Tim Benson and Abigail Adsit had a stable of seven horses at Saratoga Raceway in Barn 21, six Standardbred racehorses and one thoroughbred riding horse. 

Adsit has always worked other jobs in addition to her regular job in the stable with Benson and so her day-to-day in the barn varied depending on the day and what had to be done. Most often, she can be found working as a caretaker for other stables, as paddock help on race days, and as a substitute outrider at the harness track when needed. She even worked on the flat track during the Saratoga Racecourse meet with her own thoroughbred, Red, ponying horses for different stables or as an exercise rider herself. 

She would turn out all seven of her horses in the field by Nelson Ave and the harness track, a field shared by numerous horsemen. She would turn them out with each other so they could run and play together and be horses. 

At about 4 a.m. on June 16, Adsit got a call. The caller on the line had told her that her barn was gone, a fire had engulfed her stable and all of her horses were gone. There was no time for reaction. Benson could not bring himself to go, knowing the fate of his horses. He did not want to see the barn in that condition nor the aftermath of what was left. He couldn’t bear seeing that scene and knowing his horses were gone, fearing what they experienced in their final moments. So, Adsit left the house with her dad, Eric Adsit, a lifelong horseman and trainer himself, and they took off towards the track. 

Driving down Nelson Ave, all Adsit could see was the orange glow from the fire, and knowing what had happened was heartbreaking for her. Benson’s sister, Amanda, went to the track, too, in his place to find out everything she could. 

At first, reports indicated that there were seven casualties on Benson’s side — that all horses had perished in the flames. When all horses from Barn 22, who were released to save them from the fire given the proximity to Barn 21, were rounded up and accounted for based on where they were placed on the racetrack, the identifications revealed that one of the horses had been Benson’s and in Barn 21, not Barn 22. 

That horse is Twin B Speed Dial, known as the miracle of Saratoga.

Somehow Twin B Speed Dial, known as Speedy, broke free from his stall webbing and stall noodle, two barriers in front of his stall, and into the shedrow. Then, he broke through the metal chain that separated the shedrow from the outside world and just kept on going to a distant barn.

How he got out of all those barriers, how he knew to get out and keep going, and how he survived is all unknown, and all of those unanswered questions are why he is known as the miracle of Saratoga. His story has given a glimmer of hope not just to horsemen, but to all of Saratoga and the world.  

He is now under the care of Stacy Hahn, a caretaker for Joe Skowyra at his Saratoga stable. Skowyra has offered all grain, hay and anything else needed to help Speedy. Mary McDermott used her connections to get Speedy some hyperbaric chamber sessions for the rehabilitation and recovery process. He was declared unable to race again by two vets, but Benson and Adsit agreed that because the horse is 12 years old and what trauma he had to go through, he wouldn’t race again anyways. Adsit plans on keeping Speedy and together, she hopes they can heal each other. 

“By the grace of God, he made it out. We still don’t know how,” Adsit said. “Thankfully he got out and he just had the little tips of his ears burned.”

Unfortunately, Speedy was the only one who would make it out of Barn 21 on June 16. Six of his stablemates perished in that fire.

Red was a nine-year-old chestnut thoroughbred that stood over 17 hands tall. He was not only Adsit’s dream horse, but her partner for work. When she stopped training horses, she got Red. She would ride him across the track at the flat track for work.

“I had outridden off of him at the thoroughbred track and I had brought him over to the harness track to start doing that here, too,” Adsit said. “He was my everything. I prayed for a horse like him when I was a kid and I’d say God answered my prayers a little late, but He answered them by giving me that horse. We called him the gentle giant; he was a flower child and everybody’s friend. He had no idea the size he was.”

Adsit had looked for Red on the backstretch that morning, hoping he had gotten out like Speedy did. She hoped Speedy took him with him. Later, after the identifications were made, there was one horse who wasn’t identified and Adsit knew.

“My dad always taught me not to get too attached to the racehorses and if I was going to get attached, to get attached to a riding horse. I finally had that horse, and he was ripped out from my life, it’s just devastating. Red was what I prayed for as a little girl and he was my dream horse.”

Five Star Lou was a four-year-old gelded son of Dancin Lou and the Captaintreacherous mare Hakima. Bred by Esa Lahtinen, Five Star Lou spent majority of his career under Shawn Steacy, racing at the Ontario tracks. In October of last year, he moved south across the border to the Andy Gardner stable at Saratoga and quickly found success. He was claimed by Tim Benson for owner Summer Wind Stable of N.Y. Inc. in February 2026 and spent a short spell with those connections before venturing to Buffalo Raceway to race under Ronald Beback. At the beginning of June, just two weeks before the fire, he returned to the Benson stable and made just one start on June 13.

In his career of 50 starts, he compiled a record of 14-9-6 with $121,470 earned. His mark of 1:54.1 was taken at the age of three at Hiawatha Horse Park. His last win was with trainer Gardner, the same day he was claimed on Feb. 7. 

“Lou was a sweetheart,” Adsit said. “He loved getting turned out and kicking up his heels and bucking around. I have probably 20 hours worth of videos of them, just farting around and playing.”

Our Father Lindy was a four-year-old gelded son of Chapter Seven and the Father Patrick mare Mother Teresa, bred by K R Breeding LLC and owned by Robert Kluchevitz since September 2025. Our Father Lindy raced all 17 of his lifetime starts at Plainridge Park with two wins, two thirds, and $59,183 earned. His last start was in November 2025 and according to Abigail Adsit, he was getting ready to qualify. His last win was on Sept. 22, 2025 and his mark of 1:57.2 was taken on June 9, 2025.

To Adsit and Benson, he was known as Lindy and the sweetest horse. 

“He was a kind, gentle soul,” Adsit said. “He was stabled right next to my heart horse, Red, and he was just training back. He was a sweetheart. Really just a sweet, sweet horse. He would stick his head out and make faces to get your attention. He would never bite, but just turn his head from side to side, like ‘don’t forget me!’”

Race Me Bombshell was also owned by Kluchevitz, who bought the four-year-old daughter of Noble Venture-Cannonball (by Yankee Glide) in January of this year. She raced her entire career of 17 starts in Maine under trainer and breeder William Childs, who also drove her in most of those starts. She earned $60,622, despite having no wins on her record of 0-4-7.

Though she never raced under Benson, they took their time focusing on her behaviour and training to get her where she needed to be before sending her out to the track.

“She was a bit feral when we got her, actually,” Adsit said. “It took three people to hitch her and she was an absolute spitfire. It took us probably a month and a half for her to trust us and warm up to us. At first, we couldn’t tow her off the golfcart, she would spook from it. And then a couple weeks ago, she finally started to tow off it. She was gaining confidence and trust. 

“Her best friend was Lindy. We would turn Lindy and her out together and she actually ended up becoming a sweetheart. We would call her Bombshell and we would call Lindy her brother, even though they weren’t related at all.”

Quite Like Me was a four-year-old daughter of Devious Man and the Howd That Feel mare Howdy Jane. She was bred by local trainer Sandra “Sandy” Beaulieu, who raised, broke and raced the mare until the end of 2025. At the start of 2026, Creek Run Stables purchased Quite Like Me, and she raced six starts for trainer and driver Tim Benson. In her career of 28 starts, she had a record of 1-5-3 and $45,019 earned. Her one win came on April 22, 2025 at Saratoga with Chris Long in the bike. 

“She was spoiled, almost rotten,” Adsit said. “We would tease her because she loved her cookies and pawed for cookies all the time. We would just call her Quite Like Me, her full name. She was just a good girl and had her whole life in front of her.”

“She was a piece of work,” Sandy Beaulieu added. “She was spoiled of course. Every time we pulled up to the barn, she would welcome us with nickers and if we were a little bit late, her nickers would be extremely loud. My daughter, Rachel, named her after a Kid Rock song. We also branded her on her shoulder, SB, because the year she was born was the year the USTA stopped freeze brands. Anyways, we loved her despite her spicy personality on the track!”

Perfect Bang was a three-year-old daughter of Perfect Sting and the Art Major mare Shabang. She was bred by Joel Miller and was purchased by Benson in partnership with Cody Lapage, Patricia Gilman and David Gilman in July 2025. She was unraced, having only qualified a handful of times between 2025 and 2026. 

“Her loss hits the hardest,” Adsit said. “She was deemed unbreakable, but we bought her off the Amish truck anyways. We re-broke her, trained her down and qualified her, but then stopped with her as a two-year-old. We just brought her back this year and actually were going to qualify her with Our Father Lindy this week. 

“It was crazy because she grew up from this wee thing. She would drink iced tea out of my hand or out of the bottle and just flip it up. She was like a human. Tim was so close with her and he said to me, ‘I never even got to race my girl.’ She was just so crazy, though. She would be at the back of her stall at first and then as time went on, she became a cookie monster. She had so much character. If Tim showed any attention to the other horses, she’d really show her character.” 

The next day, despite her grief and despair, Adsit was back in the barn, working for another trainer. As she jogged around the track, she did her best to avoid looking towards her barn, but it was unavoidable.

“I had to keep moving for my own sanity,” she said. “There’s a hole there at the centre of the track. I’m just looking at where my Red was and it’s just not there. I just had to keep going. I just prayed that they didn’t suffer.”

The location of where the 17 horses were laid to rest is actually where Adsit spent the week prior and many times before, riding Red. It was also in between the track, where the horses were all too familiar with, and the field, that the horses loved so much to go out and play in. 

“It’s as if they are all out together, free, playing again,” Adsit concluded. 

In tribute to the seven horses from the Benson-Adsit Stable: Five Star Lou, Our Father Lindy, Perfect Bang, Quite Like Me, Race Me Bombshell and Red.

(Submitted Story)