Castleton Lyons Farm plans to downsize in the near future, having filed plans to subdivide more than 1,000 acres of its Lexington, Ky., property. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, a review of the plan as filed should occur at the Urban County Planning Commission subdivision committee meeting on July 3 in Lexington, with the full planning commission reviewing the plan at a July 11 meeting. Castleton Lyons’s plan would divide a section of the farm into 16 individual lots, ranging from 40 to more than 80 acres. The farm is zoned agriculture and lies outside an urban service boundary, and restrictions on the land use would likely prevent the lots from being developed for extensive residential housing, with mini-farms seeming more likely. According to the regulations, each of the 16 lots can have one home on it, and at least one additional home for property workers, called a farm tenant home. No other type of development is permitted on agriculture-zoned property outside of the city’s growth boundary. Castleton Lyons is currently owned by the family of the late Dr. Tony Ryan, who purchased the farm in 2001 and died in 2007. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. The farm itself was founded in 1793 and has passed through a number of hands while home to Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and show horses. Most notably in its Thoroughbred history, it was owned for a period by James R. Keene, who ran one of the great operations of his day, breeding and/or racing Hall of Famers Ben Brush, Colin, Domino, Kingston, Maskette, Peter Pan, and Sysonby, along with significant stallions like Black Toney and Spendthrift. Under the current regime, Castleton Lyons has stood a handful of stallions, most notably Gio Ponti. The horse raced in the farm’s colors through a career in which he was honored with three Eclipse Awards and earned more than $6.1 million while winning seven Grade 1 races. Gio Ponti retired to stud at the farm in 2012 and is the sire of 20 stakes winners and three champions worldwide, with his runners in North America led by Eclipse Award champion sprinter Drefong and Queen’s Plate winner Sir Dudley Digges. Gio Ponti was pensioned from stud duty ahead of the 2024 season and resides at Castleton Lyons as a pensioner. Castleton Lyons also stood Grade 1 winner Justin Phillip from his retirement for the 2014 season until he was sold to stand in New Mexico beginning in 2020. The farm also was home to multiple graded stakes winner Protonico, best known as the sire of Grade 1 winner Medina Spirit, for the first several years of his stud career; he now stands in Chile. Although the farm’s operations have been less extensive in recent years, Castleton Lyons still produces homebreds, boards mares and foals for clients, and maintains a small racing stable. Its current top runner is multiple stakes winner Chi Town Lady, who it co-bred and races in its colors. The mare’s biggest win came in the Grade 1 Test Stakes in 2022. This year, the mare returned from a layoff to win the Minaret Stakes before finishing a solid fourth in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff; she is entered in the Grade 3 Chicago Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.