20 Years of Partnership: Kate Sheehan + Emily Bushnell
At Tranquility Lake Farms, relationships really are at the heart of everything—from our connection with our wonderful horses to our trainers, jockeys, partner farms and the thoughtful staff that take care of our thoroughbreds. One of our most important relationships is with our incredible Bloodstock Manager, Kate Sheehan, who happens to be one of my best friends as well.
Kate and I first met in college through the intercollegiate riding and showjumping worlds when Kate was on the University of North Carolina team and I was on Duke University’s team. Kate and I knew each other but were on rival teams so needless to say we didn’t have the opportunity to spend too much time together. A few years later after we both graduated, Kate spotted me at a Keeneland sale and reached out. We reconnected and immediately bonded over our mutual obsession with horses and our hope to always have them be part of our lives.
At the time, Kate was planning on going back to law school, but she decided to take a gap year, and spend one more year in the horse world.
Kate took a job in Lexington, Kentucky working at a farm, riding and breaking babies, doing some admin work, and filling in wherever she was needed. My father’s farm manager Russell Drake saw Kate’s passion and took her under his wing and she began working with and learning from him. Throughout that time, Kate and I quickly became the closest of friends.
When my family had their dispersal sale and I began putting together my own broodmare band, I knew I wanted Kate to be a part of what I was starting. Today Kate is Tranquility Lake Farms’ Bloodstock Manager and boots on the ground with all of our horses. She tracks their progress and helps me make daily decisions on their care. Not a day goes by that we don’t talk multiple times about planning breedings, and the latest with our foals and racehorses. We analyze who's doing well, who needs help, what we can do to improve things. When horses need to be retired, Kate works with them on getting them re-homed.
We could not work better together, and the reason is that we are always able to be really honest with each other. We have very strong, similar goals and firm opinions. Most of the time we line up, but when we don't, we're always pushing back and forth in the interest of what's best for the horse. There's a lot of give and take, and we trust each other's opinions. If one of us immediately says "No, that's wrong," the other knows it means something. You have to be really careful who you work with in this industry, and I think after 20 years, we have an incredible trust factor and loyalty to each other.
Ultimately, Kate and I have the same goals–beat the boys, have the best horses, win the best races, always do what's right by the horse. That’s what drives us and bonds us and keeps us moving TLF forward, together.