Remembering Real Quiet

This past weekend I hitched up one of the horses for a nice drive to soak up some of the terrific fall weather. We made our way to a neighborhood I've watched develop during the past few years. I took a shot of the street sign of the development's main road and thought some of you might appreciate this:

What a loss it was when Real Quiet passed at age 15 this past week!

As we continued down the road I reflected on Real Quiet's racing prowess and wondered what his legacy would be in future pedigrees. We soon came to a typical little Lexington horse farm:

I admired the farm for a moment and moved on, resuming my silent tribute to the son of Quiet American-Really Blue, by Believe It. But then, another hundred yards or so, my full attention was captured:

I'd forgotten this was here--a large field with a small herd of mixed cattle breeds, bison, llamas, alpacas, and so forth.

And I thought that was appropriate. Something unexpected, out of the blue, noteworthy--Real Quiet, too, was all of these.

As a pedigree lover, as a racing fan, and as a breeder, I'm sad for the loss of a fine horse. I hope his promising young son Midnight Lute is as successful a sire as he was as a runner, thereby continuing Real Quiet's legacy. I'm excited to see his first foals at the Keeneland November sale--30 of his first-crop weanlings are cataloged.