Ted Carr, farm manager for Gerald Ford’s Diamond A. Farm, will retire at the end of the year. Carr’s son, Ted M. “Mac” Carr, who is currently serving as assistant farm manager, will take over the reins as of Jan. 1.
A native of Lexington, Carr has been a farm manager in Central Kentucky for more than five decades. For nearly 20 years, Ted managed the land that was first known as Man O’ War Farm, then Poplar Hill, and most renowned as Domino Stud, which had a heralded stallion roster over the years, including Olden Times, Grey Dawn II, Al Hattab, and Johns Joy.
Virginia Kraft Payson recruited Carr to help build a farm and start a broodmare band at her Payson Stud. Under Carr’s management, Payson increased her broodmare holdings in addition to eventually standing stallions. One of the first on the roster was 1984 Travers Stakes (gr. I) winner Carr de Naskra, which Payson named for her farm manager.
Carr, who was named 1977 Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Manager of the Year, reflected on his experiences as a farm manager in a release saying, “It’s a way of life for me, I love horses and I like to teach horses things.”
Carr and his wife, Carrol, will remain on their small farm near Versailles, Ky.
A former officer with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers’ Club, Ted “Mac” Carr has been at Brookside/Diamond A. for more than 25 years.