Cassandra, a New Jersey teen, was looking for a horse of her own and found Monica’s Stargazer listed for sale on dreamhorse.com.

The big bay gelding was starting his career under saddle when Cassandra found his listing. According to Cassandra, his seller had been his caretaker during the pacer’s short racing career and kept him for riding. However, the caretaker was selling him because of lack of time to spend retraining Monica’s Stargazer.

The bay with a star, stripe and snip is by Laag and out of the No Nukes mare No Kitty. He started in two qualifiers and one baby race in September 2000.

The following year, after growing to more than 16 hands, he started in a few more qualifiers and a couple of pari-mutuel events at New Jersey tracks. His best finish was second in an amateur race, where he paced his mile in 2:03.3, but most of his attempts at racing found him an average of 13 lengths behind the winner.

Today, though, the bay has found a job he can excel at, with Cassandra.
Cassandra, who calls him “Star,” said they enjoy their horseback adventures.
They’ve been practicing perfecting the walk, trot, and canter.

In addition, they’ve been adding neck reining to his repertoire. Often on Friday nights, they go to a local farm to watch team penning competitions, in the hopes of someday entering the competition.

“Star loves to see the cows,” Cassandra said. “All the excitement makes him neigh.