Michael Blowen glanced on the 1977 Sports activities Illustrated cowl of Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew when it arrived within the mail and instantly discarded it. A horse on the quilt of such a outstanding journal?

“I believed considering of them as athletes was absurd,” he stated.

Blowen, then a author for the Boston Globe, accompanied Bob Taylor, one in all his editors, to Suffolk Downs seven years later. The go to to the Massachusetts monitor was life-changing.

“I by no means noticed any human athlete give as a lot as these horses give,” Blowen stated. “My affection for the game simply began to develop and develop and develop.”

A lot in order that he volunteered to muck stalls for Carlos Figueroa, a outstanding coach at Suffolk, in order that he might study as a lot as attainable concerning the animals he cared for. Though he describes that work as invaluable, it left him with a nagging query.

What occurred to the horses after they might now not run?

“He used to inform me they discover houses for these horses in Maine,” Blowen stated. “I purchased into it as a result of I didn’t need to know anything.”

He dreaded what the actual reply could be. Over time, he turned more and more involved concerning the aftercare concern. After he and his spouse, Diane White, a Boston Globe columnist, took buyouts from the newspaper in 2001, they moved to Central Kentucky, and he turned operations director for the Thoroughbred Retirement Basis for the following yr and a half.

Nonetheless, he wished to do extra. He wished to be extra palms on. He progressively developed an thought that will not depart him. He took his plan to Brereton Jones, the previous Kentucky governor and a outstanding breeder who owns Airdrie Stud, close to Halfway, Ky.

Jones seemed quizzically at Blowen as he outlined his ideas on how he would take care of retired horses.

“I’m going to place them in my yard,” Blowen informed him, “and hope folks come go to.”

Jones wrote a verify for $5,000 as one in all many beneficiant donors who helped Blowen’s idea blossom into Outdated Mates Thoroughbred Retirement Farms. Outdated Mates homes greater than 100 retirees in Georgetown, Ky., and features a satellite tv for pc location. Outdated Mates at Cabin Creek, named the Bobby Frankel division for the late Corridor of Fame coach, is situated close to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Outdated Mates additionally operated an outpost close to Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., for a number of years earlier than closing it in 2019.

Followers flock to Outdated Mates for excursions that present an up-close have a look at people who have been as soon as breathtakingly quick and people who struggled to maintain up. The Georgetown web site, as an illustration, boasts Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Silver Attraction in addition to Contact Gold, who denied Silver Attraction’s Triple Crown bid within the 1997 Belmont Stakes. It additionally homes Sarava, who pulled a mighty upset when Triple Crown risk Battle Emblem (a former Outdated Mates resident who died in 2020) stumbled out of the gate within the 2002 Belmont, and fellow Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone and Ruler On Ice. Zippy Chippy, who misplaced greater than 100 begins, acquired the identical stage of consideration and care in upstate New York till his passing in April 2022. 

JoAnn Pepper, who oversees Outdated Good friend at Cabin Creek, stated of Blowen, “He does love his stars, however he loves all of them.”

Blowen, 76, labored tirelessly to construct Outdated Mates and continues working arduous now to keep up it. He stated the annual funds stands at over $1 million, with a lot of that at the moment invested in infrastructure. He’s engaged on a plan for succession and intends for the operation to endure lengthy after he’s gone.

Blowen receives immense assist from Hagyard Equine and Park Equine. Each present complimentary veterinary care. So many others contributed generously because it all started in 2003, from firms to the kid providing unfastened change after feeding carrots to an appreciative retiree.

Pepper stated of the aftercare being offered, “I feel Outdated Mates is form of main the best way. We’ll hold doing what we’re doing as a result of it really works. Some horses can’t be re-trained and we’d like sanctuaries for them to go and stay out their lives. Having all these new buddies that go and go to them and fall in love with them, it’s simply an incredible factor.”

Editor’s Be aware: This story initially was written in 2017 and has been up to date.

Enjoyable Information

• Maker’s Mark introduced a plan in 2015 to lift $1 million in three years by a sequence of particular version bottles that honor chosen Breeders’ Cup champions. 
• Outdated Mates acquired a Particular Eclipse Award for its extraordinary service to racing in 2014.
• Outdated Mates’ month-to-month feed invoice was roughly $60,000 in 2017.
• Earlier than beginning Outdated Mates, Blowen and his spouse briefly operated a retailer in Halfway, Ky., that supplied antiques and horse memorabilia.
• Based on Blowen, retirees usually race each other with the horses that have been pace-setters throughout their careers taking the early lead and the closers closing. He describes the impromptu races as “very formful.”