Michael Blowen, founder and president of Old Friends in Georgetown, has announced the opening of his organization’s first satellite facility for retired Thoroughbreds. Cabin Creek, a 40-acre farm just outside Saratoga in Greenfield Center, NY, will begin receiving horses immediately. An official opening and celebration is planned for July 22, 2010.

This premiere auxiliary space will be named in honor of trainer Bobby Frankel, who passed away earlier this week after a battle with cancer. 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 farm will formally be known as “Old Friends at Cabin Creek: The Bobby Frankel Division.”

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. The first resident, Moonshadow Gold–a 10-year-old New York-bred gelding acquired through the efforts of several equine-welfare advocates–will arrive later this week.

The property will be leased by Old Friends, which will continue to control all acquisitions and financials.

The Peppers, who built Cabin Creek from scratch 15 years ago, will handle day-to-day operations.

“When we built the farm my goal was to do Thoroughbred retirement,” said Joann, who began her life with horses as a groom for 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 in the “Saratogian” 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.”

Since its inception, Old Friends has grown to more than 92-acres and is home to 70-plus ex-race horses. It is open to the public daily and attracts thousand of tourists and fans to central Kentucky annually.

“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.”

The ongoing trend of stallion fee reductions continued Tuesday as Ashford Stud announced it was cutting the fees for all but one of their stallions.

Giant’s Causeway, currently tops on the latest general sire list, will stand in 2010 for $100,000 down from $125,000 this past season. His reduction comes one day after WinStar Farm announced its top stallion Distorted Humor, No. 2 on the general sire list, will stand for $100,000 this upcoming season, down from $150,000 in 2009.

Henrythenavigator, who stood his first season at Ashford for $65,000, will command and advertised fee of $40,000 in 2010 while Fusaichi Pegasus will stand for $15,000, down from $30,000 in 2009.

Here is the complete list of Ashford fees for 2010:

Dehere: $10,000

Fusaichi Pegasus $15,000

Giant’s Causeway $100,000

Grand Slam $17,500

Henrythenavigator $40,000

Lion Heart $12,500

Majestic Warrior $15,000

Scat Daddy $15,000

Thewayyouare $10,000

Tale of the Cat $30,000

Thunder Gulch $10,000

Van Nistelrooy $7,500

• Friday, June 11, 2010 (6 p.m. ET)
• Friday, June 18, 2010 (6 p.m. ET)
• Friday, June 25, 2010 (6 p.m. ET)
• Friday, July 2, 2010 (6 p.m. ET)
• Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010 (4:30 p.m. ET)
• Friday, Nov. 19, 2010 (4:30 p.m. ET)

Over the course of the day as news of Bobby Frankel’s passing spread, a plethora of anecdotes began coming in from horsemen wanting to share their memories of the Hall of Fame trainer. Unfortunately in the age of the shrinking news hole, there was not room for all of them in the print version of the story, but here are a few I thought were especially poignant.

Owner and breeder Ken Ramsey: “I remember Bobby invited my grandson Nolan and myself to the barn where (trainer) Rick Dutrow had Big Brown stabled last year. While there, Nolan took a really good picture of Happy, Frankel’s little Australian Shepherd dog he’d had about 15 years. The following Spring when Bobby came to Keeneland, Nolan and I autographed the picture and had it blown up 12 X 14, framed it and presented it to Bobby. I think he enjoyed that as much as any Grade I win he’d had. The emotion he showed over that dog showed what a true, kind and generous man he was.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher: “He was a tremendous horseman, his horses always looked well and he was a great caretaker. In some ways, he developed the trend of giving horses more time between races. He was very passionate about horses and passionate about racing.”

Jack Brothers, Adena Springs: “I don’t think there is another horseman on the planet who would have been able to get as much out of (2004 Horse of the Year) Ghostzapper as Bobby did with his training style and patience. With Ghostzapper, he didn’t have to prep for a big race, he was able to bring him in off a long layoff. He was just gifted. On the surface, he looked like he was the kind of guy with a hard center but once you got to know him you saw that he loved his animals and I was always impressed with how much he appreciated having horses in his care and looking after them the way he did.”

Trainer Shug McGaughey: “He was an excellent horseman with an impeccable record. He was great to his horses and great to his help. He went from the bottom rung of racing all the way to the top, which is a mark not only of him as a horseman, but as a person. He will be sadly missed.”

The Overbrook name continues to be synonymous with excellence. Honest Pursuit, part of the complete dispersal from Overbrook Farm, brought a sale-topping bid of $3.1 million from the Wertheimer Brothers to lead the second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale.

Four horses reached the seven figure mark Wednesday, all of them from the Overbrook dispersal.

Even in a depressed market, the four-year-old Honest Pursuit was an unbashed standout. The daughter of Storm Cat is out of the Grade I winning Seattle Slew mare Honest Lady and is a half sister to Grade I winner First Defence. Honest Lady herself comes from one of racing’s most regal families as she is out of the great blue hen mare Toussaud and is a half sister to Grade I winners Empire Maker, Chester House, and Chiselling.

“Everything,” said Alain Wertheimer when asked what he liked about Honest Pursuit. “Obviously if you could get that kind of family everyday, you wouldn’t have to pay that kind of money. She will stay here.”

Alain Wertheimer along with his brother Gerard currently campaign the two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winning filly Goldikova.

Grade I winner Cotton Blossom established a new top price for the Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale when she sold for $2.3 million to Betty Moran’s Brushwood Stable on Wednesday.

Consigned by Eaton Sales as part of the complete dispersal for Overbrook Farm, Cotton Blossom sold for $1.9 million two years ago when she went through the ring of the Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale. In a reversal of market trends, the five-year-old daughter of Broken Vow did even better this time around, opening at a bid of $100,000 before pinhooker Dean DeRenzo threw down the winning bid on behalf of Moran.

“I think Betty will be pretty happy with this mare,” DeRenzo said. “There is everything to like about her. She’s the most beautiful mare I think in this sale, she was a fantastic racehorse, a fantastic looking mare. She should have great babies and that’s what it’s all about. And Betty Moran will race those babies.”

Out of the top producing mare For Dixie, Cotton Blossom is a half sister to graded stakes winner Vicarage and scored her lone Grade I triumph when she captured the 2007 Acorn Stakes for Dogwood Stables, who campaigned her.

The bay mare was sold in foal to leading sire Street Cry.

Moments after Cotton Blossom lit up the board, another product of the Overbrook dispersal posted another seven-figure result. Dark Sky, an unraced daughter of Storm Cat, sold to Edward Evans for $1.3 million.

The four-year-old filly is out of the Group III winning mare Media Nox and is a full sister to multiple Group I winner Nebraska Tornado. Dark Sky is also a half sister to graded stakes winner Mirabilis.

“We liked her physically and we loved her family. There is a lot to like,” said Chris Baker, farm manager for Edward Evans’ Spring Hill Farm. “Not many opportunities to get into a family like that.”

The seven-year-old Summer Squall mare Summer Raven became the first horse to break the seven-figure barrier Wednesday, selling for $1.7 million to bloodstock agent Reynolds Bell during the second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale.

Bell purchased Summer Raven, a Grade III winner on the track, for the same undisclosed domestic client he bought Mary Delaney for $850,000 earlier in the session.

“He’s a fairly new person in the business and he’s looking to put together a nice broodmare band to breed, race and sell,” Bell said of the client. “He is bargain shopper that’s for sure. He understands there is some value in the market right now. This mare might have cost $2.5 million last year.

“I don’t know what business he’s in to be honest with you, I’m not real sure,” Bell added about his client. “I just know he’s a nice individual for our business.”

Summer Raven was consigned by Eaton Sales as part of the complete dispersal of Overbrook Farm. Out of the winning Rahy mare Rahy Rose, Summer Raven was sold in foal to Unbridled’s Song.

Shortly after Summer Raven went through the ring, Sweet and Careless - dam of Grade I winner Careless Jewel - sold for $900,000 to Craig Bandoroff of Denali Stud, who purchased the mare on behalf of another undisclosed domestic client.

“In this market she’s good value and we’re real happy,” Bandoroff said. “She’s a pretty mare, (Careless Jewel) is staying in training next year, and we like the idea that we could maybe go back to A.P. Indy with his stud fee being dropped. What do I know, but I don’t see a downside to that.”

Sweet and Careless is currently in foal to Tapit, carrying a full sibling to Careless Jewel.

Graded stakes winner Mary Delaney set the early tone for Wednesday’s second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale, eliciting a final bid of $850,000 from bloodstock agent Reynolds Bell.

The six-year-old daughter of Hennessy, who was just the second horse through the ring, was consigned by Eaton Sales as part of the complete dispersal of Overbrook Farm stock and is currently in foal to Elusive Quality.

“I really liked her because she could run, she won a Grade II (Vinery Madison Stakes), she is very attractive and she’s a part of an Overbrook dispersal which we’re not going to have the chance to look at anymore anytime soon,” said Bell, who purchased Mary Delaney on behalf of an undisclosed domestic buyer. “I think (the Overbrook dispersal) is the group that stands out the biggest and the strongest for the market as Keeneland.”

Bell added that Mary Delaney would remain in Kentucky.

It’s been quite a year for Jane and Frank Lyon. After selling the sale toppers at both the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select sale and the Keeneland September yearling sale, the owners of Summer Wind Farm added to their top broodmare band Tuesday when they purchased stakes winner Holiday Runner for $2.15 million at the Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale.

A nine-year-old daughter of Meadowlake, Holiday Runner bested males as juvenile when she won the Three Chimneys Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs and she is also the dam of multiple Grade I winner Seventh Street. The bay mare is currently in foal to Tiznow.

“She had everything really, she had it all,” Jane Lyon said. “She could run, she is absolutely gorgeous and she’s proven she’s a Grade I producer also. She’s the total package. I don’t know who (she’ll be bred to in 2010) but I think there are a number of phenomenal choices out there for that mare.”

Holiday Runner was consigned by Baccari Bloodstock.

Black Mamba, winner of the 2008 Grade I John C. Mabee Handicap, sold to bloodstock agent Tony Bott of Evergreen Farm for $1.5 million to pace the Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale through the first 70 hips.

Bott purchased the six-year-old daughter of Black Minnaloushe on behalf of Hong Kong client P.K. Siu in hopes of getting an invitation to the Hong Kong Vase in December.

“We targeted this mare for a number of reasons,” Bott said. “We like her pedigree and race performance and we hope she will get an invitation to Hong Kong. That’s a big attraction for (Siu) to see his horse race there. Then she’ll either come back here and go to quarantine and come back to Australia or we’ll just take her back to Australia and she’ll go to stud.

“I priced this mare privately several months ago and I should have bought her then, I could have bought her cheaper.”

Bott said one of the main incentives for coming to the sales was the strength of the Australian dollar compared to American currency.

“There are probably more Australians here than there have ever been,” Bott. “There are probably 30 Australians here and they’ve bought a lot of horses today and they will continue to buy over here. That is one of the reasons because the exchange rate is far more favorable for us.”