It’s January 2021, and hopefully a much better year than 2020. I’ve decided to try and put 2020 behind me so I will not conjure up negative memories but look forward to all the positive possibilities and changes in the coming year.

As many of you know, January 1st is the official birthday for every Thoroughbred. “Happy Birthday!” Here’s Miss Dixie Rose, he didn’t bury his face in cake but instead found a mud puddle to splash in…what mother has not had a little boy do that?

The weanlings have become yearlings. Yearlings are similar in personality to teenagers! They are feeling independent and giving a glimpse of their personality by the way you see them interacting with their peers and the people working with them. There are times they are very calm and resting as a group like this picture taken on January 1st. I think they were resting after their birthday celebration. And then other times they are acting out the term “horse play”.

Some days it’s easy to watch their antics for hours, many of our guests have gotten great pictures doing this but now that they’re yearlings they have been moved to the yearling complex on the back farm referred to as Wilshire Farm at Rosecrest. Here they will graze a lot, grow a lot, and play a lot. Later this summer they will start spending time separated in their own paddocks. Their first step of getting their head out of a herd mentally (we hope).

Then there are the yearlings that are now 2 year olds. These horses are still here because they were chosen by their owners to keep and race. So with that, four were shipped to Jim & Torie in Florida and three were just taken over to Silver Springs yesterday, which is just down Paris Pike where Kevin Noltemeyer will start the next chapter of their lives. They will learn to have a saddle on their back and then a rider on their back and then learn to take direction from the rider. They are on their way to becoming stakes winners, each and every one of them. Yes, I know you might be thinking “wishful thinking” or maybe I’m crazy. I assure you, I’m not crazy just very hopeful, the mindset of every racehorse owner. Since they were born, I have been looking them in the eye and telling them they are winners and will achieve great success, and I hope they have started believing it.

Before I get to the pregnant mamas, I have to share this video of Tinner’s Storm. He is now 21 and is happily sharing mints and kisses with our guests. Shana was here for a couple nights and loved her time bonding with him, he and she shared a very precious moment. Thanks for all your support of the Secretariat’s Legends calendar featuring Tinner, the September poster boy.

O.K., now lets talk about the mares and their projected foaling dates. Any of you that have been pregnant or know someone that has been pregnant know you have an idea of your due date but it’s rare that you deliver your baby on that date. We start bringing the mares into the barn for the night when they are about 30 days out from their projected due date so we can watch them and be there for the big event. This year we have three maiden mares. This means it’s their first time having a baby. They’ve been wondering what in-the-world has been going on in their bellies and they’re about to find out. You always hope they listen to mother nature and let those mothering instincts kick in and immediately become good mamas. So here are the dates…

Mare	Projected Foaling Date	Sire of Foal
Malibu Gem	2/3/21	Practical Joke
Mo Buckets	2/21/21	Mastery
Mysteriously	3/1/21	Distorted Humor
Pistol Packin Rose	3/3/21	Sky Mesa
Shane’s Girlfriend	3/4/21	Speightstown
Sweet Halory	3/5/21	Goldencents
Chaybaby	3/27/21	West Coast
Bellezza Rosso	4/3/21	Goldencents
Penumbra	4/3/21	Klimt
First Shift	4/16/21	Always Dreaming

As you can see March looks to be crazy busy. That might be a really good month to visit if you wanted to see a baby. We’re all still waiting to hear from Keeneland to see if they are going to allow spectators. We hope they will and they hope to make an announcement later this month.

We appreciate all the guests who came to the farm this past year in spite of COVID. There was a constant reason for most of the visits…”We needed a break at a place we could relax on the porch and enjoy walking around the farm taking in the horses and the peacefulness”. We hope to see many more this coming year.