Old Friends provides a gentle final turn

The clouds parted and the rain stopped in Central Kentucky last weekend just in time for Old Friends Equine to throw its annual Homecoming open house and fund-raiser at the facility near Georgetown.

Hall of Famers Chris McCarron and Sandy Hawley were among the racing dignitaries on hand to entertain guests with tall tales, while the celebrity horses in the sprawling paddocks of Old Friends stood in solemn reminder of who, exactly, was doing all the hard work out there on the racetrack. Hawley was through riding before most of the Old Friends retirees were known quantities, but McCarron still gets to dote on such noteworthy companions as Touch Gold, his Belmont winner, and Alphabet Soup, who beat Cigar in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“It was a great day,” said Michael Blowen, Old Friends founder and president. “I’m not sure how much money we raised, but after all the rain at the Derby the day before, it turned out to be a glorious afternoon.”

Old Friends continues to be one of the vigorously promoted and widely praised retirement facilities for Thoroughbreds whose days as stallions, broodmares, or racehorses have ended. Regular tours are conducted, during which visitors can relive fond memories and past glories in face-to-face encounters with such stars as Little Mike, Amazombie, Cajun Beat, Rail Trip, and Special Ring.

There is even a longshot chance that one of their human benefactors might show up on a tour, as happened two days before the Kentucky Derby when Bob and Jill Baffert paid a visit to Old Friends with family. Visitors fully expected to enjoy spending time in admiration of such Old Friends attractions as Silver Charm, War Emblem, and Game On Dude. What they didn’t count on was a bonus brush with the guy who trained them.

Still, all the good vibes of Derby week and the bright sunshine of Homecoming day could not erase the gloom of the loss, in quick succession, of three Old Friends retirees.

On May 2, just two days before his 25th birthday, the miniature horse Winston succumbed to an infection while being examined in a local clinic for a nodule on his small intestine. Just 38 inches tall, Winston was known far and wide as the mascot horse of the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. He had enjoyed only two months of retirement at Old Friends, where he was seen often in company with longtime farm resident and fellow miniature Little Silver Charm.

“I would walk them around together and they loved it,” Blowen said. “I felt like I was leading Affirmed and Alydar.”

Then, on Thursday came the news that Old Friends had lost Catlaunch, the legend of Ohio racing, and Tour of the Cat, a multiple stakes winner and popular attraction at the farm’s annex at Kentucky Downs in the southern part of the state.

Kentucky Downs, which runs a brief meet in September, donated part of its property to Old Friends two years ago, answering the need for expansion. A son of Tour d’Or, Tour of the Cat experienced a common trajectory as a horse of proven class who descended eventually into cheap claimers. After 79 starts, 21 wins, and more than $1 million in earnings, he was claimed by activist owner-attorney Maggi Moss in 2009 and sent to Old Friends. Tour of the Cat was 20, his death apparently caused by complications of a herniated intestine.

Catlaunch was only 17 when he was euthanized for a chronic neurological disorder, but what a life he led. He raced until age 12, racking up stakes in Ohio at a variety of distances. He was a three-time state champion who was still a stakes winner at 12 before his donation to Old Friends in 2012. The son of Noble Cat started 107 times and won more than $1.1 million.

“He’d been going downhill for about six months,” Blowen said. “Sometimes we love these horses so much we wait a little bit too long to say goodbye. That’s the way it was with him.

“He was so huge and so friendly, a real Baby Huey,” Blowen went on. “He used to eat little pieces of carrot out of my mouth. He loved his visitors, but he was so tough, he never liked to show he was having any trouble. The last few days we saw him stumble around, and we just didn’t want to wake up one morning to find him down in the field, going through it alone.”

This is the life they lead in the retirement community, dealing with the end of stories that unfolded long before horses arrive in their care. The memorial gardens of Old Friends – already home to the remains of such champions as Precisionist, Gulch, Charismatic, and Hidden Lake – will welcome these new headstones, just as Blowen and his Old Friends crew rolled out the red carpet to recent arrivals A P Valentine, the classic-placed winner of the Champagne Stakes, and Nicanor, Barbaro’s full brother.

“They’re great,” Blowen said. “I think I bet on A P Valentine every time he didn’t win. And Nicanor will be a wonderful addition. On top of that we’ve just acquired more land, so there’s room for another 40 horses.”

And count on it, they will come.