Tag Archives: Old Friends

*Featured/Spotlights, Breeds, Contributors/Press, Racing

Jade Hunter, Sire of Azeri, Euthanized

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Jade Hunter at Old Friends. Photo by Rick Capone

GEORGETOWN, KY – JANUARY 24, 2011 – Jade Hunter, multiple GR1 winner and sire of Horse of the Year Azeri, was humanely euthanized Sunday afternoon (January 23) at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute due to complications from colic.

The 27-year-old stallion had been pensioned at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Facility in Georgetown, KY, since 2009.

“Jade Hunter was a very proud and confident stallion with an intelligence that matched his beauty,” said Old Friends president and founder Michael Blowen. “It’s very hard on all his caretakers to lose him and Polish Navy [who died Jan. 6] so close together.”

Bred in Kentucky, Jade Hunter (Mr. Prospector-Jadana (IRE), by Pharly) was bought for $700,000 by Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stud at the 1985 Keeneland yearling sale and raced in both Europe and North America.

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Breeds, Contributors/Press, Events, Fundraisers, Racing, Uncategorized

Old Friends along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

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Louisville’s Historic Seelbach Hotel to Host 3rd Annual Old Friends Benefit Saturday, February 19, 2011

LOUISVILLE, KY – JANUARY 18, 2011 – The Historic Seelbach Hilton today announced that it will host the third annual “Old Friends along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail,” a progressive dinner and Bourbon-tasting that will benefit Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility in Central Kentucky.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 19, at the hotel, 500 South Fourth Street in downtown Louisville. Tickets are $100 per person, and the hotel is offering Bourbon Trail guests a special reduced room rate of $95 per night.

The benefit will be highlighted by live and silent auctions of exclusive equine artwork, autographed Bourbon items, racing memorabilia, fine jewelry, and more.

Old Friends, which has locations in Georgetown, KY and in Greenfield Center, NY, is devoted to providing a dignified retirement to horses whose racing and breeding careers have come to an end. The farm is home to such retired champions as Eclipse winner The Wicked North, Breeders’ Cup victor Gulch, and Travers stars Will’s Way and Thunder Rumble, along with many non-black type ex-racers.

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Breeds, Contributors/Press, Racing

Stakes Winner Polish Navy Euthanized at Old Friends

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GEORGETOWN, KY – JANUARY 6, 2011 – Polish Navy, the Ogden Phipps homebred and GR1 winner, was humanely euthanized this morning at Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement facility in Georgetown, KY.  He was suffering from complications from a hip injury.

Michael Blowen, Old Friends President and Founder, made the announcement this afternoon.

“Polish Navy injured his hip several weeks ago and was taken to Hagyard’s where he received excellent diagnostic care,” said Blowen. “Unfortunately, he just never recovered. Dr. Doug Byars visited with this great old horse several times and, in consultation with Old Friends, advised us that Polish Navy’s time had come.”

The 27-year-old stallion had been pensioned at Old Friends since 2009.

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Breeds, Contributors/Press, Events, Racing

“Hats Off to the Horses,” the Online Derby-Hat Auction Benefiting Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement, Continues January 1st

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Stunning New Hat Honors Retiree Creator

GEORGETOWN, KY – DECEMBER 30, 2010 – Bidding opens January 1st on “The Creator,” hat number three in the six-part “Hats Off to the Horses: The Road to the Derby,” an online fashion auction benefitting Old Friends, the central Kentucky organization devoted to racehorse retirement.

Handcrafted by milliner Sally Faith Steinmann of Maggie Mae Designs, the hat will be on the block from January 1st through January 11 2011.

Steinmann, who owns the Massachusetts-based Maggie Mae Designs, is donating the six magnificent millinery creations to raise funds for Old Friends, the 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that cares for more than 100 retired Thoroughbreds.  Each hat is inspired by one of the retirees at Old Friends and will be auctioned monthly from November to April, leading up to the famed First Saturday in May. One hundred percent of the online proceeds goes to Old Friends.

To celebrate the New Year, Steinmann has created a magnificent chapeau in honor of Old Friends’ 25-year-old retiree Creator, one the first horses acquired by the organization from the breeding sheds of Japan.

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Contributors/Press, Racing

Tinners Way, Son of Secretariat, to Old Friends

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Tinners Way at Old Friends, by Rick Capone

Crusader Sword Retired to Old Friends at Cabin Creek

GEORGETOWN, KY – SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 – Tinners Way, one of the most successful and only surviving sons of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, arrived yesterday at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Farm in Georgetown, KY.

Meanwhile, Old Friends at Cabin Creek: The Bobby Frankel Division, which is based in Greenfield Center, NY, has welcomed multiple-graded stakes winner Crusader Sword.

Michael Blowen, Old Friends founder and president, made the announcement earlier today.

Tinners Way (Secretariat–Devon Diva, by The Minstrel) was bred by Juddmonte Farms from Secretariat’s final crop. Tinner began his career with a seven-furlong maiden win on British turf in 1992 and continued to campaign in France and England as well as in the U.S. in 1993

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Breeds, Contributors/Press

Angie Dickinson Donates Academy Award to Old Friends!

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Photo by Rick Capone
Photo by Rick Capone

Celebs contribute to the retirement of Secretariat’s son

GEORGETOWN, KY – JANUARY 29, 2010 – Academy Award, one of the only surviving sons of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, has arrived at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Farm in Georgetown, KY. Michael Blowen, Old Friends founder and president, made the announcement earlier today.

Golden Globe-winning actress Angie Dickinson, a long-time supporter of Old Friends, is sponsoring the retirement of the 24-year-old stallion, along with Secretariat’s owner Penny Chenery and Boston-based TV producer Barbara Bowen.

“Michael and I have been friends for a long time and I adore the horses,” said Dickinson, the star of TV’s Police Woman and such films as Point Blank, Rio Bravo, and Dressed to Kill. “Now, I finally have an Academy Award, and I can’t wait to see him.” Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=10043