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Old Friends to open facility
in New York named for Frankel

Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 2:36 PM

Old Friends, a Thoroughbred retirement farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, has announced plans to open a satellite facility at a 40-acre farm in Greenfield Center, New York.

Owned by Joann and Mark Pepper, Cabin Creek features 12 stalls, two round pens, five finished paddocks, and has raw space available for development and growth. An official opening and celebration is planned for July 22, 2010.

Old Friends President Michael Blowen said the facility will be named in honor of Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, who passed away earlier this week after a battle with leukemia.

A native New Yorker, Frankel was a long supporter of the Old Friends mission and earned many of his greatest victories at New York racetracks. The New York farm formally will be known as “Old Friends at Cabin Creek: the Bobby Frankel Division.”

“This was just an amazing opportunity,” said Blowen, who finalized arrangements with the Peppers just last week. “I have always felt there was a need for Old Friends all over the country.

“While I was on my way back from Saratoga I heard about Bobby’s passing, and I immediately thought that a place in New York that was home to both top champions and bottom claimers would be a perfect memorial to his career. Any horse trained by Frankel will be given priority at Old Friends at Cabin Creek.”

The facility’s first resident will be Moonshadow Gold, a ten-year-old New York-bred gelding acquired through the efforts of several equine-welfare advocates.

The Peppers, who built Cabin Creek 15 years ago, will handle the day-to-day operations of the farm.

“When we built the farm, my goal was to do Thoroughbred retirement,” said Joann, who began her life with horses as a groom for trainer Nick Zito. “Initially, we did boarding and foaling as a way to establish ourselves, but I always came back to the idea  of retirement.

“I had read about Old Friends, and this summer an article … prompted me to call Michael. I explained that my farm was empty and I wanted to emulate what he was doing. It just clicked that we would do it together. And it’s really an honor to dedicate our farm to a man like Bobby Frankel, who had such a great love of horses.”

The launch on July 22, 2010, will be open to the public and will feature a memorial to Frankel and his illustrious career. More information will be released closer to the date.