It has been half a century since the birth of Virginia’s most famous equine son – record-shattering Triple Crown winner Secretariat. The 50-year anniversary of his birth provides a chance to look back on the history of Thoroughbred breeding in the state, even as the state looks forward. Last season’s return of racing to Colonial Downs was a key point for the Virginia industry, which has worked hard to keep local farms and training centers afloat, and could now be finding some relief.

New York-bred Friend Or Foe is fashioning an unconventional stallion career in his adopted state of Virginia, with his offspring continuing to flourish back in his home state to make him a leading sire.

Just shy of a decade after his sire won the Empire Classic, one of the top prizes on the New York-bred circuit, Mr. Buff will try to land that $300,000 event. Meanwhile, his sire Friend Or Foe is fashioning an unconventional stallion career in a new adopted state.

Friend Or Foe, the 2010 Empire Classic winner who has been sidelined since a fourth-place finish in the 2011 Whitney Handicap, returns to the races against the win machine Saginaw at Aqueduct in Sunday’s $80,000 Fourstars Allstar for New York-breds.

Friend Or Foe, a 5-year-old by Friends Lake whose only losses from nine career starts have come in Grade 1 or Grade 2 stakes, will break from the outside post against five rivals in the one-mile overnight stakes, which is carded as race 3 at 1:18 p.m. Eastern.

Friend Or Foe, unraced since finishing fourth in the 2011 Whitney, is expected to rejoin trainer John Kimmel’s barn in Saratoga as he continues to attempt a comeback to the races.

Friend Or Foe, a dominant winner of the 2010 Empire Classic at Belmont Park, has been plagued by suspensory ligament issues and, more recently, foot issues, that have forced Kimmel to start and stop in his training.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It appears as if there will be plenty of depth in the New York-bred handicap division this year.

Stormy’s Majesty ended a 10-month drought – absent for most of it due to foot issues – with a front-running victory over favored Inherit the Gold in Sunday’s Mr. G.J.G. Stakes at Aqueduct.

Friend or Foe, last year’s Empire Classic winner who was sidelined in the summer due to an ankle injury, will resume training next week in Ocala, Fla., trainer John Kimmel said Wednesday.

Friend or Foe has been walking under tack and will start full training next week before joining Kimmel’s south Florida barn at Palm Meadows in mid-November.

Kimmel hopes to have Friend or Foe back to the races sometime during the Gulfstream Park meet.

Castro released from hospital

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer John Kimmel said that Friend Or Foe, the fourth-place finisher in the Whitney Handicap, is done racing for the year because of an ankle issue that will likely require two months of inactivity.

The rain that compelled John Kimmel to scratch Friend Or Foe from Monday’s Evan Shipman Stakes also forced the veteran horseman to go back to the drawing board to map out a new training schedule to get the New York-bred to his new objective, the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 6. Friend Or Foe’s new schedule included a five-furlong workout shortly after the renovation break Wednesday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – John Kimmel came to work Monday morning and found a pleasant note from his night watchman as it pertained to the trainer’s 4-year-old colt Friend Or Foe.

“The chart from the night watchman said ‘He ate everything,’ ” Kimmel said Monday morning. “I don’t know if I believe him, but that’s what it said.”