Ken Carson, who served as general manager of Valor Farm, perennially the leading stallion farm and breeding operation in Texas, retired in June after 28 years at the nearly 400-acre facility outside of Dallas-Fort Worth. Following earlier stints working for The Thoroughbred Record and Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky, Carson spent his career associated with the Scharbauer family, first for Valor owners Clarence Jr. and Dorothy, and now for their son Douglas. Carson, a past president of the Texas Thoroughbred Association, began his relationship with the Scharbauers with a single yearling purchase in 1984, and the following year he helped pick out future Hall of Famer Alysheba from the Keeneland July Select Yearling Sale. Running in the name of Dorothy and the Scharbauers' daughter, Pamela, the Jack Van Berg trainee retired as the world's richest racehorse at the time with earnings of nearly $6.7 million. BloodHorse MarketWatch spoke with Carson from his new home in New Orleans.
MarketWatch: What made you decide it was time to retire?
Ken Carson: I've been with a very nice lady from New Orleans for several years, and she would come to Texas and stay, and we would go back and forth, but it was just time. I just turned 70, so it was time to do it. Doug and I have been friends for 30 or so years, so I'm still going to be involved, and (longtime farm manager and now general manager) Donny Denton is very capable of handling things.
MW: What do you remember most about Alysheba?
KC: The whole thing with Alysheba was just a dream for three years. It was incredible. We went to all the races, and it was the ride of a lifetime for me; there was nothing like it. We all liked him from the start, but very early on Jack said he'd be one of the greatest horses who ever ran. He was convinced he'd be the best horse he ever had his hands on. Jack was one of the best horsemen ever, so we knew we had something special when he said that.
I'll tell you a quick story. One time I was with Jack and Clarence on the backside of Hollywood Park walking back to the barn and there was a van with like five guys trying to get this filly to go up a ramp, just surrounding her trying to get her in. So Jack says, "Whoa, hold on," and he just walks over and takes the chain off her and gets her to walk right in. It was incredible. He knew what horses were going to do before they did it.
MW: What are you going to miss most about being at Valor Farm?
KC: It really was just like a family. I had two of my kids there, and everyone's kids knew each other. I still talk to everyone there regularly. That was the hardest part of leaving. I'm going to miss that, and of course, being around the horses. I lived on a hill on the back of the farm, and I saw the horses every day of my life. But the people were really the substance of it.
MW: The fortunes of the Texas breeding program have been up and down multiple times over the years, but Valor has been a constant in the state for almost three decades. What does the legacy of Valor mean to you?
KC: Well, it wasn't just us, (Lane's End Texas farm manager) Danny Shifflett and (owner) Will Farish did so much as well, and there were other farms. But that is one of the things that Clarence was so proud of. They had a farm in Oklahoma before, called Oklahoma Stud, and Clarence, Dorothy, and I were talking one time and they said the only thing wrong with that farm is it's north of the Red River, so they found property in Texas and transferred everything. Clarence and Dorothy were both Texan to the core. When they moved the farm, they were much happier to have it on Texas soil.
MW: What are you most proud of from your time at Valor?
KC: One of the proudest things for me was Hadif. He was at Oklahoma Stud first and then at Valor. He was a phenomenal stallion. His foals all looked alike; they couldn't go very far, but he really put an engine in them. His foals always came out ready to roll, so I'm proud of everything we accomplished with him.
And I'm also proud of My Golden Song. For him to get a Texas-bred (Fiftyshadesofgold) out of a Hadif mare to win a graded stakes at Churchill was really memorable. We raised horses with our own stallions that could compete in Kentucky or anywhere else, and Clarence always loved to run them in Texas too.
MW: What was the best part about working there?
KC: We had so many clients who became friends and part of the family, so that was one of the things I liked the most. They were clients, but they were also like family. I'm also proud that we became good friends with people like Patrick Madden and his family, and a couple of his kids went to TCU (in nearby Fort Worth), and then people like Robert Clay and his son Case, whose daughter also went to TCU.
MW: What are you going to do now?
KC: I'll still be involved with Valor but detached. I'll help them decide what to keep and what to sell; I just won't be there day-to-day. I have some other friends and clients that I'll still keep working with. I was born and raised in Texas and went to Texas A&M, so Texas is always in my heart. But I just want to travel more. I love the business, so I'll keep my hand in it.
