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Michael Blowen, co-founder of Old Friends, welcomes Geronimo to the farm. Photo by Laura Battles

Old Friends ushers in new horses, partners

Following the deaths of three beloved racehorses at Old Friends Equine this month, the New Year seemed to get off on a very bad foot when suddenly, good tidings came to the bucolic Thoroughbred retirement farm in Kentucky. Old Friends President and co-founder Michael Blowen says he was reeling from the unexpected deaths of Patton, Sunshine Forever and Dancing Renee, three great racehorses who died within weeks of each other, when a breath of fresh air blew through the renowned retirement facility in the form of new horses and new partnerships. Citing the help of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, which […]

Amanda Bonath rides New Vocations OTTB Captain Hawke, whom she adopted in 2007. Photo courtesy Heidi Van de Motter

New Vocations off to a rocking new year

Capping off a successful December promotion that resulted in 51 ex-racehorses finding new homes, the New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program announced a new partnership that will further enhance its abilities to place deserving horses into loving homes. On Jan. 13, New Vocations Director Anna Ford announced that the Gallop On Riding Program in northeast Ohio has made 11 stalls available to New Vocations, and will collaborate with the re-homing organization to train ex-racehorses in field foxhunting and other disciplines, and help re-home them. “With the new partnership, the Gallop On program will serve as a New Vocations facility … helping […]

Glamorous into old age, Turkoman has a long and fruitful life to look back on

Alydar foals to turn 32 in April, what a trip

The great Alydar had fathered them both. Yet the noble birthright did little to secure a place in this world for his progeny as the pair of foals grew up and rocketed off toward a future in racing, one to earn millions, the other to fall through the cracks. The stallion Turkoman and mare Promethia, who were born four days apart nearly 32 years ago, shared a lineage that only went so far. Though Promethia fetched $360,000 at a 2-year-old sale in 1986—a tremendous figure in that day—the filly won only a handful of races before she was retired as […]