Good Lord, Balance of Power join Old Friends at Kentucky Downs

Edited Press Release

Old Friends at Kentucky Downs has two new Thoroughbred residents who promise to be fan favorites: multiple stakes winner Good Lord and Grade 3 victor Balance of Power.

Good Lord and Balance of Power recently completed their two-week quarantine upon arrival and now are on display at the Kentucky Downs satellite facility of Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm, They join six other retired racehorses along with mascot Fonzie the Mini.

Good Lord – a $20,000 purchase trained throughout his career by Forrest Kaelin for Stan Young of nearby Bowling Green and the late Thomas Shank – is the second horse at Old Friends at Kentucky Downs to have won at the unique all-grass course. The bay gelding boasts a victory in the 2012 Kentucky Downs Turf Dash among his nine stakes scores.

Good Lord’s Old Friends teammate Rumor Has It won the 2008 Kentucky Turf Cup (G3).

“It’s the perfect spot,” Kaelin said.

The nine-year-old Good Lord won nine stakes among his 15 victories and placed in eight more during a career that spanned eight seasons, 84 races and $803,305 in earnings while racing on dirt, grass and synthetic surfaces.

He captured Ellis Park’s Don Bernhardt Stakes from 2012-2014 and posted a pair of wins in Mountaineer Park’s Mountaineer Mile. Good Lord also triumphed in Churchill Downs’ Kelly’s Landing Stakes, Charles Town’s Wild and Wonderful Stakes, and Tampa Bay Downs’ Super Stakes.

The Kentucky Downs Turf Dash (now the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint [G3]) came during the best streak of the gelding’s career, when he won five stakes in seven starts and set track records at Charles Town (1:22.68 for seven furlongs), Ellis Park (1:14.46 for 6 1/2 furlongs) and Tampa Bay Downs (1:22.03 for seven-eighths).

Good Lord was ninth in his last start in a $40,000 claiming race on September 8 at Kentucky Downs. He was dropped off at Old Friends as the Churchill Downs-based Kaelin’s stable shipped to Tampa Bay Downs for the winter.

“Stan thought it was time for him to just fold it up,” Kaelin said. “He didn’t want him to have to drop down too far the claiming ranks. But he was still 100-percent sound, a good sound horse his entire life. He was a nice little horse, a tough bird, I’ll tell you. They’re hard to find like that for $20,000. He had three track records. He’ll have that one at Charles Town for a long time.”

Balance of Power is an Old Friends veteran, arriving in March 2015 at the main campus in Georgetown, Kentucky. Claimed for $25,000 by Drawing Away Stable in late 2013, the son of Silver Train saved his best for last, taking Monmouth Park’s Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) for his first stakes triumph in what proved his career finale in 2014.

Balance of Power retired with six wins out of 16 starts, earning $233,128.

“He’s so great with people it’s unbelievable,” said Rick Albright, Kentucky Downs’ racing development manager who oversees the Old Friends venue. “He is spectacular. You could send five toddlers in with him and they’d be fine. He just greets every car that pulls up there right at the front paddock.”

Albright said Old Friends’ new additions provide a great opportunity for fans and horse enthusiasts to see up close the difference between a horse coming in from the track and one who has been retired for a while.

“We’re coming off our best month ever, with routinely four and five tours a day over the fall holidays,” he said. “We’re excited about it growing over the next season. Although the weather might be changing, tours are available every day but Monday.”

Tours are available year-round after 11 a.m. (CT) except during late August through mid-September, when Kentucky Downs is preparing for and conducting its live race meet. If a guide is not on hand, patrons can call 270-586-3040 and one will come over from the Franklin/Simpson County Tourism Commission, which is five minutes away and staffs the Old Friends facility.

Tours are $5 per person, with children 12 and under free. Proceeds from tours and gift shop items go directly to the horses’ care. The area is available for school tours and parties, with tour participants able to feed horses carrots and take photos.

For more information, contact Rick Albright, rickalbright@kentuckydowns.com or 270-586-7888. More information about Old Friends is at oldfriendsequine.org.