“Galerio is a very special horse to me,” Ashley Nelson said. “I galloped and groomed him as a coming 2-year-old.” Nelson groomed and rode him until he was claimed during a race in November of 2019. She had had a special bond with the horse and one day hoped to retire him.

Though Galerio changed hands, Ashley never lost track of him. She followed his career as he moved through Maryland trainers. When she couldn’t make it to the races in person, she watched him on FanDuel TV. Ashley was able to visit Galerio a couple of times during his racing career, but those precious moments were few and far between.

In 47 starts from 2019 to 2024, Galerio earned more than $687,000. He won 14 races and finished in the top three 40 times. His career highlight came in 2021, when he took the John B. Campbell Stakes at Laurel Park in Maryland for trainer John Salzman and owners Bird Moberly and Grady Griffin. That day, Galerio earned an impressive 116 Equibase Speed Figure.

As time went on, Galerio started to have problems with his knees. Fortunately for Galerio, he was with a trainer who gave him the knee surgery he needed. After the knee surgery, Galerio trained and was brought back to his top form. At a claiming race, Galerio was claimed by another trainer who gave Galerio the other knee surgery he really needed.

Courtesy of Ashley Nelson

The knee surgery and time off paid off because Galerio came back better than ever to win his final two starts.

As time went on and Galerio exchanged hands, Ashley knew that Galerio was getting ready to retire soon and was fortunate enough to find his name in the Delta Downs program book. She immediately reached out to every contact she had on the racing circuit but couldn’t connect with anyone at Delta Downs. Thankfully, she wasn’t alone in her concern for Galerio. Bird Moberly and Grady Griffin saw Galerio’s entry too and were able to claim him to give him the retirement he deserved.

A month passed with no updates on Galerio, and Ashley grew anxious. She reached out to Galerio’s breeder to ask if he knew where the gelding had gone. He confirmed Bird and Grady’s intentions to retire him, but he didn’t know Galerio’s location.

Then came a Facebook post that changed everything.

“Only a couple days after that conversation, I saw a listing on Facebook from Remember Me Rescue of Galerio,” Ashley recalled. “Within minutes of me seeing this ad, I sent a message to the page.”

Ashley sent photos of Galerio as a young horse to the organization and explained their strong connection. Donna Keen, founder of Remember Me Rescue, responded almost immediately.

“Donna sent me her number right away. I called her and we spoke on the phone. Within a week, I had the paperwork submitted and had secured a farm to keep Galerio at – all I had to do was find a ride for him back to Maryland,” said Ashley.

Shipping companies were either booked or unavailable within Ashley’s timeframe, so she and her boyfriend, Brandon Arias, hooked up their trailer and drove 1,443 miles to Burleson, Texas.

“If you ever look at a map and say to yourself, ‘The United States isn’t really that big,’ boy would you be wrong. The drive took us about 28 hours,” Ashley said.

They left at 3:30 a.m. ET on Dec. 31 and arrived at a truck stop just minutes from the rescue at 7:30 a.m. CT on New Year’s Day. “When we did a once-around of our truck and trailer, we found that not only did one of our wheels come off of the trailer, but the entire brake system came off with it,” Ashley said.

The couple started making frantic phone calls to local repair shops. Ashley called Donna to explain the situation, and Donna and her husband Dallas offered Ashley and Brandon a place to stay and helped connect them with a repair company.

“One of our wheel bearings got so hot, it welded to itself. The business owner told us that in his 35 years of doing that kind of work, he had never seen a wheel bearing weld to itself. It was a miracle we made it to Texas,” Ashley explained. The repair team also discovered another wheel bearing was about to snap in half. After the trailer was fixed, Ashley and Brandon were on their way to pick up Galerio.

“Donna and Dallas never asked for anything from us even when I insisted,” Ashley remembered. “They were more concerned for our safety and to make sure Galerio would get home safely, too.”

While they stayed at the organization, Ashley and Brandon got to know the Keens and learn about Remember Me Rescue’s mission. “Their facility is beautiful and has the perfect setup. Donna has a great program for these horses and really knows what she is doing,” recalled Ashley.

On Jan. 3, it was finally time to head home. Donna offered some final travel tips and wished them well. Galerio loaded like a pro and they hit the road.

“It was a grueling ride home, but once we got there, it was like Galerio knew he was home,” Ashley said. “He has settled in nicely and is loving life outside of the racetrack.”

Since then, Ashley, Donna, Bird, and Grady have all stayed in touch to check on Galerio and his retirement.

“We are forever grateful for Donna and Dallas Keen for all their help, as well as Bird Moberly, and Grady Griffin. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to get Galerio back to his safe forever home,” stated Ashley.

Now, Ashley’s hope is to raise awareness and support for Remember Me Rescue and other aftercare organizations. “They could use all the help and recognition they can get,” Ashley emphasized.

The Jockey Club supports many aftercare initiatives including the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the only accrediting body in aftercare, and Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.), which encourages the retraining of Thoroughbreds into other disciplines upon completion of careers. View all of the initiatives supported by The Jockey Club.