Catherine Parke

The passing of Burt Bacharach last week evokes a couple of complementary tales that reflect instructively not only on the great man himself, but also on the different ways that different farms go about their business. Back in the early 1980s Bacharach was staying in downtown Lexington, having been driven down from a concert in Cincinnati the night before so that he could visit his mares and foals before flying on to his next show. Catherine Parke was still in her twenties, having barely established Valkyre Stud on a parcel...

Valkyre Stud cared for Burt Bacharach's Kentucky broodmares for many years. His champion filly Heartlight No. One is buried here. He was a wonderful, caring man who truly loved his horses. He kept personal contact with the people who cared for his horses and was very interested in their well being. He would call during concert breaks and check to see if a mare had foaled and ask about Heartlight. So many memories--in a limousine with him on the way to the Kentucky Derby, he became very quiet and started...

How apt that one of Burt Bacharach's very first hits was The Story Of My Life. Because reading the tributes prompted by his loss a couple of days ago, it turns out that his music was pretty well a soundtrack to the lives of millions who--especially in the Sixties, an era of profound societal tension between materialism and idealism--wanted assurance that the essential bonds of humanity still united them all. He transcended those divisions much as he did musical genres, knowing that the middle-aged hosts of suburban cocktail parties and...

The impact of losing David Richardson has taken a tremendous blow to the hearts of the many people that adored him. David was an extremely intelligent, insightful leader who's passion and energy was directed to the greater good of our industry. If you were fortunate to have him touch your life, you ended up a much better person altogether. David died on the last day of his beloved Saratoga race meet.