But Fly Lite was unruly and often bucked at the riding farm, and her new owners became quickly frustrated with the mare and sent her to the New Holland, Pa., auction sale two days later.
The New Holland sales ring, open every Monday, is the last stop for many horses who are often purchased for horsemeat, sent first to be slaughtered in Texas or Illinois with the meat eventually shipped to Mexico or Europe for consumption.
Fly Lite had already been the unfortunate winning bid by such meat-seekers and was standing in the "killer pen" when Jo Deibel of Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue Inc. in Glenville, Pa., noticed the mare.
"She was gorgeous," Deibel recalled. "She appeared sound and clean-legged and was very quiet and nice. She didn't deserve to be there."
Rescue groups often avoid being involved in the bidding process.
"There might be six or seven groups there, and we don't want to bid against each other," she said.
Deibel made an offer that would give Fly Lite's new owner a marginal profit, and after the bid was accepted she contacted the Jockey Club, using the identification tattoo on the mare's lip to find out her name and where she had been bred.
Deibel learned Fly Lite had been bred at Barbara Rickline's Xanthus Farm in Gettysburg and contacted Rickline to inform her that the rescue group had acquired the mare.
"I was appalled. When they told me they had a horse I'd bred I was shocked and asked them which one. I was angry because I'd told her trainer that I had people interested in the mare and not to sell her," Rickline said.
Rickline called New Jersey horsewoman Janice Wendling, whose husband, Ron, is a trainer at Philadelphia Park, and sold Fly Lite for $600, similar to the price the killers and the rescue group had paid for the mare.
Michael Spak, now a finance broker, bought Fly Lite in part because of his connection to the Wendlings.
