Claiborne Farm — Attraction in Paris

Our tour guide, Joe, was really interesting; he actually works with the stallions and around the farm, which was different than the other tours we went on. Jonabell and Taylor Made both had people from Marketing lead the tours, and while they were friendly and professional, the Claiborne tour felt much more detailed and personal. I do find the Operations of the farms interesting, but the breeding shed process is about the same everywhere and everywhere spends time talking about it, but Claiborne was different- he brought the stallions out for people to see and meet, and he could tell you stories about them and about their personalities. He might not have been the most outgoing person in the world (but he also probably prefers working with the horses than answering the same questions from tourists day after day, and I don’t blame him) but he was friendly and incredibly knowledgeable.

Jonabell and Taylor Made are pretty, but just driving around, mostly looking at the barns and the farms gets a little boring. Taylor Made also took us out to see some of the wrangling a and yearlings, but the personal knowledge of them wasn’t there. We toured Jonabell, Taylor Made, Spy Coast, Old Friends, and Claiborne this time, and Old Friends and Claiborne were most definitely my favorites (and I even fell in love with a weanling at...

First was the sight of massive trees, serene stream, blue-green grass, well maintained buildings and horses quietly grazing in large paddocks. Second was our tour guide, Kevin. He was welcoming and gracious to guests; well informed and enthusiastic about Claiborne; very quick to pick up on guests comments. He would add more information relevant to a guests comment. The first stop was the original breeding shed where Kevin explained the history of the building. The crowd was quiet, contemplating the role played and contributions made by Claiborne to the thoroughbred. Third were the equine stars. Claiborne was the most accommodating (more than any other farm we visited) in letting guests touch the brick wall of muscle on champion thoroughbreds; to get tickled by multi-million dollar stallions lips taking a peppermint from their hand; to get a picture taken as they stood next to these giant's shoulder, where a human looked quite small. Fourth was the cemetery of legendary thoroughbreds who'd lived at Claiborne. We are planning a return trip to Claiborne and recommend this tour...

My brother and I had a fun time visiting Claiborne’s and meeting all of the retired racehorses that we left feeling like we know more about racehorses now than when we did when we first entered. Our tour guide was very nice and knowledgeable about all of the racehorses that were on the farm and we learned that there was so much more that went behind the scenes from the breeding program to the number of shares a racehorse may have that the average spectator just doesn’t really take the time to think about. I only gave 4 stars because I wished the tour was a little longer and that we could explored more grounds cause this place was massive but given that there is another tour package that this farm offers with it being on the shuttle we hope that there will be another opportunity for us to come back again so that we could really get a glimpse of the property. But overall it’s a very beautiful farm and the horses are obviously well taken care of, so even if the prices are a little high it’s understandable cause the cost to maintain the property and take care of these horses are in...