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The Droid Incredible 2 comes with a SIM card preinstalled, but Verizon has a policy where it will unlock the SIM provided that you’ve been a customer for more than 60 days and are in good financial standing. Unlocking the SIM gives you the freedom to swap out the SIM card for, say, a prepaid SIM you purchase from an international carrier.

Other voice features of the smartphone include a speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, and text and multimedia messaging. It also comes with a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera and Skype Mobile for video calls. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS are all onboard, but if you’re looking for 4G support, you should probably look elsewhere. The Droid Incredible 2 is 3G-only. Using Ookla’s Speedtest.net app, we averaged download speeds of 1.32Mbps and upload speeds of 0.54Mbps. It’s a far cry from the data speeds we got on the 4G-capable HTC ThunderBolt, but the upside is that your battery won’t run out after several hours. The smartphone also offers mobile hot-spot capabilities for up to five devices. To use this feature, you will need to sign up for a Mobile Broadband plan, which costs $20 per month and has a 2GB data cap (Verizon charges 5 cents per MB for overage fees).

The Droid Incredible 2 ships running Android 2.2.1 and not Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Verizon said that it’s not sharing any details on whether it will bring the latest Android OS to the handset but added that it is committed to delivering the latest experience to its customers. Given that the Incredible S is due to get the Gingerbread update during the second quarter of this year, we think it’s pretty safe to say that the Droid Incredible 2 will also get it at some point.

For now, you’ll have to make do with Froyo, which really will take care of the major things, such as contact and calendar management, social networking integration, and a full Web browser. In addition, there are core apps on the device to get you started, as well as some extras, including the Quickoffice suite, a Reader for Android app for e-books, HTC’s Peep Twitter client, Slacker Radio, Blockbuster, an FM radio, and an alarm clock. As of this writing, the Android Market has more than 150,000 apps in its catalog, so if there’s something you need, there’s a good chance you’ll find it there. Being a Verizon phone, the smartphone also comes preloaded with a number of the carrier’s services, such as V Cast Videos and Music, VZ Navigator, and NFL Mobile, but unfortunately, you can’t uninstall these apps.

There aren’t a whole lot of changes in the multimedia department. The media player supports your standard music and video codecs and features player controls, such as shuffle, repeat, and on-the-fly playlist creation. The phone is also equipped with SRS surround sound technology. You can transfer files from your PC to your phone using the drag-and-drop method, or you can use software like DoubleTwist to sync up your media. The Incredible 2 offers about 1GB of internal memory and ships with a 16GB microSD card. The expansion slot can support up to 32GB cards.

The camera remains the same at 8 megapixels but it adds 720p HD video recording and built-in camera effects. Picture quality was OK. Like a lot of camera phones, it had trouble with photos taken in dimly lit environments. More specifically, colors came out looking slightly dull and there was often a pinkish or yellowish hue. However, the objects in the photos were sharp, and we were quite happy with shots taken outdoors. Video quality was impressive; the picture had good clarity and showed a lot of detail.

Performance

We tested the dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; GSM 850/900/1800/1900) HTC Droid Incredible 2 in New York using Verizon Wireless service and call quality was mostly good. The phone now has integrated noise-cancellation technology, and we didn’t detect any background noise, nor did our callers. There was no voice distortion, but there were occasions where voices sounded muffled on our end, so we had a hard time understanding our friends.

HTC Droid Incredible 2 call quality sample
Listen now:

Speakerphone quality was decent. The audio was clear and didn’t have the typical tinny or hollow sound that often plague speakerphones. There was also enough volume to still hold conversations in noisier environments. We paired the smartphone with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones and had no problems making calls or listening to music.

On Verizon’s 3G network, CNET’s full site loaded in 18 seconds, and the mobile sites for CNN and ESPN both came up in 5 seconds. High-quality YouTube clips loaded in several seconds. Playback was continuous for the most part, though there were a couple of points were the video did stutter. We also watched videos from Verizon’s V Cast and NFL Mobile services and they played without problem, though quality was a little murky.

The Droid Incredible 2 has 768MB RAM and is powered by a second-generation 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Though some will scoff at the fact that it doesn’t have a dual-core processor, most of you should rest easy knowing that the smartphone performed smoothly during our review period. Apps launched almost immediately, and we were able to navigate and interact with the phone with minimal delay.

The HTC Droid Incredible 2 ships with a 1,450mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 6.5 hours and 15 days of standby time. We are still conducting our battery drain tests but will update this section as soon as we have final results. Anecdotally, we saw better battery performance on the Droid Incredible 2 than the original model. With moderate use (e-mail, some Web browsing, and music and video playback), we were able to go a full day before needing to recharge at night. According to FCC radiation tests, the Droid Incredible 2 has a digital SAR rating of 1.29W/kg and a Hearing Aid Compatibility Rating of M4/T4.

Conclusion
The HTC Droid Incredible 2 might not be the shining star the first Droid Incredible was and those who crave the power of 4G or a dual-core processor should definitely check out the HTC ThunderBolt or wait for the Samsung Droid Charge or Motorola Droid Bionic. That said, the Droid Incredible 2 does improve on its predecessor and is a much more refined product. The versatile smartphone is also a welcome addition to Verizon’s world phone portfolio, which was a little heavy on the business-oriented models. We think the $199.99 is slightly high for what you get but even so, we’d say that the HTC Droid Incredible 2 is one of Verizon’s top world phones.

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You’d be forgiven if you assumed Darkspore might be similar to 2008′s Spore; after all, the titles are similar, and both games were created by the same developer. Well, let go of any preconceptions: this spin-off may have some elements in common with the game that spawned it, but it is structurally quite different. It’s also rather good. Darkspore is an online-only role-playing game in which you and up to three buddies (or strangers) slice and dice your way through factory corridors and forest pathways en route to an end boss. Your goal: collect as much awesome loot as you can. And you’ll need all you can get, for as you level up, you gain access to more and more heroes and group them into squads of three creatures each. This “catch ‘em all” mechanic is one of Darkspore’s main draws, though there are a few other twists on the traditional action RPG formula that keep it from feeling like a simple space-age Diablo clone.

6310934Take that, giant laser robot!None

That isn’t to say that Darkspore feels totally fresh, however. There’s too little context for all this hacking and slashing: it’s all grinding for levels and loot, with little sense of purpose. That might sound like a damning flaw, but some hours in, the game hits its stride, throwing greater challenges at you on the battlefield and balancing the dungeon crawling with the satisfaction of maintaining the look and equipment of up to 100 different heroes. These elements don’t fully compensate for the missed opportunities, but they’re enough to make for dozens upon dozens of entertaining hours in front of your monitor.

Make sure to note the “online only” bit. Though you can play on your own, you must be online and signed into the game in order to play. Once signed in, you enter a game hub and a chat lobby, where you can find other players to group up with while futzing around with your inventory. The first time you sign in, a tutorial gets you quickly up to speed, putting you in control of a nimble little scamp called Blitz. Blitz, like all of Darkspore’s heroes, is a creature that would have been right at home in Spore. Some of the game’s heroes look like insects; others, like robots; and still others, like the monsters your childhood self imagined might be hiding under your bed or in your closet. In any case, Blitz is easy to get a handle on: you click to move, you click to attack, and you press a numeral key to perform special attacks. In Blitz’s case, he can teleport forward for a quick, stunning attack; deliver a flurry of slashes with his claws; and surround himself with electrical globes that zap nearby enemies.

Neither the flora nor the fauna on this planet seem too friendly.

Blitz is only the beginning. As you play, you gain access to more heroes that you can take into battle. There are a hundred in total, though this number is a bit misleading: there are actually four variants of 25 heroes, with each variant having slightly different special abilities. For example, one variant of Sage has the “enrage” ability, while another replaces it with a root skill called “virulent vines.” It’ll be quite a while before you get to play with all of them, however, because you get to choose a new hero only when you reach certain level milestones. In turn, you group these heroes into squads–three heroes to a squad, and three squads in total. Before heading into a level, you choose which squad you wish to take with you, though you have to be mindful of your squad’s strengths and weaknesses. Each hero is classified not just by class, but also by a genesis type. (Think of genesis types as the elemental affiliations you might see in other RPGs, though instead of fire, ice, and earth, you get types like cyber, necro, and plasma.) Enemies are similarly classified and do double damage to heroes of the same genesis.

The most obvious way that Darkspore sets itself apart on the battlefield is in how it implements squads. While you control only one hero at a time, you can switch between them in dungeons. Each hero has three individual active abilities available, as well as a squad ability accessible by the other two squad members. This means a hero has six skills in total at one time: four innate, and two shared by other heroes. This all sounds mighty complex, but for quite a few hours, you may be struck at how simple the combat is in spite of all these layers. Whether you play as a melee or a ranged hero, the combat is that of most such games: you click and attack. You can do so on your own, but Darkspore is a cooperative experience. Therefore, it’s best to hook up with friends or let the matchmaking join you with others and drop you into the next dungeon in your progression (or one you have already completed).

If your name was Mikella the Temporal Impeder, you’d rampage too.

Whether you’re alone or with three others, the early hours are entertaining, but hardly noteworthy. Levels are a series of corridors in alien forests, frigid tundras, and rocky cliffs, separated by glowing teleporters that zip you to the next location. A droning computer voice fills you in on some backstory prior to many missions, and even during them, but counting these yawn-inducing updates as narrative would be giving them far too much credit. There is talk of genetic manipulation and numerous mentions of “the Darkspore threat,” but you don’t experience a story: you are only told of one. Action RPGs aren’t traditionally story-driven ventures, but few give this little context. There are no quests and no non-player characters to chat with. Your objectives are always this: kill marauding aliens, find the hidden loot caches, and defeat the final boss. It’s bare-bones even by genre standards, and the lack of challenge in the early going reinforces the bareness and leads to monotony.

In time, however, Darkspore fills in these gaps and shows what it’s capable of–and to be fair, even the early hours are fun in the way most good loot-driven games are fun. It helps that Darkspore has a spacey, New Age vibe that sets it apart from similar games. An early level featuring glowing walkways hovering over asteroids and space wreckage is striking, as is a later one in which you encounter a lush green oasis where you would least expect it. Your team’s exaggerated monstrosities are a natural fit in this universe where biology and technology are impossible to separate. The soundtrack’s electronic murmurs and deep kettledrums are equally fitting. Against these serene backdrops, you unleash deadly cones of flame and summon glimmering trees of healing, and defeating aliens frequently results in a geyser of red and purple goo. Darkspore doesn’t push a lot of polygons, and there are too many same-ish mountain passes and bland green meadows for it to reach artistic greatness. But it looks attractive and runs well even on modest PCs.

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By Mary Ann Anderson, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

In Print: Sunday, May 1, 2011

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LAGRANGE, Ga.

Look! Up in the skies! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, wait . . . it is a bird after all! Lots and lots of birds!

For bird-watchers, Georgia’s West Point Lake is a hidden treasure with plenty of gems waiting to be discovered, like a rare ivory gull that winged its way into the hearts of many a birder across the South.

In recent memory here at West Point Lake, January 2010 stands out for two reasons: It was cold, as cold a January as anyone could remember for a very long time, with lots of ice and subfreezing temperatures, but it was also the year the ivory gull paid an unexpected visit to this 26,000-acre lake near LaGrange.

The visit by the ghostly white bird was one of those singular occasions that drew flocks of bird-watchers to the shores of the lake, one of Georgia’s largest and certainly one of the most beautiful with its habitat of pine and hardwood forests, freshwater wetlands and wildflower-filled fields.

Lazily laid out among West Georgia’s rolling hills, the lake and its bird-perfect habitat draw feathered friends from across the North and South American continents. Within those 26,000 acres, the lake meanders for some 35 miles along the border between Georgia and Alabama and contains 525 miles of shoreline that provide myriad prospects for birding.

No one knows what drew the ivory gull to the shores of West Point Lake, but it was an altogether extraordinary — if not awe-inspiring — sight. Just how rare is the ivory gull to the Peach State? According to the Audubon Society, it’s an inhabitant of arctic ice floes and snowfields, so it had to make its way here from some of the harshest conditions on Earth.

“In 2006,” the Audubon Society reports, “recent changes in its environment suddenly pushed the world’s only all-white gull onto Canada’s Endangered Species list. Rarely descending from the Arctic, a stray Ivory Gull always draws a crowd of bird-watchers, even though the species invariably appears in the temperate zone during cold winter months.”

For plenty of amateur and professional ornithologists, it brought perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the captivating bird (which sadly later died from a lung infection before it could migrate back to the frozen tundra of the far north).

An abundance of species

West Point Lake made statewide news because of the bird, but the lake has long been known throughout Georgia for its fishing, camping, boating and other water recreation opportunities.

It has excellent birding opportunities, especially on the West Point Lake Dam and Blanton Creek Wildlife Management Area, along with several other excellent areas. Two marinas, Highland Marina Resort and Southern Harbor Resort and Marina, serve the lake so those who want a water’s-eye view from a boat have easy access.

Not only might you catch a glimpse of such an ultrarare bird like the ivory gull, but an abundance of other species soar above the lake both year-round and during migratory seasons. It’s a thrill to see species like the black-legged kittiwake, the white-winged scoter, Ross’ goose, ospreys and that wonder of all wonders, the magnificent bald eagle. Like the coyotes that migrated from the West and are many among us, Canada geese also migrated South to become permanent fixtures. They are certainly in abundance for those who never tire of seeing them as they make V-shaped wing-tracks across the lake. Although wild turkeys may be common, too, they are lightning-fast, so it’s always such a satisfying thrill to see a huge flock milling about or even a solitary tom taking a turkey-trottin’ stroll.

Below the West Point Lake Dam is one of the greatest areas for seeing waterfowl, with several species of gulls appearing now and then, including the ring-bill, Bonaparte’s and Forster’s tern. Remember Katharine Hepburn’s character and her now-famous line from On Golden Pond? “The loo-oonnns, the loo-oonnns! They’re welcoming us back!” Yes, loons love this lake, too, and come back again and again. Watch for glimpses of common loons and horned and pied-billed grebes.

Keep looking up

Just about any species of duck paddles in or flies over the cold, clear water, which presents lots of opportunities to test your duck-identifying skills. As with most of Georgia, the brilliantly hued wood ducks hang around pretty much all year, but you can also see mallards and, on that rarest of occasions, the American black ducks in winter.

How much wood would a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker could peck wood? Plenty.

Nature takes care of its own, so that means any dead or dying trees are perfect fodder for these noisy but gorgeous birds. Watch for red-headed and downy varieties or listen for the jungle-like calls of the pileated woodpecker before starting to search for them high among the tall pines. They cling like kudzu to big tree branches, excavating their nests with a series of pecking that they fire off like a barrage of bullets. Always a favorite bird sighting around West Point Lake, these skillful drillers are also quite adept at keeping the insect population way down.

. IF YOU GO

Georgia bird-watching

The West Point Lake Visitor Center is off U.S. 29 and features interpretive exhibits and additional information about the lake and dam. West Point Lake is on the Alabama-Georgia border, north of Interstate 85 and Columbus.

LaGrange has about a dozen brand-name hotels, including the full-service Best Western Lafayette Garden Inn. Additionally, there are lakefront cottages at Highland Marina Resort and Southern Harbor Resort and Marina and charming rooms at the Thyme Away Bed Breakfast.

For information, call the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce at (706) 884-8671 or go to lagrangechamber.com.

[Last modified: Apr 30, 2011 04:30 AM]

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   A lawsuit accuses a Palm Beach County deputy of destroying a neighbor’s yard in the Acreage with chinch bugs, PalmBeachPost.com reports.

   The suit says Terrance Senecal, a detective in the sheriff’s agriculture crimes unit, learned the technique through his training to thwart agro-terrorism.

   Judith Rhoads and Sarah Nelson say Senecal has engaged in a two-year campaign to harass them. Their lawyer says Senecal has used loud music, car horns, fireworks and roaring engines to bother them. To mask the noise, the women planted shrubs and covered their windows with hurricane shutters, the lawyer said.

April 30, 2011

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• Mars Cheese Castle, Kenosha, Wisconsin
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The Talk Abroad service does a couple of other things differently than your typical cell phone. First, it asks you to choose from global, U.S., or Italian roaming settings each time you turn on the phone (in previous models, this was buried in a submenu.) Second, you’ll need to dial the country code before you place a call, regardless of which country you’re in, then press the pound key before you press Send. Instead of dialing directly, your phone requests call-back, then dials you back before dialing the recipient. This is typical for services that route international calls through other servers. According to TalkAbroad, the SIM dials a U.K. server, which calls both your U.K. inbound number and your recipient’s number to connect you, so calls take a couple of seconds longer to connect than you may be used to. Talk Abroad provides 24-hour, seven-days-a-week toll-free customer support for Xplorer customers.

Features
Inside, the Xplorer is a simple phone intended for placing calls and texts. It holds up to 1,000 address book entries, with an additional 100 you can store on the SIM card. Each entry has room for multiple phone numbers, an e-mail address, and a note. You can also add more fields. There’s support for calling groups, a caller ID, and one of 20 default ringtones, plus silent mode. You can also assign sound clips you create and FM radio clips as personalized ringtones.

Basic tools include a calendar, a calculator, a unit converter, a to-do list, a notepad, and a world clock. There are also alarms, a timer, a stopwatch, a voice recorder, and an image editor that you can use to touch up the Xplorer’s camera shots. The Xplorer has Bluetooth support as well.

While calls and texts are the Xplorer’s communication bread and butter, there is also a Web browser on board, which wasn’t always available in previous models. Since you’re charged by the kilobyte, data costs quickly stack up. Unless your Facebook status updates are truly golden, we’d caution you to use the browser only in a pinch. The same principle applies to POP and IMAP e-mail. Setup is a little cumbersome since the input screen isn’t built for typing secure and complex passwords, especially in predictive mode. You can attach multimedia content like images, but you must have enabled data in the browser settings to send them. Otherwise, your network will show as unavailable.

An FM radio and MP3 player are welcome surprises on this phone, but their presence makes the lack of a standard headphone plug all the more frustrating. Podcasts and playlists are a go with the Xplorer, as long as you have a memory card installed.

The 1.3-megapixel camera produced decent, clear photos with relatively sharp edges. Outdoor shots dealt better with the light, but brilliant colors still looked duller and flatter through the lens. Still, we were able to snap some usable shots of our friends and of nature.

There are multiple shooting modes and resolutions (six), a self-timer, effects, frames, white-balance settings, and various viewfinder modes. There’s also digital zoom.

Settings are similar for the camcorder mode, although the highest resolution in this case is 176×144 pixels, and like most other cell phones the Xplorer limits video clips for multimedia text messages to about 30 seconds. While colors were grayed out in video as they were in stills, the video quality was fairly smooth, not jerky and choppy. You can share photos and videos via Bluetooth, text message, or e-mail. Photos can be additionally set as wallpapers or caller IDs and edited in the image editor. The Xplorer’s screen is too small to accurately examine and edit images on, but this is a feature we wish every cell phone and smartphone had.

The Xplorer comes preloaded with seven Java-based games, including Canonball and Tetris Mania, plus there’s a store for downloading more games.

Performance
We tested the National Geographic Xplorer in San Francisco and New York on T-Mobile’s roaming network. Call quality was variable on our end. Volume was fine, but clarity suffered. We once heard an echo and sometimes heard white noise. Voices sounded fuzzy to our ears, although still recognizable, and we were able to carry on an intelligible conversation. On their end, callers said we sounded loud but hollow, and unnatural enough that we sounded like we had a cold. Callers also reported “sputter.”

Speakerphone volume started out loudly on our end, but then suddenly dropped by almost half. It remained loud during subsequent calls. Voices sounded a little hollow, with the typical speakerphone echo. On our callers’ end, volume dropped, and they heard a screeching click several times per minute, although there was no background noise. However, our listeners often couldn’t understand us and we had to turn off speakerphone for their benefit.

National Geographic Xplorer call quality sample
Listen now:

Keep in mind that the Xplorer isn’t intended for use within the U.S., although it will work, as we discovered when testing this phone, and when calling the international cell phones of friends visiting the U.S. We plan to revisit the Xplorer for some real-world travel testing later this summer.

Conclusions
As a rugged travel phone, the National Geographic Xplorer will appeal to certain CDMA phone owners, provided they plan to use the cell phone sparingly or don’t mind parting with their cash for expensive calls. Convenience is the service’s main advantage, as well as peace of mind from knowing that there’s a 24-hour help service if problems arise, and that travelers should almost always be reachable. The Xplorer is best suited for globetrotters taking one-off worldwide trips, and for students and tourists, especially adventurers who may need a more durable device. Regular business travelers and GSM phone owners should seek other options, like obtaining a local SIM upon arrival, looking into other prepaid calling services, or renting a phone for a travel period.

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Philosophers and science fiction authors have long warned that traveling back in time could have disastrous consequences. The simplest action could alter the flow of history irrevocably, leaving us in a world where fascists rule with an iron fist or donuts rain from the sky. Given this danger, those wacky rabbids are probably the worst candidates for time travel, yet they did so with amusing results earlier this year in Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time on the Wii. Their new excursion on the 3DS goes by a similar title, but the Wii version offered an array of game types, whereas this version provides strictly platforming. You dress your rabbid up in goofy outfits and run, jump, and thwack your way through four time periods. The action is solid but not very exciting, and there isn’t much of that silly rabbid charm to liven things up. Rabbids Travel in Time 3D delivers a decent amount of content, but it’s a bland showing for these zany characters.

Don’t ask why that T. rex is inside a volcano, JUST RUN!

The game begins with a great-looking cutscene that depicts the rabbids mucking it up in a museum. Their casual disregard for decorum and personal safety yields some cute moments, but alas, you don’t see much more of these large, expressive character models. The majority of the game has the rabbids relegated to a much smaller size, limiting their ability to amuse. There are some funny bits here and there; meeting a new enemy (all your foes are costumed rabbids) results in some slapstick humor, and the animation for a rabbid’s idea of ducking (that is, flopping down flat on its back) is likely to make you grin. But regrettably, these wee rabbids aren’t given many opportunities to entertain, and as a result, the game feels disappointingly mild. Other Rabbids games give the eponymous lagomorphs much more comical clout, and it’s a shame they aren’t as funny this time around.

When your time-traveling washing machine drops you off in prehistory, it’s time to learn the basics. You move your rabbid with the circle pad or the D pad. The face buttons let you jump, thwack, or pick things up, and the R button allows you to break into a sprint. With these humble abilities, you leap over pits, ride floating platforms, break down barriers, vanquish enemies, and generally do the kind of things you’d expect in this type of game. The controls work well, and though you can run into some directional wonkiness when springing into the air off of bouncy platforms, it’s usually easy to get where you want to go. There is a very gentle learning curve that reinforces the basic mechanics over and over again, so even inexperienced players have plenty of time to get the hang of things. The difficulty slowly ramps up throughout the game, but it never gets too tough, so challenge seekers are advised to look elsewhere.

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By Bruce Schriener, Associated Press

In Print: Sunday, April 24, 2011

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MIDWAY, Ky.

The stately thoroughbred Big Brown was right on cue as starstruck visitors approached a lush green paddock at Three Chimneys Farm. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner ambled up to the plank fence and calmly posed like a movie star on the red carpet.

Jennifer Riggle stretched her arm, camera in hand, and clicked photos of the celebrity horse. The high school senior from Huntington, Ind., spent spring break in Kentucky horse country with her mother and a teenage friend.

They toured several horse farms, strolled around the Kentucky Horse Park and took in a day of racing at venerable Keeneland race track in nearby Lexington. Riggle, 18, said it was better than hanging out on a beach.

“Getting a tan would be nice,” she said, “but this is so much better. It’s like going to Hollywood and seeing celebrities.”

Sleek thoroughbreds are the stars in Kentucky’s bluegrass region, and there’s no better time to visit than the weeks before and after the May 7 Kentucky Derby.

Foals are frolicking in pastures, their mothers hovering nearby. Flowers are blooming and trees are budding, adding splashes of pink, yellow and white to panoramic scenes of green pastures and black plank fences snaking along the rolling countryside. Fans flock to the Keeneland racetrack, and later in the spring to Churchill Downs, the iconic Louisville track that’s home to the Kentucky Derby.

“It’s the best time of year to drive through Kentucky and see all the farms and just experience what horse country really is,” said Jen Roytz, marketing director at Three Chimneys Farm, a popular destination.

Three Chimneys covers about 2,300 acres, but public tours are limited to the stallion and breeding operation, where some famous names perpetuate the bloodlines that could produce the next Triple Crown champion.

The hourlong walking tours are available Tuesdays through Saturdays throughout the year based on demand, with a few exceptions.

The farm limits visits during the busy Derby week, but will offer an open house to the public on May 5, the Thursday before the Derby. The open house, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will give visitors a firsthand look at the farm’s stallion operations.

The peak time for public tours is in spring and again in fall when there’s live racing at Keeneland, a 10- or 15-minute drive away. The farm charges $10 per person for tours.

During the tours, visitors follow the footsteps of the stately stallions, with glimpses into their pampered lives.

There’s a stop in their barns — eye-catching structures with stone exterior walls and high ceilings inside. The spacious stalls are matted with thick layers of straw. Nameplates the size of a CEO’s adorn the stalls to identify each occupant.

At these, the ultimate man caves, the stallions are bathed and groomed daily, tour guide Sue Clark said. They get the best food. They exercise to keep fit. They lounge outdoors in pastures.

“I wish I was taken care of this well,” Tina Riggle, Jennifer’s mom, said later.

Visitors get up-close looks at the massive stallions.

In one barn, Big Brown was brought out from his stall. Ears perked, he stood serenely as cameras clicked away.

Mike Hays, a horse racing fan from Little Rock, Ark., was among the admirers of the horse that won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2008. Later, he jokingly said, “I lost some money on him in the Belmont (Stakes), but I forgive him.”

After Big Brown left, then came Point Given, winner of the Preakness and Belmont in 2001.

Both eventually were led outside to soak up the sunshine, their hooves clicking on the brick floor as they exited.

“It’s music to our ears,” Clark said.

In another barn, the stall for Dynaformer, one of the world’s top sires, was empty. The sire of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was already outside. Stallion groom Veronica Reed, pitchfork in hand, was busy cleaning his stall.

Dynaformer is known for his attitude. “He just knows what he’s worth, he knows who he is and acts like it,” Reed said. Cameras clicked as visitors strolled to the pasture where Dynaformer was drinking water from a bucket.

Another photo opportunity came at a statue to the late, great Seattle Slew. The statue is a short stroll from the barn where the Triple Crown winner spent his post-racing life as a leading sire.

The tour stopped at the barn where mares are checked in before breeding. Vans had already arrived to drop off each would-be mother for her afternoon rendezvous in the breeding shed. Visitors learned about the role of the “teaser” horse, a male stand-in that checks out the mare to make sure she’s ready for mating with a high-priced stallion.

Tourgoers had the option of attending a breeding session. Soon, they were gazing into the breeding shed as one of the afternoon’s quick dates was consummated. Perhaps it was the start of a future champion, Clark said.

Other prominent Kentucky horse farms also open their gates to visitors.

At Claiborne Farm outside Paris, north of Lexington, visitors see the farm’s stallions, breeding shed and cemetery, where the famed Secretariat is buried. Ashford Stud near Versailles allows guests to get a look at its stallions during a tour.

People can call or e-mail the farms to set up appointments.

Meanwhile, an organized touring system is in the works for horse country. Kentucky thoroughbred owners and breeders are working with area tour companies to allow people to book tours. Each tour company would provide transportation. People will book tours through a website, horsecapitaltours.com, which lists the participating farms and times for tours.

.if you go

Kentucky horse farm tours

Call or e-mail to set up appointments at various farms. Three Chimneys Farm, threechimneys.com or (859) 873-7053. Fee: $10 per person; proceeds go to charities. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 1 p.m., with a few exceptions through the year. Summer tours might switch to 10 a.m., so check starting times.

[Last modified: Apr 23, 2011 04:30 AM]

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