Help with finding out who my mare is?

[Horsenaround]

I recently bought a nice TB mare at the Unadilla auction in upstate NY. Her coggins says she is Bell and is 10 yrs old. She has a lip tatoo of S9191. She is a dark bay and about 17 hands. Is there any mares with the name of Bell or Belle in the registry? I believe she must have raced in NY. I would love to find out her racing record! I have no papers on her unfortunately.

[Pan Zareta]

I recently bought a nice TB mare at the Unadilla auction in upstate NY. Her coggins says she is Bell and is 10 yrs old. She has a lip tatoo of S9191. She is a dark bay and about 17 hands. Is there any mares with the name of Bell or Belle in the registry? I believe she must have raced in NY. I would love to find out her racing record! I have no papers on her unfortunately.

S=1989. Are you positive re. the letter? They can be hard to read clearly, esp. in an older horse. By name Bell or Belle, the only thing close to age 10 would be a 1996 model Bell. The alpha code for that year is "Z".

[Horsenaround]

I looked at her tatoo myself and yes, i do believe that is a Z and not an S. The coggins was done by the auction vet at the auction barn and the lighting is not the best there for reading a tatoo so the vet may have easily mistaken the Z for an S. She definately doesnt look like shes 21 yrs old. Her incisors are still fairly small and straight and shes a real easy keeper. Very calm, quiet mare. She does love to run and tries to outrace the other horses when running in the pasture. Shes a very sweet mare and has been reschooled for showing in english. I am so glad i bought her and saved her from slaughter. There were lots of TBs there and they all went very cheap. Such a pity that they give their all for humans, just to end up dumped at some sale being practically worthless! Wish i could buy many more. Thank you for the info!

[Crystal]

The name Bell was probably just a stable name. Not a offical racing name. Once you have the tattoo, you need to contact the jockey club about doing tattoo research. It will cost you a little bit of money, but they can provide you with atleast a pedigree and confirmation of her age.

You did a great thing by picking her up at the auction. I know it hurts not to be able to bring them all home. But it's the time of year where a lot of track horses who aren't earning their keep get cut. And a lot of people have worried about hay/shavings prices for winter, so their stock gets slimmed down. Auctions are the last resort of a dasperate man.

[Horsenaround]

Well, this TB mare had been sold at this same auction before, about a year ago. The person who bought her then was the one that sold her this time. She loved the mare and they used her a lot for trail riding, showing, riding lessons, etc. But then her daughter went to college and they were no longer using her and she had to cut back on the amount of horses she had. She told me that Bell was a really good horse and that she never bucked or acted up at all and that she would also do a jump course. I cant wait for spring to ride her and find out what i bought! I think she will do well with trail riding as she is not the least bit spooky or jumpy. She will have a forever home with me. Yes, i will contact the jockey club to get her info. Thanks again.