Friday, September 12, 2008
Where Memories Dwell
Walking down the hillside from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Lexington is a trip backwards to a time when the race horse was king and the king of sports unfolded at the track.
The Hamburg Horse Center and Greenway, preparing to open on 14 acres adjacent to the Wal-Mart on Sir Barton Way, is one family’s gift to horse country in the hope that a part of Bluegrass history will be preserved.
Bike and walking paths wind around a gated area where gravestones and a monument have been restored. They were removed from their old site at the front entrance to Hamburg Place, about a mile away on Winchester Road. A new monument honoring John E. Madden, founder of Hamburg Place, has been added to the collection.
The result is that a near century-old horse cemetery which the public couldn’t get to for at least a generation is soon to become a public park on its new site. Visitors will find stone tables situated throughout the park for use in picnics or for taking a rest.
“I would like t have some equine-related events here,” said Anita Madden, who has overseen the design and development of the new site. Her hope is that this new site for the grave markers will reacquaint or introduce many more persons with the racing and breeding history and traditions of the Bluegrass.
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Where Memories Dwell"
Written by Maryjean Wall
Visit Maryjean Wall's new site at "
Celebrating the Horse"
Friday, September 05, 2008
The Passing Tide at Stoneside
Central Kentucky has been simply buzzing this week with surprise over the sale of 2,000-acre Stonerside Farm to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the leader of Dubai. The news caught everyone off guard because the sale came up so unexpectedly. The locals have also wondered about the ramifications, since the Maktoum family already owns more horse farm land in the Bluegrass than does any other entity.
Stonerside Farm actually represents a classic example of the turnover in Central Kentucky horse farm land. Rare is the horse farm that is locally-owned, has remained in a single family for multiple generations, or that has been owned by the same individual for more than 20 years. Turnover has been the historical trend in horse farm properties. Fortunes change, owners die or lose interest in racing, and the parade passes on.
“Outsiders” and absentee owners are nothing new in the continuing story of Kentucky’s horse farms. Since the latter nineteenth century, some of the most significant farms have been owned by outside capitalists who invested in Central Kentucky land as a result of their interest in horse racing. They bought land; they improved it; they held it for some time and then they departed the business, generally leaving the land more beautiful or functional than when they arrived on the scene.
These outsiders did not live on their Bluegrass farms. They lived elsewhere and visited once or twice a year. They employed managers, many who were native-born Kentuckians, and it was these managers who formed an elite class of “horsemen” within the local community. More recently, Irish-born horsemen and other “outsiders” have replaced a good number of the old-time hardboots as managers of horse farms.
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The Passing Tide at Stoneside"
Written by Maryjean Wall
Visit Maryjean Wall's new site at "
Celebrating the Horse"
Friday, August 29, 2008
Curlin’s Place in the Pantheon of Greats
Coming up Saturday: Curlin in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, along with an important question to think about: how can we know if a horse is one for the ages – or simply one for our generation? I’d like to hear your ideas on where Curlin fits.
Any time an extraordinarily successful Thoroughbred brightens the racing scene for an extended time, this question rises into the realm of Great Sports Barroom Debates. How are we to know if that one horse fits into the pantheon of great race horses? The question came up with Cigar in 1996, when he attempted to break his tie with Citation for the modern record they shared of 16 consecutive winning races.
Cigar had not entirely persuaded all racing fans that he should be included in the top 10 or 15 horses of all time – a situation that frustrated his trainer, Bill Mott. I remember Mott asking, exasperated, “What else does he have to do – run backwards singing the words to Yankee Doodle Dandy?”
Curlin’s place in history also will be debated, more so if he wins the Woodward and whatever races lie ahead for him. There is no debating that he is an exceptional horse. Last year, I began to call him one of the greatest of our generation. Where he ranks on the lists of “great ones” is another matter entirely.
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Curlin's Place in the Pantheon of Greats'
Written by Maryjean Wall
Visit Maryjean Wall's new site at "
Celebrating the Horse"
