Chillin' in Kentucky

Some may not consider spending a few days in temperatures around -25F the perfect way to start the new year but I can't think of a better introduction to 2014 than the week I've just experienced in Kentucky.

A cold day at Keeneland

I'd been warned by Jessica Martini to "pack warm" and I was immensely glad of her advice and the long-johns, fur hat and many layers during the first two freezing days at Keeneland's January Sale. The trip was a great opportunity to meet Jessica in person – she's the editor-in-chief of the TDN and has been kind enough to keep me very busy on assignments over the past year – and also to say hello to another TDN contributor Lucas Marquardt, who runs a very good bloodstock video and photo service called ThoroStride.

Being in Lexington for the Keeneland sale also offers the opportunity to visit a range of stallion farms during the open house week which takes place while plenty of breeders are in town. We kicked off at Darley, where hand-warmers and hot mulled cider were provided as we were shown the 15 stallions on the roster at what was once known as Jonabell Farm.

Animal Kingdom at Darley America

The shuttlers, which included Bernardini, Medaglia d'Oro, Street Cry and Lonhro, looked especially good in their Australian summer coats. Animal Kingdom was the first of four Kentucky Derby winners I was lucky enough to see during the week and he really is a lovely athletic-looking horse with plenty of scope.

I'd last encountered Street Cry in Australia back in 2006 and it was great to see him again. He's not necessarily the most eye-catching horse, especially when seen alongside the very good-looking Medaglia d'Oro, but his record at stud speaks for itself: top-class winners all over the world at all sorts of distances, including of course the great Zenyatta and his Grade 1-winning sons, Street Sense and Street Boss, who were also on show at Darley America.

The visit to the farm also meant I could catch up with two former colleagues – Dean Roethemeier and Katie La Monica. Dean left Newmarket two years ago to return to his native Kentucky, while Katie and I spent a lot of time working together on opposite sides of the Atlantic in years gone by. Both are superb company and much missed.

Lovely Lonhro

Another father-and-son team on view was Lonhro and Denman, both Australian-bred. In his native country Lonhro is the stuff of legend, as is his sire, Octogaonal. Both almost jet black, they were each Horse of the Year during their racing careers, with 10 and 11 Group 1 wins respectively, and Lonhro went on to become champion sire in Australia (in 2010/11). So Denman has an awful lot to live up to but the Group 1 winner is off to a good start. Not only does he look pretty similar to his famous sire and grandsire, he's lying in second place in the Australian freshman sires' table, with three winners from just five runners to date. In fact, his first two runners were both winners on debut.

One of the nicest things about working in racing and breeding is that you can turn up at a racecourse or sales house almost anywhere in the world and you're pretty certain to bump into a friendly face. During the first morning wandering around Keeneland, a voice piped up from behind me, "Excuse me, but aren't you Panto's owner?"

The voice belonged to Mackenzie, one of the great team at the National Stud during Panto's recuperation from colic surgery last year. She is now working at Lane's End Farm, while her former National Stud colleague and fellow Panto fan, Rosie Carey, was another person I was delighted to see at Keeneland where she was on duty for the James Keogh consignment.

Brendan and Olive Gallagher are well known to many in this part of the world from their days of involvement with Emerald Bloodstock. They are now Kentucky residents and owners of Frankfort Park Farm, and Olive was kind enough to act as an excellent tour guide, spending an afternoon driving me around to see various farms and stallions.

Speightstown: little horse, big reputation

We dropped into Coolmore's Ashford Stud to pay our respects to Giant's Causeway, looking terrific at 17, the extremely handsome Uncle Mo, Galileo's son Cape Blanco and new recruit Shanghai Bobby. Next stop was to WinStar Farm for an audience with Distorted Humor, Speightstown, Super Saver and co.

Asked by Chance Timm at Winstar what I thought of Speightstown, I replied that he was "a really nice compact little horse", before quickly adding, "well not that little", knowing that most stallion farms don't like their horses to be considered too small or too big. Chance, however, gave an amusing response, quipping, "Oh, we don't mind him being small now that we know he's good. He was 16.1 when he first retired to stud, but now he's back to 15.3 again!"

The famous Calumet colours

Every morning as I was driven by my trusty chauffeur Ed Prosser from our hotel to Keeneland, we passed the legendary Calumet Farm, its barns still painted red and white as in the days of the Wright family ownership, with seemingly endless white post-and-rail fences marking its perimeter. Anyone who has read Wild Ride (and I strongly advise anyone with an interest in bloodstock to read Ann Hagedorn Auerbach's riveting book) would doubtless be itching to have a look around the infamous stud farm so I leapt at the chance to go in, briefly, to see a couple of the stallions with two breeders from Oklahoma.

Directly outside the back door of the Calumet office, Alydar's stall, where his terrible injury – whether accidental, or deliberately inflicted – was sustained, stands empty, his brass nameplate still gleaming at the door. In the second stallion barn was a horse I was delighted to see – the imposing Americain, winner of the 2010 Melbourne Cup and just back from his first season at Swettenham Stud in Nagambie, where he has covered a decent book of mares.

While Calumet holds plenty of fascination for myriad reasons, the highlight of the trip had to be the morning spent at Claiborne Farm for a feature I'm writing for the February issue of Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder. I won't give too much away here but the chance to glimpse a farm which has been so well managed and tended by the Hancock family and a devoted team of staff for more than 100 years was a real privilege.

John Niehaus, who kindly showed me round the farm after I'd interviewed Bernie Sams and Walker Hancock, talked about the stallions he looks after – including the much sought-after War Front and the most recent Kentucky Derby winner, Orb – with the perfect blend of pride and knowledge. As we stopped at the small barn which houses the Claiborne covering shed, John was almost apologetic for how underwhelming the facility is compared to some of the bigger, more modern farms. "But then," he added, "six of the 11 American Triple Crown winners and 22 Kentucky Derby winners have been conceived here." Enough said.

Keeneland's European representative, Ed Prosser

And all that remains for me to say is a big thank you to all those who made my visit really memorable in different ways. They include (and I hope I haven't missed anyone) Ed Prosser (who is unmissable in his lurid orange ski jacket), Olive Gallagher, Nancy Sexton, Chad Schumer, German the Chilean, Jessica Martini, Lucas Marquardt, Dean Roethemeier, Katie La Monica, Amy Owens, Amy Gregory, Bernie Sams, Walker Hancock, John Niehaus, Becky Ryder, Cath Hudson, Frances Karon, Mackenzie, Rosie Carey, Mill Ridge Farm for the delicious rum cake, and all the very special horses.