Bourbon Lane Forms Retirement Fund for Its Racehorses

Aftercare has always been at the forefront of the Bourbon Lane Stables operation, and to add to the initiative, founder and co-owner Mike McMahon announced Aug. 3 a new 501(c)(3) retirement fund to help with the costs of caring for the partnership's former racehorses.

Bourbon Lane Stables, managed by McMahon and Hill, the bloodstock agency co-owned by McMahon and Jamie Hill, already tracks the horses it has sold or had claimed. The partnership also established the Bourbon Lane Stables paddock at Old Friends Farm in Georgetown, Ky., a retirement home for any of its present or former horses.

The new retirement fund was "established strictly to purchase and retire, re-home, or re-train Bourbon Lane horses," said McMahon.

Also president of Thoroughbred Charities of America, a 501(c)(3) charity that provides grants to approved nonprofit organizations benefiting Thoroughbreds and those who care for them, McMahon added the retirement fund serves as a vehicle for Bourbon Lane's partners to help care for the partnership's ex-racehorses while receiving the write-off tax benefits of a 501(c)(3), though anyone can contribute.

"You always have racehorses and you realize there's a demand for this, because every now and then there'd be a call and there's a horse that's run cheaply somewhere, and to get bought and retired and so on, obviously it takes money," said McMahon. "So you call your partners, the partners are all glad, but they don't get any—other than goodwill—they don't get any credit taking that donation to retire the horse."

The retirement fund raised $25,000 after it was announced at the group's annual partnership meeting Aug. 2. A big help to the initial amount came from Maggie Seidman and Carolyn Karlson, both of whom are partners in Bourbon Lane and own horses of their own.

McMahon said Sneidman "just loves her horses. She loves her horses like they're her family" and was the first person he called about the retirement fund. Her response was she'd be the first person to chip in $10,000 if the fund was formed.

Karlson, the vice chair of the Retired Racehorse Project, "has tons of energy for helping the Thoroughbred industry retire and re-make horses into useful, different aptitudes," said McMahon, also noting Karlson matched the original $10,000 at the partnership's event.

Benefiting from the new fund is the 5-year-old gelding Bourbon Country. Trained by Eddie Kenneally for Bourbon Lane, Bourbon Country was claimed during Keeneland's 2018 fall meet and moved to trainer Michael Tomlinson's care.

McMahon credited Tomlinson for letting the partnership know Bourbon Country, who last ran June 9, was ready to be retired, instead of over-running the horse. Bourbon Country is now spending time at a farm before he is re-trained for a second career.

McMahon called both himself and TCA big believers in re-training racehorses for second careers, explaining it helps the economics of aftercare by extending the livelihood and usefulness of Thoroughbreds.

"The economics of trying to feed all the retired horses every year if they all retired at an average age of 4, it's very difficult," McMahon said. "But if half of them retired after second careers and third careers and they were average age 10, the economics looks a lot better."

For McMahon, creating the retirement fund for Bourbon Lane horses was a no-brainer.

"I hope other stables do the same," he said. "It'd be great for the industry if stables had money together to buy horses (to be retired off the track) when they need it."