A Very Horsey Sex Scandal

The Sport of Kings is embroiled in a sex scandal, but it’s not what you think. South of the border, a Thoroughbred breeder has launched a lawsuit against the owner of a stakes-winning broodmare prospect because it turns out the filly is actually a colt!

The story was reported in Bloodhorse and the horse in question – ironically named Kept True – won $323,659 on the track with five wins, two seconds, and two thirds from 14 starts, all in races against fillies.

Following Kept True’s career on the track, she was sold as a 5-year-old broodmare prospect to Crawford Farms in Kentucky. Despite being issued a certificate of reproductive status at the sale in Keeneland, a requirement for broodmares and broodmare prospects at the sale, when Kept True was examined by the new owners vet it was determined that the horse had no ovaries. Further testing concluded that the equine had a genetic condition that gave the Thoroughbred “the appearance of a female horse, but the chromosomes of a male horse.”

Suffice to say a lawsuit is in progress, but given that the original owners of Kept True did not know the reproductive status of the horse, and therefore there is no negligent misrepresentation, it is likely to fail. Perhaps more interesting is the question of Kept True’s victories.

As the human sports world seeks to adapt to transgender athletes, with some American states banning them from competing in girls’ sports, this case is a rare instance of an equine athlete perhaps having biological advantages due to gender. However, owners of the fillies that Kept True defeated won’t have much recourse. According to rule 4039.19 of the New York State Gaming Commission there are time limits on when objections can be made. The specific rule states that an objection must be received within 48 hours (exclusive of Sunday) after the last race of the last day of the meeting. Given that the horse’s wins took place in 2020 and the sale was January 2021, the objection deadline has long passed.

And what is Kept True up to now? The horse’s current owner reports that the horse is “living happily in a retirement paddock in grass fields in NY with her friends …” As for the future, we hope that he finds a suitable home and a new job where gender doesn’t matter.