If there’s one thing that’s certain on a Thoroughbred racing establishment, it’s facing the unexpected. In the whirlwind of activity surrounding the changes that occur during mid-season, new faces arriving from the auction sales, and saying goodbye to some for new homes, REI has been going through some difficult and happy times behind the scenes with our staff. With the small racing break currently afforded to us, we’ve been working on some major transitions that we are now prepared to make official announcements for.

We are saddened to announce the death of our beloved juvenile racing trainer Edward O’Hara. Two weeks ago he suffered a stroke, from which he died from three days later. Edward was the first person to hire on with Isabelle when she first began Ivory Storms Stables in Y13, and he brought his sister and cousin along a few weeks later. Born in Ireland, he trained racers for over fifty years, but never stayed in one place too long. We are deeply honored to have had him with us for the last five years. As our first original trainer he helped Isabelle learn the ins and outs of the industry, and was the first trainer of Ivory Storms, Lookin’ Back Lucky, Maliah, and Desert Amber, along with later stars Tiger Heart, HOF Impress the Moonlight, and Sugar Demon. Since then he’s left his mark on many of our performers, and he’ll always hold a cherished memory in our hearts. We are humbled to have had his expert guidance for one last opening season of juveniles, we hope this crop always remembers his patient hands and soft voice.

His sister Fiona O’Hara has taken the death of her brother very hard. She has been our main expert in equine nutrition and physical therapy since we opened our doors. While Edward was focused at NDM, Fiona established herself at SS when we opened our breeding section, and has trained in our NDM expert Josephine Greene. As some who pay more close attention to the behind the scenes may know, Fiona and our Broodmare Manager Henry Keyes have become, shall we say, close friends in the last year since working more closely at SS. Henry was an original hire to us as a groom, the older gentleman gave our current staff of grooms and racing assistants a solid foundation for how the job is done before becoming our Broodmare Manager. Through the grief we do have some light, Fiona and Henry have decided to retire together, and travel. Fiona misses Ireland and wishes to inter her brother’s ashes at their family memorial, and Henry would love to see the land of Eyre. The pair have definitely earned their retirement, and we wish them happy travels (and perhaps wedding bells, someday).

This now left some urgent gaps in important positions for REI. As Isabelle was gathering up requirements for hiring on new people, she was surprised to find two jockeys ready to retire their stirrups. Bryce Williams, our supervising jockey, and Abigail Fortunata both caught Isabelle by surprise. Bryce has been placing more emphasis on his family life since marrying and becoming a father, and he has asked to take on the safer job of our juvenile racing trainer. He has large shoes to fill, but we can’t think of a more dedicated man for the job. Abigail has been looking for some changes in her life – namely marriage and children. She and Lars Handle, our prospect trainer, wish to quietly announce their engagement. We couldn’t think of anything to say but “yes!” when Abigail asked for the broodmare manager position.

David Rittenhouse will now be taking over as our supervising jockey, with Evander Thorne becoming a full jockey. That put Isabelle on a jockey search – and it wasn’t long to fill, as we had them knocking on our doors! We would like to introduce our two new jockey interns, Miranda Jefferson and Benjamin Pitt. Josephine Greene has also taken on an intern right out of French college, Victor Leroux. Only just out of her own internship, we’re in for some new state of the art nutrition and body therapy techniques for our retired Thoroughbreds at SS! Evander and Chloe Donahue also wish to convey their pregnancy is going very well, the baby is due in about a month. Everyone will notice new names on a good chunk of our racing string, we are excited to see what some fresh faces, and old faces in new places, will bring for our team!