
the saddle for a 2,100-meter race at Şirinyer last Sunday and
Hasfırtına took first place among 14 horses. 

Hasfırtına's trainor Serdar Seren Görgü explained that "my
predecessors got the idea to calm Hasfırtına down with a goat friend.
The two animals are always together, except, of course, when
Hasfırtına is training.  They're very happy together and 'Taner' even
comes along for races outside Izmir.  Muhammed (Bilgin) and
Hasfırtına get along famously and the horse wins easily with
him in the saddle.  In fact, sometimes I think that during a race
Hasfırtına will laugh and say to Muhammed 'we're going to win it!'













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