GEORGETOWN, Ky. — The oldest living Kentucky Derby winning horse is just a few years shy of becoming the oldest ever.
Silver Charm is 31 years old and living out his retirement in Kentucky.
“In horse years he’s three, in human years, he’s nearly 100,” said Michael Blowen, the founder, Old Friends.
In the horse’s 24 starts, he had 12 wins, including the Preakness Stakes and the 123rd Kentucky Derby in 1997.
Silver Charm, now a retiree, is living out his days at Old Friends in Georgetown. He arrived nearly a decade after the farm was founded by Blowen in 2003.
“The greatest day of my life was the day that he showed up at Old Friends. They said, ‘aren’t you married?’ I go, yeah. ‘Don’t you have a kid?’ Yeah, I got a kid. ‘Don’t you have a grandkid?’ I have a grandkid too. The greatest day of my life was the day the Silver Charm showed up,” Blowen said.
Don’t let his tongue fool you, because what’s underneath his little white ears is what Blowen credits for Silver Charm’s age.
“What’s keeping him alive and what’s kept him good and what made him of such a fabulous athlete, is his brains. He had talent, yes, but he knew how to use it,” Blowen said.
The Thoroughbred is approaching the record age for a Derby winning horse. Count Fleet set the record in 1973.
“When I think about Count Fleet, he’s one of our Triple Crown winners that probably doesn’t get enough attention,” said Chris Goodlett, Kentucky Derby Museum curator.
Count Fleet won the Kentucky Derby by three lengths, the Preakness by eight lengths, and the Belmont by an incredible 25 lengths becoming the sixth triple crown winner.
“He had that phenomenal career and just was a pretty tenacious racehorse and did very well in his two- and three-year-old years,” Goodlett said.
After the Belmont, the three-year-old’s racing career ended and his stallion career took off. Count Fleet lived to be 33 years old.
“A lot of the horses, that are Derby winners or Triple Crown champions, may live into that early mid, maybe sometimes even in the late 20s, but get to 30 years old is pretty rare,” Goodlett said.
A rarity like Silver Charm, who is now two years away from breaking Count Fleet’s record age.
“I hope he breaks it by a lot because when he goes, I don’t know what I’m going to do with my time,” Blowen said.
Silver Charm is double the average age of all the horses at Old Friends.
Throughout Silver Charm’s four years racing, he won nearly $7 million.
