In the six decades since Linda Madsen’s parents bought Milky Way Farm in Temecula, Calif., the property has undergone a few transformations. For a time, the focus was on Arabian show horses and later cattle before evolving into its current form as a full-service Thoroughbred breeding farm. There are no plans for further revisions. “It’s been the greatest place to live,” Madsen said in an interview earlier this month. “I wake up and think, ‘How can I be this lucky?’ ” Milky Way Farm had a busy breeding season in 2025, led by the stallion Midnight Storm, who was bred to 82 mares, according to The Jockey Club. No other Thoroughbred stallion was as active in the state. There are high expectations for another busy breeding season in the coming months. Aside from Midnight Storm, the farm will stand Tizamagician, who was bred to 39 mares in 2025; Graydar, who was bred to 15 mares earlier this year; American Theorem, who will have his first full year as a stallion in 2026 after being bred to six mares in 2025; and a first-year stallion in Red Run, a 6-year-old stakes winner by Gun Runner. Midnight Storm, who stands for $4,000, began his stallion career in Kentucky and was moved to Milky Way Farm in the fall of 2022. His first foals were 2-year-olds in 2021, and his first 2-year-olds since the move to California will race in 2026. A 14-year-old by Pioneerof the Nile, Midnight Storm ran primarily in Southern California in a four-year career from 2014 to 2017. He won 10 of 27 starts and earned $1,783,110 in a career highlighted by a win in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita in 2016. Midnight Storm, who was trained by Phil D’Amato, won two Grade 2 stakes on turf at Del Mar that summer – the Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles and the Del Mar Mile – before finishing third by two lengths to Tourist in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita. Midnight Storm was also a multiple graded stakes winner on dirt and was third in the Santa Anita Handicap in 2017. “The Californians know him,” Madsen said. Tizamagician, who stands for $2,500, has changed ownership in recent months. The 8-year-old has been acquired by the Vendetta Farm of Starlene and David Justice, who have supported Tizamagician since his stallion career began. Tizamagician, a two-time Grade 3 winner at 1 1/2 miles on dirt, was previously owned by John Teglia. “Thank goodness he didn’t go out of the country,” Madsen said of Tizamagician. American Theorem, by American Pharoah, won 4 of 17 starts and earned $607,767. His biggest win was the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar in 2022. Red Run will stand for $3,500, with discounts available to stakes mares, Madsen said. A 6-year-old, Red Run won 3 of 33 starts and earned $574,897. Red Run, who won the Texas Turf Mile for 3-year-olds at Sam Houston Park in January 2022, is out of the unraced mare Red House, a full sister to Untapable, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2014. “He’s a Gun Runner, and that’s the hottest thing going right now,” Madsen said. In order to aid affordability for breeders, Madsen said Milky Way Farm has not pressed for higher stud fees, particularly with Red Run. “We decided we want to help California,” she said. “I’m a Cal-bred. You want California to succeed. We want to give people an opportunity to go to a horse like this. Most of the people that are breeding want to race their own horses.” The foal crop in California has declined in recent years, as has the number of racing venues in the state, particularly in Northern California. Racing in California has also been hampered by competition from other states that offer higher purses aided by revenue from slot machines or casinos. California tracks do not have an ancillary form of revenue. Currently, there are three Thoroughbred venues operating in the state, all in the south – Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita. Racing ceased at Golden Gate Fields, near Oakland, in June 2024, and no races have been held at county fair venues in Northern California since last December. There is an effort to revive fair racing in 2026, but details of the plan have not been approved by the California Horse Racing Board. “I feel bad for people in the north,” Madsen said. “We know all of those people. I think California is trying hard to make it work for the breeders. They have been able to do that without casino money.” Milky Way Farm sits on 100 acres. Aside from the stallion side of the business, Madsen said the farm has expanded its operation as a layup facility, a convenience with its proximity to the Southern California tracks. “We do a lot of layups for a lot of trainers right now,” Madsen said. Temecula, which is 56 miles from Del Mar and approximately 75 miles from Los Alamitos and Santa Anita, has been known for its explosive population growth in the last 30 years along the Interstate 15 corridor. From an agricultural standpoint, the area is better known for its wineries than horse farms. Madsen, undeterred, said Milky Way Farm has no plans to change. “A person bought the ranch next to us and he made a big equestrian center,” she said. “On the other side is bare land. We’re just fine.” The farm can accommodate more than 100 horses, and it bred more than 220 mares earlier this year. Many of the broodmares bred on the farm are later shipped to other facilities, allowing Milky Way Farm to shift to sales prep for yearlings. “When the broodmares move out, the yearlings move in,” Madsen said. “We’ve got a lot of barns. We built a lot of paddocks.” Madsen, a grandmother of five, takes a hands-on approach, assisted by farm manager Johnny Alvira. “He really loves the race part,” Madsen said. Madsen and Judy Seifert have a small number of horses in training with Santa Anita-based Antonio Garcia, with plans to increase that stable. Madsen’s son is married to Seifert’s daughter. “We’ve been so busy on the farm,” Linda Madsen said. “I always want to do everything 110 percent. It seems so difficult to do the race part and the farm.” Madsen showed cattle and horses in her youth. “I rode every hour of the day I could,” she said. Madsen earned an education degree at Cal-Poly Pomona, but she showed little interest in classroom life. “I did that for six months,” she said. “I wanted to go back on the farm.” The passion apparently runs in the family. Her grandson Will Madsen spends weekends at Milky Way Farm. He is a freshman at nearby Point Loma College in San Diego and has expressed a long-term interest in the farm business. If Will follows that path, he will work alongside his grandmother for the foreseeable future. “That would be great,” Linda Madsen said. “You always wish someone would want to do it. I don’t plan to retire.”