Naify on Mission to Rescue Father's Horses

(from Del Mar track notes)
Longtime horse owner Marsha Naify is on a mission these days – to find horses that were either bred or owned by her late father, Marshall Naify, claim and retire them.

She fulfilled part of that mission on Monday at Del Mar when she claimed I've Decided, a 9-year-old gelded son of Bertrando, for $10,000. She then turned the horse over to Wendy Ohrt, a former racetrack exercise rider who works to retrain horses as steeplechasers or just riding horses.

Her father, who bred and raced horses as 505 Farms, bred I've Decided. His sire, Bertrando, was a multiple grade I stakes winner for 505 Farms, including the 1993 Pacific Classic (gr. I).

"I heard the horse was running on Monday and I asked Bruce Headley to claim him for me," Naify said. Headley trains horses for Naify, including Surf Cat, whom she owns with Aase Headley.

"I really believe in keeping track of horses my father bred or raced and I want to make sure they get a nice home after they are retired from the track," said Naify, who has homes in Long Beach and Del Mar.

Last year, she claimed High Wire Act, another winner for 505, out of a race at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia and had him retired to Ohrt's care.