A Ramsey Stable of 10 Horses?

Two weeks ago, Ken Ramsey was sitting with family in his lower-level season seats at Rupp Arena, watching the Wildcats, when a cousin made a pitch about a 51-day cruise he was planning.

“We got talking about it, and he just begged me to go on this cruise,” said Ramsey. “He brought the itinerary, showed me all the ports. I said, 'Fifty one days! I can't take that much time off!' But I got home and started to think on it. And I came to a conclusion: my money's making a slave of me.”

That confirmed to Ramsey what he'd already been thinking, that it was way past time to drastically reduce the size of his stable and refocus his energies on enjoying life.

Over the past five years alone, horses owned by Ken Ramsey and his wife Sarah have made 2,782 starts. Those starters won 601 races and banked $36.5 million. The Ramseys have four Eclipse Awards as the nation's leading owner and two Eclipse Awards as the nation's leading breeder. They've won four Breeders' Cup races, placed in 11 others, and three times have led the country's owners by earnings. They almost single-handedly turned Kitten's Joy into America's best turf sire and have raced six Grade I-winning homebreds by him.

The operation, in short, has been a juggernaut.

So it's hard to imagine Ken Ramsey even talking about a racing stable of just 10 to 15 horses. But that is the goal, Ramsey said during a recent TDN interview at his Ramsey Farm in Nicholasville, Kentucky. In fact, Ramsey began cutting his numbers in earnest earlier this year. The stable is down by over a third and will continue to shrink, Ramsey said. His broodmare band will ultimately number around 50, he said.

“Would you believe that at one point, a year or so ago, we had 747 horses?” Ramsey said. “Right now, as we speak, we are down to 478 horses. And we are selling another 11 broodmares out here at Keeneland [January] and Fasig-Tipton [February]. I've got 164 broodmares; 116 racehorses, including 2-year-olds; 77 yearlings; 116 weanlings, two stallions and three teasers. I've just got too many.”

He added, “I don't travel around as much as I did at one time. [My wife Sarah] doesn't like to travel all that much, so it's just getting it down to a more manageable number. I think we'll both enjoy it more.”

Ramsey has already sent a half-dozen 2-year-olds each to Eddie Woods and Woodford Thoroughbreds and will offer them at next year's juvenile sales. He figures to lose some runners at the claim box, and will sell privately, as well. He also has floated the idea of conducting a dispersal at either Keeneland or Fasig-Tipton. Ramsey said he'd be active selling at yearling sales in 2019 and, at the breeding stock sales, would offer mares in foal to Kitten's Joy, as well as a number of mares in foal to outside sires.

“My farm manager Mark Partridge and I are working on it right now, trying to figure which stallions will be commercial come November,” said Ramsey.

A Public Option…

Ken Ramsey is still spry at 83. He speeds his red Lexus around Ramsey Farm's many roads and knows every nook of the property. He proudly shows visitors the farm's natural springs, including one that provides water to three nearby fields. On this visit, he ambles into the little shack that cover's the spring's source and, bending down, drinks directly from the water bubbling up from the limestone. “Try it,” he said. “That's the best, purest water you'll ever taste.”

Near another of the springs on his farm is a small covered bridge he had built by Amish workers.

“I told them to not nail down the floorboards, 'cause I like to hear them rattle when I drive over them,” he says.

According to Ramsey, he's the largest landowner in Jessamine Co., and in total owns some 2,600 acres in myriad locations.

Ramsey has already made some major changes to his operation. For years, the Ramseys stood homebred champion Kitten's Joy at Ramsey Farm, but last year sold a 50% interest in the stallion to Hill 'n' Dale Farms and relocated him there.

“We decided to take a little money off the table,” said Ramsey. “You've got to stay in the black.”

The Ramseys didn't get entirely out of the stallion business. They still have We Miss Artie at Ramsey Farm, and the Grade I-winning son of Artie Schiller will be represented by first-crop runners in 2019.

Though the Ramseys are scaling back, there are no plans to sell Ramsey Farm. In fact, Ramsey just bought adjacent acreage to the property that includes two houses, and, in the midst of estate planning, he says he expects the farm to one day be split among his children and grandchildren, many of whom have shown an interest in racing. That includes grandson Nolan Ramsey, who is currently an assistant to trainer Mike Maker.

Ramsey also stresses that this isn't a portent of him getting out of racing entirely. While he downsizes, he says he'll put a renewed emphasis on two long-time goals: winning the Kentucky Derby and winning a stakes at Royal Ascot. To that end, he'll begin breeding what mares he does retain to prominent dirt sires.

“We bred to Gun Runner and Arrogate last year, so we've got those coming on,” he said. “I probably can't afford Justify, but I'm real high on him. But I'm going to focus on getting a really good dirt horse and try to win the Kentucky Derby. And if I can't win the roses, maybe I can at least start smelling 'em! And we'll try to win a stakes race at Royal Ascot. That's been on my bucket list for a long time.”

Another of Ramsey's aims, he says, it to figure out how to best utilize the land and facilities at Ramsey Farm. One option is to turn the farm public and open a boarding and sales-prep operation.

“I've got all the infrastructure I need,” he said. “I've got what we call Kitten's Spa, which is an underwater treadmill and a vibrating platform that'll really help the yearlings. We've also got a training center out here, as well, and could have horses ready to roll for the races. I've got three exercise riders coming out here now.”

He added, “If someone wants to come out here and lease a few hundred acres and use the facilities, we'd be tickled to death to talk with them about that.”

Ramsey is also hoping to possibly attract an outside stallion to stand at the farm.

“I'd be interested in partnering in up with someone to stand a stallion if they had one I thought had some promise,” he said.

Other big changes are afoot for Ken Ramsey. On the first of the year, Ramsey is turning over all his non-racing businesses to his son Kelly.

“I've got a lot of real estate holdings and rental properties, and we're developing a subdivision and two industrial parks,” he said. “And I have six radio stations in the Midwest. I've been dabbling in all of it and not doing a good job in any of it.”

On the farm, Ramsey says he's turning the day-to-day operations over to his son Jeffrey, currently the director of publicity and marketing, and to Mark Partridge.

“I'll be dealing strictly with the horses and where to spot them,” said Ramsey. “I'm getting too old to put in 12 hours a day. Hell, my phone starts ringing every day at 6:30 a.m.”

In 2019, one of the horses Ramsey will be spotting is Backyard Heaven (Tizway), impressive winner of the GII Alysheba S. in May. Backyard Heaven subsequently disappointed in the GI Stephen Foster and GI Whitney S. Tests revealed foot bruising and he was given time off.

“There's nothing wrong with him and he's here on the farm,” said Ramsey. “We've had him in the spa here and we have a vibrating platform. So he's been standing on that so his feet are toughened up, and we'll send him to [trainer] Chad Brown down at Gulfstream in a few weeks.”

In some ways, Backyard Heaven is symbolic of Ramsey Farm's future. He's a dirt horse from an operation known for its turf stars. And he's named after the Ramseys' vacation house in Saratoga, a lifestyle Ramsey is intent on embracing more.

“I read Ecclesiastes the other day, and King Solomon says what you should do in life is eat, drink and be merry,” said Ramsey. “You're not taking any of the money with you, and life's too short. I've got a beautiful lake here on the farm with benches around it, and I drive past on my way to another meeting or whatever, and there are the farm employees out there fishing, enjoying themselves. And I don't have time to do that. There's something wrong with that picture, right? Anyway, the stark reality set in and I decided that, after all, I could be mortal. We need to kick back and take life a little easier.”