Ted Carr retiring from Diamond A

Ted Carr, Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Manager of the Year in 1977, will retire on Jan. 1, 2010, from Gerald Ford's Diamond A Farm.

Carr's son, Ted "Mac" Carr, will succeed his father as manager of the Versailles, Ky., farm.

Ted Carr, 74, grew up on his family's Lexington horse farm and followed his father, also Ted, into the horse business as a farm manager. Over the last five decades, Carr has managed a number of high-profile farms in central Kentucky, including Domino Stud, Payson Stud, and Brookside Farm. Carr helped Payson Stud owner Virginia Kraft Payson build her breeding program. Payson named one of her early Grade 1-winning runners, 1984 Travers winner Carr de Naskra, for Carr.

Carr had his longest tenure with the late Allen Paulson at Brookside in Versailles. He joined the operation in 1984 and was its manager until 2000, after Paulson's death. In that time, Brookside and Paulson bred more than 80 stakes winners and raced more than 110 stakes winners. The operation's nine champions included such famed runners as two-time Horse of the Year Cigar and female Horse of the Year Azeri.

Carr became manager of Diamond A after Paulson's death, when Texan Gerald Ford purchased part of the Brookside property.

Carr said Friday that he and his wife, Carrol, will enjoy his retirement on his 17-acre farm in Versailles, where he keeps pleasure riding horses.