 |
| Welcome to Claiborne Farms in Paris. The Paris in Kentucky. |
Today was Horse Day of the Kentucky Horses and Bourbon Vacation Extravaganza Long Weekend. And the first stop of two was Claiborne Farm, a working horse breeding farm (basically a horse brothel, except it is the males who get paid) that also is the final resting place for the greatest race horse of all time, Secretariat.
The tour was not overly large, manageably sized.
The first stop was the breeding shed. This is where the magic happens.
Except to hear what happens there described, it didn't so magical, involving immobilizing the rear legs of the mare being bred so she doesn't kick the stallion (and take him out of commission for several months) and a bunch of people standing around to monitor what is happening. No red wine and Barry White music involved at all.
We then went to the stalls, where the horses are housed when they are not out in the field. This was Secretariat's stall.
Stall No. 1.
As you can see from the list of occupants of this stall, this later became the stall of Easy Goer, the horse that ran the fastest Belmont Stakes of any horse ever who was not named Secretariat.
Let's go meet some horses.
The horse in that paddock is Orb, winner of the 2013 Kentucky Derby. He is the only winner of a Triple Crown race currently standing at stud at Claiborne Farms.
This is Runhappy. He is the son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver.
He seems pleasant enough. Unlike Orb.
Apparently Orb there has a bit of a temper. And a taste for human flesh. He enjoys biting people. It's not a playful thing that gets out of control. He's mean.
I hesitated posting this picture of Runhappy because all of us males had this happen to us at some point in the adolescent years. But it does show that the old saying about "like a horse" is based on truth.
This is as close to Orb and his taste for human flesh that I am getting:
If you see that video on youtube about Secretariat filmed a couple of days before he was euthanized due to severe laminitis, the paddock now occupied by Orb was Secretariat's paddock.
Across from Orb's paddock is the much more pleasant Algorithms. Algorithms is a son of Bernardini, the winner of the ill-fated 2006 Preakness Stakes, the one in which Barbaro was severely injured.
And being brought out to meet us is the leading stud now in residence at Claiborne Farms. This is War Front.
The 16-year-old did not have much of a racing career, but he's having a fantastic stud career.
And he is so even-tempered even I am able to touch him,
War Front doesn't seem to care one way or the other.
Then it's off to the cemetery,
The one we are all here to see is the grave of the great Secretariat.
I actually overheard one other guy on the tour telling someone that seeing Secretariat's grave was on his bucket list.
Mine too.
Secretariat is not the only champion buried here. Swale:
Swale died eight days after his Belmont win in 1984.
The second Triple Crown winner, 1930's Gallant Fox, is here:
And here's Secretariat's daddy:
Bold Ruler.
Got to get a picture of me graveside:
I don't know what happened here with this one. The person taking my picture told me to get down closer to the headstone.
I look like I'm trying to hide behind Secretariat's grave, in some horse cemetery version of "hide and seek." Sorry, Big Red. No disrespect intended.
No comments:
Post a Comment