South Metro Horse Trainer Loses 12 Animals in Oklahoma Tornado

Randy Weidner and his girlfriend, Lindsay White, watched through their car's rearview mirror on Monday as the twister tore toward the farm where they kept their horses, their cars, their apartment.

Ordered by storm watchers to abandon their horses and leave, Weidner and White escaped by a margin of minutes, but the tornado took the lives of all 12 of the horses they stabled at Celestial Acres Training Center near Moore, Okla.

“They turned around as they were driving out and said, ‘You guys need to get out of here,’ ” Weidner told the Star Tribune. “As we were driving, we could see the tornado in our rearview mirror. It was coming right down the road we were driving out on. By the time we got to the freeway two miles away, they were already saying it had wiped out Celestial Acres.”

When Weidner, a Rosemount resident who races horses at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, returned to the farm, the twister had turned the scene to rubble. His truck, trailer and personal belongings were destroyed. Sheriffs were shooting dying horses. Weidner found one of his young horses not yet dead and he went to the animal.

“I knelt over him,’’ Weidner told the Star Tribune with tears in his eyes, “and I tried to kiss him goodbye.”

The Minnesota racing community has rallied around Weidner, donating money through a Wells Fargo disaster fund, pledging a percentage of their Canterbury winnings and transferring horses to his stable.

Weidner is returning to Minnesota now but doesn't expect to be able to race until July.

Click here to read the full story at the Star Tribune.