Calumet Farm, so much a part of the top-tiered landscape of Kentucky breeding and racing for decades, returned to the spotlight in a big way when 3-year-old Switch won the $150,000 La Brea Stakes (gr. I) opening day Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. The victory was the biggest win for a Calumet-bred since 2008, when Ariege won the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I) and the $250,000 Stonerside Beaumont Stakes (gr. II).
Calumet, owned by members of the Wright family for several decades, was operated by Henryk de Kwiatkowski from 1992 up to the time of his death in the spring of 2003. The Lexington farm now is owned by a trust, and de Kwiatkowski’s family is the beneficiary. De Kwiatkowski left four daughters and two sons.
Calumet is home to about 60 broodmares, half of which are owned by outside clients. “There was a time when we had 100 mares--half ours and half for clients--but that was before the economic downturn,” said Calumet manager Bill Witman. “Because we’re a trust, every yearling of ours goes to public auction. If they don’t meet the reserve price, they come home and we break and train them. We then try to sell them, and if they don’t sell, we try to race them. We’re very much a commercial breeding operation, but that might change in two or three years.”
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