But now he has decided to retire, 20 years after he opened Old Friends, and turn the reins over to John Nicholson. On this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, Blowen discussed why he is retiring and some of his fondest memories from a job he instantly loved.

“When you get a certain age and you can see the finish line, you know,” Blowen said. “It's like you're turning for home and you go, 'Oh, there's a finish line.' So you better figure out what's going to be happening or what you can do to make everything a little better. And so I started looking for somebody a couple of years ago to take over, and I could never find the right person. Then I ran into John Nicholson. And I would probably still be doing this if I hadn't run into John, because John was the perfect person. I thought, 'boy, oh boy, if he'll do this, it would be great'. People who know John know that he ran Kentucky Horse Park for a long time. He loves the horses.”

His favorite horse? Silver Charm.

“It's hard for me to explain it in one way, because it's hard to explain why you fall in love with somebody,” Blowen said. “No matter who or what you fall in love with your life is going to change. When Sandy Hatfield called me in November of 2015 and said, how would you like an old gray stallion at your farm, I freaked out. The only problem was I couldn't tell anybody. They're supposed to keep it a secret. And then I did keep it a secret, which is probably the only secret I ever kept in my life. But I kept that one. And when he got here on Dec. 1, 2015 that was the greatest day of my life. I didn't even know him, because the first time I ever laid eyes on him in person is when he got off the trailer on that day, but I know I was totally enthralled.'

Though retiring, Blowen plans to spend plenty of time at Old Friends.

“You'll have to drag me out of here,” he said. “I told my wife, when I die, the house where we live in, we have a great house here, and the back backyard is one of the two places where we have cemeteries. I told my wife, when I die, get me cremated, throw my ashes out the back. Just don't put my lifetime earnings on the side.

This week's look at a Coolmore sire focused on Jack Christopher (Munnings). He won three Grade I races and was five-for-five around one turn. He was such a special specimen that Zoe Cadman never forgot her impressions of him when she saw him at Saratoga before he ever raced, noting that he was so perfectly put together that she knew he would be a star.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Elite Power, WinStar Farm, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association,https://www.kentuckybred.org/https://www.nyrabets.com/ 1/ST Racing, the Green Group, West Point Thoroughbreds and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss, Cadman and Bill Finley expressed their gratitude for having earned an Eclipse Award in the Multi-Media category. Our interview with Wade Jost was selected as the winner. Jost is the father of Carson Jost, who, like Cody Dorman, suffers from Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. Jost, a classmate of Terry Finley at West Point, went in with his syndicate on Carson's Run–named in his son's honor. All agreed that it was Jost who made the podcast so memorable and the team decided it will gift the Eclipse Award trophy to the family.

The team also touched on the big shakeup in Maryland, where a new entity, the Maryland Thoroughbred Operating Authority, which will be similar to NYRA, is set to take over the operation of Maryland tracks and, finally, will rebuild Pimlico. That will also mean that the GI Preakness S. will be run at Laurel in 2025, 2026 and 2027. The group also examined the 2024 economic indicators for racing, which included a 3.7% decline in total handle and a small decrease in purses.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

The post Michael Blowen Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Nearly two decades ago, when I first started Old Friends, I made an appointment to see him at Airdrie Stud, a farm as modest and forthright as he was. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “You're going to get these horses, including stallions from Japan, and you're not going to race them or breed them or sell them. What exactly are you going to do with them?”

“I'm going to put them in my yard and hope people come to visit.”

He tried his hardest to disguise his incredulity, reached into the lap drawer of his antique desk, pulled out a scraggly checkbook, and wrote a check to Old Friends for $5,000.

“Good luck,” he said, as he shook one hand, and handed me the check with the other. That, to paraphrase my favorite movie, “Casablanca,” was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Without him, Old Friends might have never existed. And it wasn't just the money. That was the least of it.

Over the years, we retired several Airdrie stallions, including You and I, Patton, and Afternoon Deelites. And, he made several trips to the farm to check on how things were going. Years later, his filly, Lovely Maria was running in the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland. I ran into him a few days before the race and he told me that if she won the race, he'd write Old Friends a check for $25,000. She did. And he did. And it wasn't because of me, it was for the horses and horse racing.

I have two wonderful, hand-written notes – one from our late veterinarian, Doug Byars, and one from Brereton C. Jones. If we ever have a fire, I'm going to grab those notes first and come back for the rest of the stuff.

It's very unlikely that anyone like Governor Jones will ever come around again. I'm just grateful he was here once, and I was fortunate enough to stumble across his path.

Michael Blowen, President and founder of Old Friends

The post Brereton Jones: Longtime Supporter of Old Friends appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The 7-year-old bay gelding, who was last seen running fifth June 10 at Belmont Park in the GII True North S., was retired to the farm by his owner, Mike Repole, a longtime supporter of Old Friends. According to Equibase he amassed eight wins over 19 starts and over $1.2-million in career earnings.

“Fearless was a gutsy and determined racehorse with the perfect name,” said Repole. “The stable really thought Old Friends would be a great place for him to spend the rest of his career with other great horses. I'm thrilled people will be able to visit him at Old Friends.”

Bred by the Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust and foaled in Kentucky on Mar. 17, 2006, Fearless was initially owned by China Horse Club International and WinStar Farm, and trained his entire career by Todd Pletcher.

“No one has been better to Old Friends and his horses than Mike Repole,” said Michael Blowen, President and founder of Old Friends. “We are grateful to him for several retirees, especially Fearless who won a Saratoga stakes race named for another Old Friends resident, Birdstone. And he's gorgeous. Fearless, that is!”

The post MGSW Fearless Arrives At Old Friends appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The 2014 GI Travers S. hero, V. E. Day (English Channel–California Sunset, by Deputy Minister) came to Old Friends following the death of his owner-breeder Magalen O. Bryant in 2021. Bryant's representative, Johnathan Miller, and her daughter, K. C. Graham, visited Old Friends earlier this year when it was decided that the stallion would retire from stud duty.

“V. E. Day was a courageous Travers winner and we inquired about his post-breeding career last year,” said Michael Blowen, president and founder of Old Friends. “We're very excited that his owner trusts us with her magnificent chestnut.”

Foaled in Kentucky on April 21, 2011, V. E. Day was trained by James Jerkens for Bryant his entire American racing career. After a stint racing in France as a 6-year-old, he retired with $1,044,061 in earnings over 17 career starts.

During his stud career, the stallion stood at Waldorf Farm in New York, Lovacres Ranch near Warner Springs, California and Buck Pond Farm in Versailles, Kentucky.

The post GISW V. E. Day Arrives At Old Friends appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Racing in Sheikh Hamdan's colors, Albertus Maximus also won the 2009 GI Donn H. He retired from racing in 2012 with six wins from 17 starts and earnings of $1,328.230.

“Albertus Maximus inherited his sire's self-confidence,” said Old Friends President Michael Blowen. “Like Albert the Great, Albertus was well aware of his extraordinary talents. If he wasn't the friendliest retiree, he was very handsome and knew it–and we specialize in superstars.”

The post Albertus Maximus Dies appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Campaigned by owner Tracy Farmer and trainer Nick Zito, he earned his first graded stakes while capturing the 2000 GII Dwyer S. and, later that year, he added the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. At Saratoga that summer, he was a close-up second in the GI Travers S. At four, he captured the GIII Widener H. at Hialeah Park, GII Suburban H. and GII Brooklyn H. at Belmont Park, and ran second in four other Grade I contests, including the GI Woodward S. and GI Whitney S.

Albert the Great retired from racing in 2001 following a third-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with a eight wins, six seconds and four thirds from 22 starts, 15 of which were made in graded stakes. His lifetime earnings totaled $3,012,490. He entered stud in 2002 at Three Chimneys Farm before relocating to Pin Oak Lane in 2008. At stud, he sired such Grade I winners as Moonshine Mullin, Albertus Maximus and Nobiz Like Shobiz, who is currently retired at Old Friends.

“Albert the Great was aptly named,” said Old Friends founder and President Michael Blowen. “He was the master and everyone else was just a serf. He didn't need you to be his friend, just his servant. He was certainly a unique iconoclast and he'll be missed. Our thanks to Three Chimneys, Tracy and Carol Farmer, and Nick Zito,” Blowen added. “They raised a great one.”

The post Albert the Great Euthanized appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Botty was 65 and lived in Pelham, New Hampshire. He had remained active in the sport as a bloodstock consultant after stepping away from daily work under racetrack shed rows in 2015.

For the better part of three decades, Botty, together with his wife of 32 years, Kathleen, ran a successful, mid-sized racing stable based out of Suffolk Downs and Rockingham Park. Kathleen owned some of the horses, but Botty also trained for other long-standing clients, and he was skilled at acquiring and developing horses on a modest budget and getting them to outperform expectations.

His best training years statistically were in the 2000-10s decades, when both Sassy City and Lovethatdirtywater were crowned with Horse of the Year honors as voted by the New England Turf Writers Association. In 2012, Botty was honored by that same organization with the Lou Smith Award for contributions to New England racing.

Beyond the 333 lifetime training wins he earned starting in 1987, Botty was known as a friendly backstretch face who was quick with a kind word, and he was emphatic about the concept of Thoroughbred aftercare long before that way of thinking became embraced as an organized industry movement.

Botty, a Massachusetts native who had graduated from Syracuse University, was one of the few New England trainers to occasionally venture away from the circuit to race at top-tier racetracks like Keeneland or Oaklawn Park, and the serendipitous tale of an 11-for-34 racemare named Our Revival epitomizes what Botty was all about, both as a person and a horseman.

Botty often described the hard-hitting Our Revival as a “street fighter,” and on Apr. 14, 2005, he shipped her to Keeneland. Just before the race, Botty ran into New England transplant Michael Blowen, who had parlayed his volunteer work on the backstretch of Suffolk Downs into founding the Old Friends retirement farm in Kentucky.

Botty handed Blowen a $50 win ticket on Our Revival. According to a subsequent Boston Globe story, he said he liked his mare's chances, and if she won, to donate the money to Old Friends.

That type of generosity wasn't unusual for Botty. But Blowen knew Botty was not the type of trainer who usually touted his own horses, so he figured the mare must really have a good shot.

Our Revival rallied from far back and won going away by 7 3/4 lengths. She paid $17.40 to win.

Now fast-forward a few years. Our Revival retired in 2007 and was sold twice at Keeneland as a broodmare. But by 2012 she was entered to be sold at an auction in Texas frequented by “kill buyers.” When Botty found out, he, along with a network of other helpers across the country who donated time and money, arranged for a last-minute acquisition to keep her from going to slaughter.

Botty contacted Blowen and said, “if you got a place for her, I'll get her out of there, whatever it takes to save her, because she's a beautiful animal. She shouldn't end up like that,” Botty told the Globe while deflecting most of the rescue credit to the team of “guardian angels” who spotted Our Revival at the sale.

Botty arranged for a horse van from Oaklawn to go get the chestnut mare with the distinctive white blaze in Texas and deliver her to Old Friends, where she lived a well-cared-for life until passing away in 2018.

Botty's memorial service is scheduled for May 10 in Massachusetts; details are here.

To honor Botty's memory, surviving family members are asking for donations to Old Friends via this online portal.

The post John Botty, Well-Respected New England Trainer, Dies at 65 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“This is a dream come true,” said Old Friends founder and president Michael Blowen. “Retired horses. Retired people. A match made in heaven.”

The new partnership will combine Thoroughbred retirement with a senior retirement community. Old Friends has already moved seven horses to the new location, with more to follow in time. Eventually, when pandemic protocols ease, Ashton Grove will be open to a small number of visitors by appointment only.

The Old Friends residents currently at Ashton Grove are MGISW Daytona (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), GI Preakness S. runner-up and GSW Magic Weisner (Ameri Valay), Chilean champion and MGSP-US Porfido (Chi) (Mash One {Chi}), MSW and MGSP Secret Getaway (Skip Away), and GISP Massone (Menifee), as well as hard-knocking winners Ireland’s Eye (Cowtown Cat) and Bo’s a Ten (Patton).

“Ashton Grove is excited and honored to have Old Friends horses in our backyard,” said the senior living community’s executive director, Davonna Saeir. “I am so happy that our beautiful property will provide a sanctuary for these majestic creatures, and I know their presence will give our residents great joy. Having these retired thoroughbreds at Ashton Grove is a win-win, and we are grateful for our partnership with Old Friends.”

The post Old Friends Joins Forces with Senior Living Community appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post