Tattoos

Question
My wife recently acquired a retired race horse from a horse rescue organization. She got all the paperwork. The physical description matches exactly. His racing record shows 29 starts with earnings just over $19,000. The problem is, we do not see a tattoo on his upper lip. Could it be faded by now? He is supposedly 14 years old. Or does she have a different horse? He's a great horse and it really doesn't make any difference, but we are curious. Have you heard of this before. My wife has been in contact with former owners back about 7 years when he was purchased from a University research facility. They don't know anything about any paperwork problems.

Answer
Hi Jim:

It would be very rare for the tattoo to completely disappear, but I guess that it is possible.  Sometimes, when badly faded, they are very hard to read in certain types of light. Below are two links that may help you in your search.

Also, for a horse who is only 14, and raced in the mid-to-late 90s, you can look up his name and race record (for a small fee, maybe $2-$5) on sites like brisnet.com.


https://www.registry.jockeyclub.com/   (scroll down to tattoo ID and click)
  
ALSO TRY

http://www.equinerescue.info/tattoos.txt

Good Luck!

Brad Adler
www.superthoroughbred.com