One of my recommended places to visit in Kentucky - and is also a beneficiary of Breyer - is Old Friends. They are a Thoroughbred retirement facility where a lot of ex-racehorses retire and they've been the home of numerous famous retirees including Silver Charm and Game on Dude. We've been to both the Kentucky and New York branches. My favorite New York resident is the most losingest horse ever named Zippy Chippy. He is a sweet old boy despite being the laughing stock of the entire racing community at one time. I don't have a favorite horse in Kentucky, as there are so many. I will show you the pictures of some of the more popular guys that we got to visit while we were there. Game on Dude, Silver Charm, Alphabet Soup, Rapid Redux (the winningest claimer) and one of the horses that played Seabiscuit in the movie are all there. Genuine Risk, one of only three mares to win the Kentucky Derby, had difficulties foaling and Old Friends ended up with one of her two babies, Genuine Reward. During Breyerfest weekend, if you ever find yourself able to go to Kentucky for the event, be sure to check out this little slice of Heaven! Tours are only $10 per person and there are so many horses it's literally like a living horse museum. If you have the time, they have a gift shop where they sell a lot of racing memorabilia, although if you only have a few bucks, they have low priced gifts too, like collectible drinking glasses and Mini Whinnies. The money from tours and gifts helps benefit the retirees.
Just typing his name so many times with the misspelled "pharaoh" would eliminate me from a spelling bee because I always have to check to make sure I spelled it correctly when not talking about the horse. American Pharaoh was a horse I followed throughout his career, from the time he missed the Breeder's Cup Juvenile to his last race when he romped in the Breeder's Cup Classic. Honestly, he was a stand-out amongst everyone else that year, and the best horse I'd seen in a long time. I wanted to believe he'd win the Triple Crown, but with so many near misses, I didn't want to get my hopes up. When he did though I wasn't too surprised, though I was excited because I wasn't born yet to see the Triple Crown winners of the 1970s, and I was far too young to be into horse racing when Secretariat died, which saddens me quite a bit. I actually got into horse racing, which I consider my favorite of all the equine sports, from an ex-racehorse that I rode as a child. He was one of my first three horses I ever had, and taught me a lot of things, especially how to gallop. I respected racehorses after experiencing their power first hand. When I was a teenager, I began exercising racehorses at a local training facility. Sometimes I would pretend that I was a real jockey in a race during those breezing episodes. Of course, I was far too tall to ever become a professional jockey, but it was still fun to imagine. I tried hitching my stirrups up to jockey length once and my legs were way too long, I ended up flipping over the front of the horse. Hubby and I were actually at the Kentucky Derby the year that American Pharaoh won. It was our first year ever going, and we only went to see him run. Later that year we went to Saratoga to watch the Travers Stakes. I was incredibly saddened to see my boy lose that day, but he looked really washed out before the race even started, so I'm thinking he just wasn't feeling his best that day. It's ok. We all have days like that. I was just happy that there wasn't anything seriously wrong with him. He finished out his usual powerful self in the Breeder's Cup Classic, and was then retired to stud. Though I wished he would have raced another year, I know how eager people were to breed their horses to the first Triple Crown winner in decades. I said I'd visit him at stud and I did. My original Breyer collection consisted of whatever I found at the feed store. Then, eBay became a "thing" and from then on, I fell full force into the hobby. I sold all my first Breyers and bought all the racehorses I could find. I had three shelves full of Breyer racehorses, some big names like Dan Patch and Seabiscuit, others not so much like Black Gold. Eventually I got tired of all the bays, blacks, light greys and chestnuts so I turned my collection towards other breeds. It was hard selling all my racehorses, but I needed a bit of color in my life. You'll find that I typically avoid those common colors now, although I still have a few racehorses that I liked, American Pharaoh's model included. I never felt the same way with Justify as with American Pharaoh. I was actually kind of surprised Justify won. I do not own his model, nor do I plan to. To me, he seemed like a one hit wonder, he didn't race as a two year old, then won the Triple Crown and just exited the racing scene as quickly as he entered, falling into oblivion. One horse I do have my eye on is Tiz the Law, however with the Triple Crown being so spread out this year, it makes me wonder if he'll keep his form by fall. He's so far already has one leg of the Triple Crown under his belt.
I visited American Pharaoh yet again last year when we went to Breyerfest. I plan on visiting him again next year when Breyerfest will - hopefully - be in person again. If Justify is there, I would like to see him, though I don't have the feelings for him that I do with American Pharaoh. Still, seeing two Triple Crown winners side-by-side is a rarity, and apparently Ashford already has their hand in Tiz the Law's stud career. What a treat it would be to see all three together, especially if Tiz the Law does win the Triple Crown. With Breyerfest only a few days away (can y'all believe it?) I would like to share some of my Kentucky horse stories with you. While last year was my first Breyerfest, Kentucky was a popular destination for hubby and I for some time. We were actually married there and had our honeymoon there. While most people honeymoon at the beach, we thought a horseback ride through the Kentucky Horse Park would suffice enough. The ride was pleasant, and very scenic. I was on a grey horse named Hidalgo while hubby rode a grey drafter named Big Boy. I'm going to write one story every day until Friday (Breyerfest!) that I hope you'll enjoy. Horses have revolved around my life since I was a child and I'm sure that if you collect Breyer horses, you also love real horses, so I would love to share these stories with all my horse friends to give y'all something to help occupy your mind with the big day just around the corner! Most of you who collect Breyers probably have visited the Kentucky Horse Park, and if you haven't yet, I really hope you get to at least one time in your life. It's an amazing place, especially for horse people. One horse at the Horse Park that I seemed to keep running into was Funny Cide. The first time I saw him was at the Kentucky Horse Park back when we were on our honeymoon. He was sleeping in his stall. The next time was in Saratoga when he showed up unexpectedly at Old Friends. We were there for a tour and Funny Cide was shipped in from Kentucky. They had a name plate on the stall inside the barn and said he was only going to be there for a couple days. As with when I saw him at the Kentucky Horse Park, he was at the back of his stall. The last time I saw Funny Cide was at the Horse Park a couple days before Breyerfest. We stopped by to tour the park before all the humanity flooded in. It was a quiet day, and Funny Cide was out in his pasture. One of the employees recognized me from my blog and ended up giving me a behind the scenes tour, so to speak, of the Hall of Champions. I was allowed to enter the stall and touch both Western Dreamer and Stanley (who unfortunately passed away a few months after Breyerfest) but the pinnacle was finally meeting Funny Cide face-to-face. I not only was allowed to touch him but feed him carrots. After all these years of running into him but never actually being introduced, it was nice to finally say hello. And yes, he's as comical as his name... just look at the face he's giving me!
I'm rather picky on my horses. I have to be, or else I'd be buying every Breyer on the market. I'm on a modest budget now that I'm an adult and can't make a 20 horse list for Christmas every year (I must have driven my parents batty!) so I've come to collect certain colors that I look for in my horses. Again, this is all opinion. I'm not here to start fights with anyone, and certainly can appreciate a "plain bay" in real life. I have one myself and I am honestly American Pharoah's number one fan. Honestly. I'm just more picky about models because they make a ton of bays in Breyer horses. Just an FYI these colors are in no particular order. Sometimes there have been horses on the colors below and I have still bypassed them either due to being out of my price range or on a mold I didn't like but these are the colors I tend to collect the most of. Dapple GreyThe "dapple" part is what I emphasis. I don't buy grey horses unless they're dappled. Shaded greys are too plain for me. Not all dappled greys make the cut either. The darker the better. BuckskinUnlike dapple greys, I will collect a buckskin whether it is dappled or not. I haven't come across a buckskin I didn't like unless it's on a mold I didn't like. DunI'm a sucker for red duns, although I will collect brown duns if they have the typical dorsal stripe and/or leg barring common in duns. My mustang Koda is a dun. He has the dorsal stripe but lacks the leg barring so as long as they have one or the other, I'm fine with it. Some of Breyer's previous duns look more like bays though because they lack the dorsal stripe and leg barring. A good example is Andante. RoanThis color, in my opinion, is not used enough in Breyers. I prefer the shaded roans over the ones with the freckles, as they look much more realistic, although I do collect both. It doesn't matter what color of roan, except fleabitten grey. The freckles aren't enough to make me pay that much for what is pretty much plain plastic. GrulloAs with all previous colors, there are limitations to grullos too. For example, I didn't like Glorioso. That shade of grullo looked more bay or brown than grullo. I prefer the greyish grullos over the browns. I will collect the brown grullo only if they have a nice pinto or appaloosa pattern. A couple good examples are Quill and Gideon. Silver Bay or ChestnutThe contrast of the dark coat with the starking light mane/tail was always eye candy for me. I was happy to add Celeste to my herd, and although Abdul and Treasured Moves weren't considered silver chestnuts, they still had a shocking light blonde mane/tail with a chocolate chestnut body. Both are permanent members of my collection. PalominoI'm probably the most picky on this color, of any of my favorites. As with grey horses, I only collect dappled palominos. I only like either golden yellow palominos or darker "sooty" palominos. I would love to add a cremello or perlino to my collection, although Breyer doesn't make many of those. Pintos/PaintsBreyer makes dozens of pinto patterns, there's no denying that, and there's also no denying that I'd be broke if I tried to collect them all. So, like with my favorite colors, there has to be some limitations. I prefer jagged or sketchy pintos over ones with clean, straight markings. I also don't like a ton of white on my horses. Good examples of pintos with too much white are Jake and Isadore Cruce. I will collect colors that aren't my favorite provided they are on a nice loud pinto pattern and a mold I like. Blue EyesAlthough not a body color, one thing that sells me on a horse no matter the body coloring is if it has blue eyes. It's a bonus if that horse is on a color I like, which is how I ended up winning Teton earlier in the year.
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