HERMITAGE FARM
By: Tom Ferry
Walk through the doors of the main office at Hermitage Farm in Goshen, Kentucky and as you approach the front desk you will see them. Framed memories. Snapshots in time. Reminders of a heritage which began to take root in the mid-1930’s and focuses on the horse. Lining an office wall are photographs of Thoroughbred champions across nearly 70 years who have called this historic 700-acre estate home. Their accomplishments placed them for a time near the top of the horse racing world. They took home trophies for the Kentucky Derby (G1), Kentucky Oaks (G1), the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, the 2000 Guineas Stakes (Gr. 1) and most recently, the Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. Hermitage was home to the most expensive yearling ever sold at a public auction and also North America’s leading sire of 1980.
Located near Louisville and 80 miles west of Lexington and the heart of Bluegrass country, Hermitage Farm boasts a tradition on par with most of the large Kentucky farms. And to think it all began nearly two centuries ago.
The farm was purchased by Captain John Henshaw back in the early 1800’s and it remained in the family for nearly 100 years until it was sold in 1935. The buyer was a 19-year-old young man whose great-great-great uncle was the founder of the Kentucky Derby. And soon, this young man would leave his own imprint on the history of thoroughbred racing.
His name was Warner L. Jones Jr. and he farmed the land, began with a single yearling and then added a mare. It was a simple beginning on a road that would see Hermitage become one of the most famous Thoroughbred farms in America. Seventeen years later, Jones’ operation had increased significantly and one of his home-bred three-year-olds entered the starting gates as a 25-1 longshot in the 1953 Kentucky Derby. The colt’s name was Dark Star and faced the daunting task of going up against the spectacular Native Dancer who entered the Derby unbeaten in eleven races. Dark Star broke early, held a clear lead throughout and held off Native Dancer’s powerful finish to win by a head. It was one of the biggest upsets in Derby history and Hermitage Farm was suddenly on the map.
At the close of 1972, a stallion came to Hermitage who would take the farm to the highest level of Thoroughbred breeding across the world. His name was Raja Baba. He was syndicated in 1972 in a 36-share deal at $10,000 per share. Ten years later, that selling price had increased to $205,000 per share on the open market and later on in his career, a share reportedly sold for $380,000. As a freshman stallion in 1976, Raja Baba was the leading juvenile sire and four years later, he became the overall leading sire in the United States.
Raja Baba died in 2002 at the age of 34. During his career at stud, he had sired 62 stakes winners, two Breeders’ Cup winners and two champions. He brought attention to Hermitage over the years that opened other doors to success. In 1985, Warner Jones sold a half-brother to the Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew for a world record $13.1 million at Keeneland’s July Select Yearling Sale. The yearling’s name was Seattle Dancer. In that same year, Hermitage Farm set a record for the highest average price — $2,433,750 — for horses consigned for sale. It is a record that still stands.
In 1995, the Jones family sold Hermitage to 55-year-old Carl Pollard. It was Pollard’s vision to carry on the Hermitage tradition established before him.
Pollard and team began to buy mares and some yearling fillies to hopefully race and turn into broodmares. In 1999, Pollard purchased three fillies. One of the fillies was a small dark bay who was purchased for $180,000. Her name was Caressing. And on a fall day in November of 2000, she reminded the racing world of Hermitage when, as the longest shot on the board at 47-1, she upset the field and won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). Nearly three months later, Carl Pollard took his staff down to New Orleans as Caressing won the 2000 Eclipse Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Filly.
When Caressing retired and became a broodmare, she had some modest success but it was a mating in 2013 with Claiborne Farm’s Flatter, however, that changed everything. Caressing gave birth to a colt who was entered in the Keeneland September 2015 Yearling Sale. The colt sold for $425,000 and was named West Coast. In 2017, his victories included the Pennsylvania Derby (G1), the Travers Stakes, and an impressive third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) in November. At year’s end, this son of an Eclipse Award winner captured his own when West Coast received Three-Year-Old Male championship honors.
In 2003, Hermitage was purchased by Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown, owners of the Louisville-based 21C Museum Hotel chain. The married couple is fulfilling their long-term vision to create a destination that would celebrate the heritage of Kentucky and its signature industries…food, bourbon and horses. The historic main house, which has been the iconic image of Hermitage since 1835, has been restored and is available for rentals and events. Couples come here for their weddings and get the horses, rolling hills and a beautiful home. It encapsulates what they love so much about Kentucky.
During next May’s Kentucky Derby weekend, Hermitage will host tourists with the grand opening of a farm-to-table restaurant, a bourbon-tasting experience and farmer’s market within one of the more than 30 barns on the property. And next to a creek at the back of the estate, visitors will eventually enjoy a studio projection-with-sound experience where high definition projectors display off of trees, hillsides, rocks and pools of water to create a totally immersive atmosphere. You might just see leaves in the trees turn into butterflies and fly away.
There is certainly excitement in the air with growing anticipation of expansion and tourist counts in coming years. But a new photograph has recently been added to the office wall in the main office during the past year. And multiple Grade One winner West Coast is symbolic and a reminder of the heart and soul of the farm’s heritage since Warner Jones bought his first yearling back in 1936. Broodmares, foals and yearlings continue to graze the land. In an industry that has seen its share of struggles in recent years, life goes on at Hermitage.