Roxie started to enjoy her life. The gamblers loved her. She always ran second or third at that little track, but she needed to break her maiden (win her first race) and she could really only handle 5 furlongs. The racing secretary finally wrote a 5 furlong race, and Roxie won it with the announcer saying "and they won't catch her today". The crowd had grown to love her too, and gave her a standing ovation as she crossed the finish line. Again, tears filled our eyes.
The track went bankrupt and we ended up in Tucson for the winter. It was December, and the boys each had one thing they wanted for Christmas. We had no extra money. We were living in the bus and the generator had died. We were both doing little extra part time jobs and hoping the horses would continue to support themselves.
We both like "hook horses" - quarter horses that could run 660 and 870 yards. Why not a thoroughbred sprinter? We entered Roxie in an 870 yard race, praying that she would be able to get a piece of the purse so the boys would have something for Christmas. She did just that, and we had just exactly the right amount of money to get each boy his one gift.
We retired her after that race, and gave her to an old friend so she could be a broodmare and graze nice green pastures for the rest of her life. She deserved it, and I still get tears in my eyes when I think of her.
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