Gracefield property purchased

Ben Walden Jr. and his wife, Elaine, have sold their 310-acre Lexington, Ky., farm, Gracefield, in a private transaction.

The buyers are Robert Lourie, an executive with the Renaissance Technologies hedge fund, and his wife, Lisa. The Louries are in the show-horse business and have farms on Long Island in New York and in Wellington, Fla.

Walden will continue his commercial breeding operation at Gracefield until Dec. 31.

"Our future industry efforts will be directed towards our broodmare band and the stallion operation at Hurricane Hall," Walden said of the Lexington farm of which he is president. Walden and partners Brad Kelley, Pat Madden, and David Hanley purchased Hurricane Hall in 2005 and launched the stallion roster there in 2007 with Bellamy Road. They now stand five stallions.