SHEPHERDSTOWN — Angie Francart has turned her personal love of horses into creating a haven of care for thoroughbreds that have retired from racing, often saving them from an inhumane end.

“Two of the horses were actually transferred to us with the property. I told Gary I just wanted a few horses in the yard — and it turned into a lot more than that,” she said. “(Gary) says it’s like potato chips: I couldn’t have just one or two.”

There are times when we are too late or cannot help.

MOUNT AIRY, Md. (ABC7) — It was a bittersweet day at Paradise Stables in Mount Airy.Lucky Bid, the retired racehorse that was left abandoned in January, has found his forever home.The 15-year-old thoroughbred has quickly become a celebrity. Hundreds of thousands of people watched and shared his special story on ABC7 News two weeks ago, and the Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center has fielded hundreds of calls. On Thursday, Lucky Bid was off to a sanctuary at Sleeping Fox Farm and Thoroughbred Rescue in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

On the night before Baby’s last race, Angie Francart’s mind did a gallop of its own.

Her mother had already warned her that when they arrived at Charles Town Racetrack they would do their best to get the filly back, but there were “no guarantees.

“It was difficult not to run to the gate and just grab her halter and yank her back,” Francart recalls.

Instead they snuck in.