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4.14 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 111 doesn't dwell on the past or the negatives. Currently, Calumet owns 223 mares and 101 yearlings. Te rise from the ashes starts with replenishing the bloodstock. As we tour more barns, the signs are evident: pregnant mares, along with mares that have recently given birth – in some instances, very recently. Kane opens one stall door where a plucky-looking colt rests quietly at his mother's feet. He's clearly been napping, and his hair is mussed like a reluctant child who has been roused in the morning for school. His mother pokes her head out of the stall as if to make a formal inquiry of my presence. But she's more trusting of Kane, and in a way that is poignantly nurturing, he helps the colt stand. Only a few days old, the little guy is still learning how to support his body weight on those spindly legs. Like patients in a hospital, each stall includes an information card identifying the mother's name, the mother's parents' names and the father of the newly born foal. Down the shedrow, a mare named Terrify delivered a flly by Calumet stallion Aikenite on Valentine's Day, making the little girl exactly two weeks old on the day of my visit. An attendant takes her temperature. Everything about her behavior is precocious, as Kane notes her physical attributes. "Tis one is of to a good start," he says. For practical purposes, the history has been efaced, and a "good start" might be the best way to describe Calumet's current standing under the direction of Brad Kelley. As noted historian Edward Gibbon once said of the decline of Rome, Calumet's was perhaps "the natural and inevitable efect of immoderate greatness." Unlike the Roman Empire, Calumet no longer faces the brink of extinction, which really is a good thing. Would baseball be as viable without the Yankees? Calumet and Claiborne may be the old guard in the sport of kings, but their continued success is just as critical. The ultimate historic home: Generations of great Thoroughbred stallions stood and are buried at Claiborne Farm, including Princequillo, Secretariat, Unbridled, Bold Ruler, Danzig, Nijinsky II and Mr. Prospector. Top lef: the breeding shed. Botom lef: recent addition Orb. 98-111.indd 111 3/19/14 5:37 PM