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Newest addition to Old Friends

Tom’s Ready has been retired (not sure why?) & placed at Old Friends.

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Is he gelded to retire there?

Generally not. They keep nearly all of their stallions intact.

One notable exception was War Emblem, who needed to be gelded because he couldn’t fulfill the CEM test breeding requirements for importation from Japan.

I have no idea why Tom’s Ready retired so early other than that he didn’t breed a lot of mares in his short career and got even fewer in foal. As for that latter point, it’s hard to say if that is noteworthy in the decision without knowing more. Stallions with so little interest from mare owners generally aren’t getting the best of mares. Sometimes stallion fertility numbers are what suffers from those mares by no fault of his own, or maybe it’s him.

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I figured it had to do with either him not getting enough bookings or due to fertility problems.
Since it didn’t say anything in the article, I didn’t want to assume.

When a horse goes to Old Friends, do the owners or former owners pay the cost of upkeep or make a single large donation to fund the horse’s stay there?

I helped get two horses placed at Old Friends in a roundabout way. I’m certainly not connected or an expert, but here’s my experience:

One horse came with a large single donation and regular smaller donations from some of his former racing connections.

Another horse had no financial backing and there was a push to raise funds for him. All his care was through general donations.

So I think it varies. I think it’s safe to say a lot of these high profile retirees have a fair amount of financial backing in some form. And they are a win win in the sense that people like to visit and see these familiar faces.

What some people may not realize is that Old Friends provides care for a lot of lesser known horses away from their main facility. Many horses get placed on private farms (foster homes of sorts although I don’t think they call it that).

Also, the NY location seems to be mostly financially and procedurally separate from Kentucky, but I don’t know the details.

I’m sure many others here know far more than me!

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