Murphy’s makeover

I sat in the arena with tears running down my face, my legs trembling with exhaustion. It was Wednesday. In two days, I was scheduled to compete in the Thoroughbred Makeover, the annual show sponsored by the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP).

The three-day event, which features competition in 10 different disciplines, is open to retired racehorses with 10 months or less of retraining. Hundreds of Thoroughbreds were here, all with trainers anxious to show off the work they’d done to prepare their off-the-track Thoroughbreds for new careers.

At the moment, I was not one of them. “I can’t do this!” I yelled across the giant covered arena of the Kentucky Horse Park, where my mother, Gerry, sat in the stands. For the past 10 months