Officially, Riva way is by Tinners Way-Yia Yia, by Riva Ridge.
So, on one side of Riva’s pedigree is Secretariat. Riva’s sire, Tinners Way, who is a retiree at Old Friends, is by Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner.
On the other side of his pedigree is Yia Yia, who is by Riva Ridge, the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stake’s winner.
In his career, Riva Way won 11 races, mostly claiming races in the New Jersey-Philadelphia area. In all, Riva finished second three times, eighth eight times and earned $109,915 in 56 career starts.
According to the Old Friends website, “Riva's wins included, three consecutive triumphs at Monmouth Park in 2003.
“... (However), when injuries prevented Riva Way from again racing competitively, he was acquired for Old Friends by Maya de Rosa.”
Now, Riva Ridge, who is my all-time favorite horse, is the reason I originally went to visit Old Friends back in 2008. I went specially to see Riva Way.
In a funny story, on my first visit to Old Friends, Riva Way’s sign was posted on a fence where five geldings lived. Since Riva was the reason for my visit, I asked, “Which one is Riva Way.” The tour guide who was there that day (and who is no longer at Old Friends) said, “I’m sorry. I don’t really know. But, he’s one of those,” and she pointed out to the field where those five horses were grazing.
Two weeks later when I returned to meet Michael Blowen, the founder and owner of Old Friends, he said, “Oh, Riva’s not in that field. He’s down the street at Dr. (Doug) Byar’s farm,” and he then took the time to drive me down the street, where I got to meet Riva, a beautiful chestnut horse who came trotting up to the fence when Michael called his name.
At the time, Riva lived in a huge paddock at Dr. Byar’s farm with two other horses, Cappucino Kid, who currently lives in one of the big paddocks at the back of the main farm, and another sweet little gelding, Bingo, who has since passed away.
No question, Riva is still one of my favorite horses at Old Friends, and I try and make sure that I go visit him as many times as I can when I go up to the farm.
Yesterday, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015, was one of those days. It was a beautiful, sunny, cool day and I walked up to his paddock and called his name. The grass was extra sweet yesterday, because it took him a little longer to break away and come over to the fence for a visit.
I gave him a few face rubs, a couple handfuls of grass from “the other side of the fence,” and then he went back to his grazing, while I took a few photos, a few of which are shown below.
The four below are from yesterday (Sunday), and the one at the top of the blog is from last year when he was at Nuckols Farm with 20 other geldings while his new paddock was being fenced in.
That photo is one of the best ones I ever took of him and was selected for the cover image of the 2015 Old Friends Calendar – my very first calendar cover photo – which I thought was very fitting since Riva Way was the horse that originally brought me to Old Friends six years ago.
Hope you will enjoy the photos.
Great job, Rick. Riva's doing amazingly well. Michael
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