In the first of a three-part look at horse welfare in the United States – very much in the news at present, Patrick Lawrence Gilligan visits the famed Old Friends Thoroughbred retirement facility in Kentucky.
I wanted to look into the welfare of ex-racehorses – to find out about retirement homes and rehabilitation programs, to understand what was out there - and how much or little of it there was. Since Old Friends was just 15 minutes down the road in Georgetown, Kentucky, that seemed like a good place to start.
I was greeted by 74-year-old Michael Blowen putting a miniature pony into a small paddock next to the office. Blowen, who founded Old Friends in 2003, let me take a couple of pictures of Little Silver Charm and then took me for a gentle walk around his farm and told me his story.
“I only got involved in all this because I liked drinking and gambling! I didn’t fall in love with the horses until later. I’ve got a horse here I claimed from Finger Lakes in 1999 for $3,500.”
The first horse he introduced me to was Birdstone. “The world's most hated Belmont winner! I was there when he beat Smarty Jones [bidding to complete the Triple Crown in 2004]. He’s a little nutty,” says Blowen.
He introduced me to Sun King, who earned around $2 million on the track and was fourth in the 2005 Preakness. He and Birdstone were both trained by Nick Zito.
I ask Blowen who the oldest horse they have here is. You And I, he says. He is 30, and they have the oldest living Breeders’ Cup Classic winner here also, Alphabet Soup, who is just 44 days younger.
“I wanted to specialize in taking stallions,” says Blowen. “No one else was taking them and I thought, well they are the stars and I know people like to see the stars. I was one of those people, the first time I stepped foot in Kentucky, the first thing I did was go see Bold Forbes and Forego at the Kentucky Horse Park.”
“We started with 52 acres, bought 44 more, and now we have 236 acres. There are a lot of places now rehoming and retraining retired racehorses, aided by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, who do a great job.”
“Hey, Silver Charm!” He calls across the paddock to an old gray with a long silver mane. “You gonna come say hello buddy?” The Hall of Famer, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1997 and the Dubai World Cup a year later, lifts his head and starts walking towards us and then he breaks into a jog to come say hello to his old friend. We spend a bit of time there and I watch them make a fuss of each other.
“He’s my favorite horse of all time,” Blowen says quietly. “27 years old now.”
“We’ve brought seven stallions home from Japan. Japanese Racing Authority representatives visited them. Now they have set up their own facility over there. It’s going to be fantastic. They wanted to call it Old Friends.”
Blowen introduces me to Alphabet Soup, an aging gray in a clean airy stall with his companion donkey Gorgeous George by his side. He’s 30 years old now, an old man.
“He survived cancer,” Blowen tells me as he scratches the horse’s back. “He won the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1996 at Woodbine. Chris McCarron rode him. The donkey follows him everywhere. Just walks out to the paddock behind him.”
We discuss aftercare and funding. “It’s unbelievable that there’s nothing organized within the industry here for the athletes, the horses and the jockeys,” he says. “That after their careers there is nothing for them. It’s all piecemeal.
“If just a little bit was taken off each transaction, they could be looked after.”
Nearby is a graveyard in the shape of a horseshoe. There are some famous names there who saw their days out in tranquil bliss after serving the sport so well.
And it’s not charity. These retired old horses are some of the best marketing tools the sport has - these happy relaxed old stars, and old claimers, in this pretty quiet setting. Around 20,000 people a year come to Old Friends in Kentucky to see former champions of the Turf, to pet some modest old claimer.
“We have Hogy [winner of 19 races, including three G3s] and Soi Phet [15 victories]. They are both millionaires who retired at 11 completely sound. They were looked after, were given time off each winter.
“If people thought these horses in racing were really being well looked after, they would beat a path to the sport.
“Green Mask is one of my favorites. He broke his leg but the owner loved him and paid for it to be fixed. Eventually with the aftercare, he couldn’t afford it anymore and they sent him to us. We sent him to Kesmarc, a great facility, for rehabilitation. Sallee Vans took him each time, neither of them ever sent us a bill. Dr Waldridge, our vet for the past six years, has never sent us a bill.”
Green Mask is happy in his paddock at Old Friends, and he runs up to Blowen when he calls him by name, even with his gammy-looking front leg.
Unconditional help
Blowen spoke of “legendary veterinarian” Dr Doug Bayers. “He never sent us a bill either,” he says. “We named our lane there after him, Bayer’s Way. We joke it’s Bayer’s way or the highway.
“I asked him one day whether he would help me because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I asked if he would be my vet if I promised not to go calling him at two in the morning. He looked at me, leant back and put his legs up on his desk and said he would only become my vet on one condition. That I would call him at two in the morning. He taught me so much.”
Old Friends has 126 horses now, and around 20,000 visitors a year. “Antonio Marin is my head man for the horses,” says Blowen. “He is great. Without his help, I wouldn’t sleep at night.”
Blowen calls out each horse by name. “Summer! Summer! What are you doing buddy!” He talks to the horses all the time. We saw The Pizza Man, a $2million-plus earner whose 17 wins include the 2015 Arlington Million, and 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint hero Work All Week. Every horse I saw was in a fine paddock, with an equally fine field shelter. Every one was happy and relaxed. This place is good for the soul. If you are ever feeling jaded with the world, come here and you will leave feeling better.
“We got our first big stallion, [1990 Big Cap winner] Ruhlmann, from Jerry Moss. Bobby Frankel had trained him for a year [1988]. I went over to him one day at Saratoga and I told him we had his horse. He said, that’s nice and walked away. Two days later, he taps me on the shoulder and says aren’t you that guy with Ruhlmann, and he spoke with me at length and was great.
“A couple months after he passed away, we found he had left us a very substantial contribution. We were blown way. Not long after that, we were receiving box after box onto the farm, he left us nearly every one of his trophies too.
“I was a movie critic for the Boston Globe and my wife, Diane White, was a columnist. So, one year I was coming back from the Saratoga meet and I had made money, had a great time and was full of myself. I was convinced that this year I was going to win the Boston Magazineaward for best movie critic - because everyone else had left! David Ansen, Janet Maslin, and another guy went to the New Yorker - they had to give it to me!
“So I get the magazine from the news stand and the headline reads Diane White is like Snow White and all the other columnists are like the dwarves - especially her husband, Dopey!”
I don’t think Michael Blowen is Dopey and, anyway, wasn’t Dopey Snow White’s favorite? But I think he is good-hearted and maybe a bit soft-hearted and what he does touches people when they visit.
Still though, it has been a struggle at times.
Blowen told me that a year and a half ago they were in the worst shape they had been in, about $100,000 in debt. It was coming up to Halloween. Blowen thought he would try to hang on until closer to Christmas before approaching his bank, hoping for some seasonal goodwill from them.
He had done three tours this day, and was sitting by Silver Charm’s paddock enjoying a well-earned beer when he heard a car pull in. He went down to meet it and a nice couple said they had heard about Old Friends and wanted to pay it a visit. He asked them if they could come back the next day as they were now closed, but they said they couldn’t. They were heading back to Fargo North Dakota the following morning.
Blowen relented, gave them each a beer and told them to hop in the golf buggy for a guided tour.
Afterwards, when Blowen dropped the couple back at their car, the man said they had really enjoyed the tour and that he wanted to make a donation but had forgotten his check book. Michael had heard that one in 18 different languages and thought no more of it.
A couple of weeks passed and then one day the man called him and said he was going to send him a check.
It was the day after Thanksgiving, Blowen walked to his letterbox, wondering whether there would be some checks, or just more bills.
There was only one envelope in there this day. It was from Fargo North Dakota. There was no letter inside, no message, just a check for half a million dollars.