THOROUGHBRED (Animal Planet - Episode #9 - JUMP START)

THOROUGHBRED (Animal Planet - Episode #9 - JUMP START)

At Bonita Farm, youngest son John wants to prove himself as a steeplechase trainer. As he trains three horses for a big race in one of the capitals of horse racing, Saratoga, New York, a nasty accident happens. On a rainy day, as one horse makes a practice jump, the rider loses control and both horse and rider crash into a fence then hit the ground. In the end, both come away without any major injuries. Then, on race day in Saratoga, John and Bill get terrible news. The jockey they handpicked to ride their best horse - the best in the country and a friend of John's - passed away two days earlier in a freak accident. Despite his anguish, John stays focused on the race and quickly lines up another top-ranked jockey. But the jockey breaks his ankle just before the race, and at the last minute, John and his father scramble to find any jockey available to ride the horse. The horse makes a last-minute bid as he charges from behind, and quickly passes other horses in a dramatic surge toward the finish line that offers John hope that the horse may be a champion someday. Back at the farm, a traumatic time of year has arrived for Bonita's youngest horses - the moment when their mothers are taken away. Billy and his wife Barbara wean two of the year's foals. The five-month-old horses are separated from their mothers and put in pastures far apart. For hours, mothers and babies cry out for each other, yet by the following day, they are fine. Elsewhere on Bonita Farm, Kevin and his wife Chris train a filly named ESSEE'S LASS for a race, and viewers will learn where the horse got her determination.


(30 Minutes)