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It’s not quite 90 miles from Charlestown Indiana to Lexington Kentucky. The most direct route takes us across the Ohio River on one of the toll bridges we have been using during our stay. We pull out our transponder for the motorhome and head out. It’s only $5.53 with our four axles. If we had a tag axle like many motorhomes do, the five axle rate would be nearly double at $11.04. Our destination in Lexington is the Kentucky Horse Park Campground. It is a very large place with 260 back in sites situated around inner and outer loops. Even though it is a large place and we were planning over 2 months in advance, we were unable to get a site that included the Friday or Saturday nights. So we booked 5 nights, coming in on Sunday and leaving on Friday. The sites are fairly spacious and have 50 amp electric and water. Our site wasn’t perfectly level but it was better than some other sites. The campground is adjacent to the Kentucky Horse Park but it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so we will need to find other things to do in the area for a couple days.
This is horse country. Once outside of the bustle of Lexington and all its suburbs, the countryside is dotted with horse farms. There is often some large mansion sized home with a big barn and acres of pastures surrounded by white fences. You’ll usually see the horses out grazing in the pastures and the place looks quite idyllic. Some of these large horse farms actually have tours of their property. When searching for a place to visit, the number and variety of tour packages is astounding. One particular tour “spoke” to Chris. Jonabell Farm looks like a beautiful place to visit. They have either 1 or 2 hour tour options. We decide to take the 2 hour tour and find they actually had openings for Monday morning so we book our spots Sunday night.
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| One of the Kentucky Derby Winners at Jonabell Farm |
We arrive at the front gate and the guard comes out to check us in, open the gates, and directing us where to park near the main building. The 500 foot driveway to the main building is lined with trees. In front of the building is a circular driveway with fountain and perfectly landscaped gardens. |
| Main Building at Jonabell Farm |
With COVID, signs instruct us to wait in our cars until our tour guide come out to greet us. Brianne doesn’t make us wait long. One more person must have booked a spot on the tour so we have a group of five for the next two hours. We introduce ourselves and start the tour by walking down the tree lined road to the large pastures where some of the prized stallions are still out grazing. Of the three horses out in their own pastures, only Nyquist showed any interest in our being there. He’s the winner of the 2016 Kentucky Derby and came over to greet us. Since feeding and petting the horses aren’t permitted, his curiosity isn’t simply him looking for a handout. We asked about the fences around all the pastures not being white. Apparently it was a little bit controversial when they switched from white wooden fences to the special material used for the rails. But this material doesn’t degrade like wood and a white fence needs to be painted several times a year in order to look good. The fencing they currently use needs much less maintenance.
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| Nyquist Comes Over to Say Hi |
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| Sticking His Tongue Out |
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| One of the Other Horses Ignoring Us |
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| Tree Lined Path Between Pastures |
We head back up to the main building for a little tour of the inside of the facility. The main reception room is impressive. Above a display case with numerous trophies and awards is a huge photo of a horse. On the opposite side of the room is a large circular staircase that has framed photos of some of the horses from the stables. There were also bound editions of “The Blood-Horse Weekly” - looks like a spellbinding read! |
| Huge Photo Over Display Case |
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| Impressive Spiral Staircase |
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| Some Trophies and Awards |
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| "Blood-Horse" Weekly |
In a side room were even more trophies and some of the racing gear worn by a few of the winners. In this case, it is important that the gear hasn’t been cleaned. I guess it’s a badge of honor for the dirt and mud to be present. I will need to try that line on my wife when she wants to wash my clothes! |
| Larger Trophy Case |
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| Racing Gear |
Brianne is able to answer just about any question we throw at her. Besides playing host for guided tours, she is in charge of the stallion breeding program. The farm was founded by John A. Bell in 1954 and was run by the family until 2001 when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum purchased the farm. Besides being the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and a billionaire, the Sheikh has penchant for thoroughbreds. Brianne freely admits that the 800 acre farm and all of the staff and horses are the result of the Sheikh’s “hobby”. He really wants to breed a horse that wins the Kentucky Derby and likely the Triple Crown as well.
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| The Sheikh |
We head out of the main building and take a short walk over to a group of the buildings associated with the breeding program. We pass a couple of graves for some former residents of the farm. The most famous is possibly Affirmed - winner of the 1978 Triple Crown. |
| Approaching Stallion Stable |
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| 1978 Triple Crown Winner - Affirmed - Gravesite |
The first building we enter is where the breeding studs live. To say this place is posh would be an understatement. I bet I have stayed at motel rooms that weren’t this nice. The brick flooring is some sort of special rubber material that is easy on the horse’s hooves. Each spacious stall has a beautiful wooden door. The place barely has the smell you would associate with horses. |
| Gorgeous Stables |
There was only one horse in the stable since the other residents were still out in the pasture. Medaglia d’Oro raced in the Triple Crown Races in 2002. His best showing was second at the Belmont Stakes and later won the Travers Stakes at Saratoga. He was bought by the Sheikh in 2009 and brought here for stud service. Since then he has consistently sired horses that have won races and his stud price is now approaching $150,000.
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| Medaglia d'Oro Having Brunch |
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| Medaglia d'Oro Comes Over to Say Hi |
Next we head over to the breeding barn complex. This side of the business is named Darley and apparently brings in enough in proceeds to fund the rest of the farm. Since this is the other part of Brianne’s job, she has lots to tell us about the breeding process. First off, thoroughbreds must be conceived the old fashioned way - no in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination allowed. The owner of the mare (female) will fill out an application and that horse must be vetted by Darley. Since the price for stud service is based on how well the offspring race, it’s in Darley’s interest to only breed their studs with high quality females. Once the mare is approved, they will work out a schedule based on her fertility cycle.
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| Heading to Breeding Barn |
Inside the breeding barn are three large rooms. Two of the rooms are octagonal with padded walls, good lighting and special flooring similar to what is found in playgrounds. These are the rooms where the stud and mare will be brought for breeding. It sounds like the process is far from romantic. When the mare is ready, she will be brought to the facility and placed in a stall in the third room. A different male horse will be brought in to be used to make sure the female is ready. Once she is in the mood, she and the hired stud will be brought into one of the padded rooms. But it’s not just the two of them in there. There will be a veterinarian for each horse and the mare’s owner and a few other from Darley. Each person will have on flack jackets and a helmet with face mask. Horse breeding can be dangerous apparently and these are very valuable animals so everyone wants them to be safe.
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| One of Two Breeding Rooms with Padded Walls |
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| Even the Ceiling of Room is Fancy |
After the act is over, the stud is taken back to his stable and the mare is loaded onto the trailer. Payment for the service is contingent on the mare having a live birth. It was rather fascinating to learn the process of thoroughbred breeding. No dinner and a movie, no wine, no Barry White - it’s all carefully orchestrated though. As Brianne was describing this to us and what her job entails in finding appropriate mates for her stable of studs, I kept thinking she is sort of like a pimp! I kept that thought to myself though.
Next we board the all electric shuttle cart and head over to another large barn three quarters a mile away. We drive by several homes on the property. One is used by the farm manager so he can be on premises if needed. Another old one is sometimes used to house special visitors. It’s a beautiful drive over to the other barn.
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| Large Electric Passenger Shuttle |
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| Farm Manager Home |
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| Pretty Rolling Hills |
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| Barn in the Distance |
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| View from the Shuttle |
This barn is the home to the colts and fillies that were born as part of the in-house breeding program. These are the horses that the Sheikh is hoping will perform well enough to compete in racing in the coming years. Even though these youngsters were only about 7 months old, they are pretty big. Many of them were up in their stalls but a few were laying down and taking a nap. They haven’t been named yet and are simply identified by their mother. This was one area where we are permitted to pet the horses. They are young enough that they aren’t ornery yet.
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| End of the Foal Barn |
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| Colt Born March 20 |
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| Must Have Had a Rough Sunday Night |
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| Thinking About Getting Up |
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| Pet Me |
This barn is nice but not quite as nice as the one for the studs. It was special to see so many cute horses in one area. Most of the ones that were up, were curious and would wander over to the stall door to check us out. One of the colts was laying down right next to the wall and Brianne was concerned it might not be able to get up without help. She tracked down one of the guys working the barn and he came over to check on him. The man didn’t seem too concerned but went into the stall to get the colt up just to ease her mind. Only time will tell whether we happened to see a future Kentucky Derby winner during our tour.
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| Foal and Mare Barn Not as Fancy but Still Nice |
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| Zoned Out |
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| Another View of Barn |
We reluctantly left the barn and headed back to the main building. Our 2 hour tour seemed to go very fast. Given we aren’t horse racing aficionados, we still really enjoyed this stop. We learned a lot and Jonabell Farm is a beautiful facility. Our 2 hour tour was $46 per person but was well worth the price. Before we drove off, I wandered over to check out the old stone tower that is on the property. It was a water tower back in the day but it is still very pretty.
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| Old Stone Tower |
On the way back from the tour, we drove around a bit in order to find geocaches in a couple other Kentucky counties. One of them took us to a view of the Kentucky Castle. The place looks like a really old castle but it was built in 1969. About half mile from the castle was another cache at a pretty church and cemetery. Geocaching gets us to interesting places.
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| Kentucky Castle |
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| Castle View Thru Gate |
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| Old Church Found While Geocaching |
The next day, since the Kentucky Horse Park is still closed, we decide to take advantage of the Legacy Trail. It’s a nicely paved bike/walking path that actually starts very near the campground and runs about 9 miles into the heart of Lexington. We don’t intend to do the full path. In fact we aren’t really doing this for the bike ride. There happens to be dozens of geocaches all along the trail but bike riding should allow us to get more distance and caches in a shorter timeframe. The trail is nice and wide and passes thru some pretty areas with horse farms within view. We got about 4 miles to the tunnel underneath I-75. By then we had found 16 of the 17 caches we looked for and other plans for the afternoon so we headed back to camp. |
| Nice Legacy Trail |
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| Another Horse Farm |
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| These Barns Need TLC |
One of the other popular things to do in this area of Kentucky is to visit a bourbon distillery for a tour and/or tasting. We are not bourbon connoisseurs. Heck, I don’t ever recall trying bourbon. There are just as many bourbon distillers in the area as there are horse farms. The more popular ones like Woodford Reserve were booked out for weeks. If we had wanted to tour a famous one, we should have planned back over the summer. Chris found a lesser known one called Bluegrass Distillers that had plenty of availability and was more reasonably priced at about $10 per person for a tasting and tour. Coincidentally, their place is right along the Legacy Trail so in theory, we could have simply biked there.
It’s probably not fair to call the place a hole in the wall, but it is close to that. There is a small indoor retail area and an outdoor sitting area. We checked in and headed to the tent at the back of the building for our tasting. Old barrels served as tables and there were three samples waiting for each of us plus a description of different bourbon flavors that we might taste. More importantly there were instructions on how to drink bourbon. We might have been the only bourbon virgins in the group of 10. Our tasting leader was an interesting guy and very informative. There was one of the three samples that was fairly good but it didn’t seem likely that I would finish a bottle of bourbon in my remaining lifetime so I wasn’t tempted to buy one.
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| Bourbon Flavor Wheel |
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| Our Tasting Guide |
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| Bourbon "Rules" |
With the tasting under our belts, we headed inside to see how they make bourbon. It’s a small, no frills operation. There are some neat old looking copper kettles used in the process. The bottle fill station is small enough to fit on a end of a table. Since the product needs to age in the barrel prior to bottling, they have to rent space elsewhere to hold their product. It was a fun tour and I can now cross bourbon tasting and tour off our list.
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