Cheak Honored with White Horse Award

Angie Cheak, a Kentucky horsewoman who was unintentionally thrust into the spotlight while rescuing 43 horses on a Mercer County, Ky., farm, was honored at Del Mar Nov. 2 with the Race Track Chaplaincy of America’s White Horse Award.

Her actions, along with the assistance of an untold number of volunteers, led her to be the co-founder and executive director of the Equine Sanctuary Center of Kentucky.

“I am the executive director, but that doesn’t mean much,” she said. “Our goal, as a 503c non-profit, is not to duplicate what other people are doing: We have New Vocations, we have the TRF (Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation), we have all of these wonderful organizations, but we want to be able to be that emergency group that can take the burden off the (Kentucky) county agencies, because they are the ones that have to pay the price when there is an investigation. We want to private-sector that and take the pressure off.

“The 43 horses could have bankrupted Mercer County’s system,” she said. “If we can step up and say, ‘here we are. We’ll take the horses for you for the duration of the court case; we’ll house them, we’ll pay for it; we’ll make sure they’re safe.’ Should they lose the case? They’ll go back to the original owner. The horses won’t be any worse off. If the county wins, the horses will be better off. We’ve seen some amazing things happen.

“We want to have a self-contained farm that raises our own funds; and do it private sector. I don’t want to be beholden with the government. We should be self-sufficient. We only have one paid position, and that’s me. We have 30+ volunteers. It’s not just Thoroughbreds; we won’t turn any horse away."

Cheak grew up on a farm off of Paris Pike north of Lexington, and her aunt and uncle owned a Quarter Horse track in Louisville. While the farm was sold in the 1980s and Cheak moved to Florida to be a chef and event planner, she returned to Kentucky a few years ago. She told her story through a tearful acceptance speech.

“I got a call out of the blue from the (Mercer Co.) sheriff’s office,” she began. “He said, ‘We know you grew up with Thoroughbreds, would you be willing to help?’ So I did. We rescued four Thoroughbred stallions from a backyard breeder.

“I had known Charles “Chuck” Borell and he asked me to come to their farm because he had ‘a horse that was underweight.’ He then thought he had eight, and it wound up being 43 (in 2016). That was on a Friday and he left on Tuesday and we didn’t seem again until he was arrested.”

Borell, who is now serving two years probation, is the father of Maria Borell, who popped in late 2015 as the trainer of Runhappy, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1). She was later fired from her position and later leased a farm in Kentucky that was home to the 43 horses.

The plight of the horses drew national attention but it was Cheak who ran the lead operation on the farm as volunteers and donations poured in. She hasn’t stopped, saying, “My only job is to do the next thing.

“We’re continuing our work; we’ve had a lot of small cases. It’s not 43 horses and it’s not concerning a Breeders’ Cup-winning trainer. But the cases continue; we just continue to do what we do,” she said.

The day’s presentation included the RTCA’s Tribute to Excellence Award which went to the late Horace William “Salty” Roberts; and the Community Service Award that went to Ben Hudson, publisher and editor of Track magazine.