Casey Mourns Loss of Homebred Down Town Allen

Standout West Virginia-bred mare Down Town Allen was euthanized May 12 as a result of complications arising out of injuries she suffered in the Original Gold Stakes April 18 at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.

The only West Virginia bred filly or mare in history to amass more than $1 million in career earnings, 8-year-old Down Town Allen had been tended to by Dr. William Riddle and the staff at the Cecil Veterinary Clinic in Port Deposit, Md., since her injury.

Riding an eight-race win streak dating to 2013, John Casey's homebred Down Town Allen was making her first start of 2015 in the Original Gold, in which she sat pressing the pace prior to being pulled up by jockey Erick Ramirez on the backstretch. Despite being in good spirits over the past month and exposed to a wide array of treatments, the mare was unable to overcome the injury.

"She was at our clinic from the outset, and we all wanted to do absolutely everything we could to save her," Riddle said. "She arrived with a tear in her suspensory and we put a cast on her leg and treated her in the hyperbaric (chamber) initially.

"We removed the cast and outfitted her with a special shoe, and she was exposed to a lot of supportive treatment, including antibiotics, as well. Despite the extensive efforts, there wasn't any evidence of healing, and we unfortunately thought we had to make the decision that was made."

Bred, owned, and trained by Casey, the daughter of Windsor Castle   finished her career with 25 wins—including 21 stakes wins—from 42 starts and earned $1,029,387 on the track. Prior to her final race, Down Town Allen had won 14 consecutive starts at Charles Town, with 12 of those victories in stakes company.

Casey acknowledged how the horse he raised and trained from birth occupied a unique spot as a part of not only his stable, but his family as well.

"I've been in the business a long time and I've never had or seen a horse like her," Casey said. "She was a racehorse who loved being a racehorse but with her disposition and the way she was, she was also like a pet that was a part of our family.

"When she was at the track, she'd just win stakes after stakes. When she was away from the track, she'd let kids ride her around a show ring. She was one of a kind."