Celebrating Old Friends ─ Stories from Kentucky's Thoroughbred Retirement Farm

When Michael Blowen first dreamed of creating Old Friends, he envisioned a place where Thoroughbred stallions could retire with dignity following their racing or breeding careers. He also wanted people to visit the iconic horses. In 2003, Old Friends opened on leased land with a miniature horse named Little Silver Charm, a gelding named Invigorate and a mare named Narrow Escape. Today, the two-hundred-plus-acre farm in Georgetown has more than 160 retired Thoroughbred stallions, geldings and mares, including two Kentucky Derby winners. It even welcomed two satellite farms, one in New York and one at Kentucky Downs racetrack. In his follow-up to History of Old Friends, Rick Capone revisits the unforgettable history of this horse retirement home.

Rick Capone has been a writer since the mid-1980s, working as a technical writer at IBM, an editor/writer for a number of online publications and as the editor of Coaching Volleyball magazine for the American Volleyball Coaches Association. He is currently the sports editor for the Woodford Sun, a weekly newspaper in Versailles, Kentucky, just down the road from Keeneland. In addition, he is a freelance writer and has been published in a number of horse racing publications, both online and in print. This is his second published book. His first book, The History of Old Friends: A Retirement Home for Thoroughbreds, was also published by The History Press in 2014. He lives in Woodford County, Kentucky, with his cat, Rascal, and is the co-owner of a beautiful retired Thoroughbred at Old Friends, Miss Hooligan.