The Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Facility offers a forever home for retired racehorses. It is run by Michael Blowen, a former Boston Globe film critic who couldn’t have cared less for horseracing until a life-changing visit to Suffolk Downs in the 1980s. Taken by the horses’ effort and athleticism, he quickly became a fan. He did volunteer work for a trainer, mucking stalls and soaking up the ins and outs of the industry. He took particular interest in the horses’ aftercare and in 2003 founded Old Friends.

But there’s undoubtedly one star who attracts more attention than all the rest: Silver Charm. The 1997 Kentucky Derby winner and 2007 Racing Hall of Fame inductee came to Old Friends after a residence in Japan. Blowen calls the horse’s arrival one of the happiest days of his life, and we learn on the tour that he spends many evenings just sitting on a chair opposite his paddock.

While the tour focuses largely on the well-known names, there are also horses like Johannesbourbon, who earned $68,000 and whose owners, Bourbon Lane Stables, donated money for a new paddock; Miss Hooligan, who won just $2325 but endeared herself to co-owner Rick Capone when she raced his golf cart to get to the feed buckets one routine morning; and Rathor, born in Ireland, who won twice in England and his first two races in the U.S., before tailing off and retiring after 46 starts.

Other residents are not known for their racing careers. Popcorn Deelites (who at the time of my tour is wearing a fly mask) was one of about eight horses who played Seabiscuit in the 2004 biopic starring Tobey McGuire. Little Silver Charm is a miniature horse who you see before Silver Charm, and you can’t help but be won over by the joke. Blowen bought a trailer for $40, and when he received it, Little Silver Charm came off it along with some goats and ducks.

One section is a nicely presented cemetery for the horses, and they all get a beautiful headstone regardless of how they did in their racing career. And the tour includes a walk through the stables, where you meet even more horses.

Additional neat features are jockey statues, the beautiful scenery, and the opportunity to receive a newsletter several times a year. One of my favorite parts was feeding the horses with a bag of carrots which the Farm provides for each guest. There is something magical about feeling the warm breath from their large nostrils as a fuzzy mouth laps a carrot off your palm. And it is rewarding to support a place that keeps horses happy and healthy with a place to run.