Yesterday, we published a story on racehorse Big Brown's near-completion of the 2008 Triple Crown, and some shady Wall Street characters who surrounded the horse's failed run. Last night, the Wall Street Journal took readers on a tour of some of Kentucky's greatest stud farms, where retired racehorses go to grow old and have lots of sex.
WSJ says Kentucky has 30 stud farms, but that three of them—WinStar Farm, Land's End, and Three Chimneys, where Big Brown stays, are the best. The cost for lodging at Three Chimneys will cost you $26,000 a year per horse, but apparently, the amenities are worth it. Big Brown, for example, had a large stall with a automatic refilling water bucket, windows, and views straight out to the pasture. Sounds quaint, and for awhile it worked. But it's a stud farm, and Big Brown is nothing if not a stud, and so naturally, Big Brown wants to fuck a lot. And if he doesn't get to, tantrums get thrown.
His location was selected by the Three Chimneys staff in response to the client's feedback. Big Brown was initially lodged in a stall connected to the breeding shed, but he could hear when matings were taking place—and got irritated when he wasn't involved. "He would kick the wall or get agitated," said President Case Clay, the founder's son. "Now he has his own private villa with one other horse."
Sounds like Big Brown's had to deal with some of the pitfalls of apartment housing, which we can respect. We've all been there at some point (and many of us still are), but on the whole, our best option is to throw a pillow over our heads and just, you know, deal with it. Not Big Brown.
Big Brown's new villa is separated from the breeding shed so that he doesn't have to hear the other horses, though still close enough that he can get from his digs to the mares in a matter of seconds. He spends the nights outside on his personal two-acre plot. In the morning, he heads in for a shower, then takes the short walk over crushed brick to the breeding shed where he has sex at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tough life.
Photo Credit: Getty