We’ve had a very busy 14 days.  It started on April 25 at 5:10 AM with Hit the Limit going into labor and delivering a healthy, very leggy colt by Classic Empire.

This year the mares have decided to go past the average 340 days of gestation, to an average of 352.  And they’ve not been giving a lot of notice of being close to delivery.  Good thing we have Hugo on close watch to see the small indications of imminent delivery and he calls so Chuck and I are there for the delivery.  Usually very little help is needed with the actual delivery, but the men did need to assist Hit The Limit a little with delivering this 125 lb. colt with good size, shoulders and hips.

Hit the Limit and her Classic Empire colt.

As usual we collect the colostrum from mama and feed it to the foal as soon as possible.  Good thing with this boy, since it took him two hours to get his legs under him and stable enough to stand, after a little help getting up.

So the next day Get Back Anne started showing signs of labor about 3:20 AM.  She was ready, but the foal was not in the correct position.  Luckily after walking the mare for about 15 minutes, the foal got into position and at 3:55 she delivered a healthy 118 lb. colt by Goldencents.  Annie was exhausted and needed to rest for about 25 minutes.

Get Back Anne 19. Can’t wait to see this long legged Goldencents on the racetrack!

This colt is very flashy, with a great blaze and lots of chrome, as you can see.  I’m sharing this photo that shows his very long legs, but I’m sure when he’s a little older and a winner, he’ll wish I hadn’t share this moment when he was wondering, “What do I do with these legs???”

Four days later – on Tuesday of Derby Week – we had another baby.  Every delivery is a special event here, but when the owners are able to be here, it’s heartwarming to see the love and excitement they have for the foal and mama.

Tamara and Craig purchased Ivanka at the Keeneland November Sale almost six months ago.  We were very honored when they chose our farm to be responsible for Ivanka’s wellbeing and to nurture her foal.  So Ivanka’s projected foaling date was April 15, but she waited for the family to fly in from Nevada.  Once here they spent most of their time watching Ivanka and you know what they say about a watched pot never boils… And a mare will try to find a time when she thinks no one is watching to deliver.  At 11:50 PM, Ivanka tried not only to catch everyone off guard, but broke her water and delivered within 11 minutes!  Wow!!

Wheaton and Ivanka both tend to the new Fort Larned colt.

They have a very nice 123 lb. colt by Fort Larned.  It was fun watching them savor every moment of the newborn foal, moving his long legs around, to getting up, to nursing.  Every movement or attempt to move was watched with loving ooooohs and aaaaaaahs… Precious!!!

Proud parents…

Then we waited eight days for our last foal to hit the ground.  In between we were sidetracked with the first Saturday in May (and don’t even try to tell me you don’t know what that means.)  That was a big day for Goldencents.  From his very first crop, he not only had By My Standards run in the Kentucky Derby, but his son Mr. Money won the G3 Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard (in very impressive style, we might add) to give Goldencents his fourth stakes winner.

By My Standards didn’t have the best of trips in the Derby and got bumped around a couple of times.  Hmmmmm.  Where have we heard that before?  And that’s all you’re going to hear from me about all that.  Back to the farm and our last expectant mama.

Orientatious delivered a colt by English Channel at 12:35 AM on May 8.  He was a typical colt, who was in no hurry to do much of anything.  His mama was content to rest for a while before getting up and he was very happy for the time to just look around and see his new home.

Posing for the calendar page:   “Last foal of 2019”.

It was about an hour and a half before he decided to get his legs under himself and stand up on his own.  Then he was more interested in exploring his stall than nursing.  Well, not to worry, once he decided it was time to latch on, he showed an enormous appetite.

And, right on cue…. the second crop of Goldencents is hitting the races.  Last night two young ladies provided him a first — they finished one-two in a race!!  Goldentill and Miss Latang were first and second, respectively, in their career debuts at Prairie Meadows in Iowa.  Since it was four years to the day the Iowa State TriDelts rented out the entire Guesthouse for a reunion, and ISU is about thirty miles up the road from Prairie Meadows and I went to ISU…. I’m kind of kicking myself for not having that exacta.

Happy Preakness and here’s to safe trips for all!