Tom Fahrney Spurs Passion for Horses to Lead His Own Stable
Nestled among hills and creeks in the heart of Virginia’s Piedmont stands Tom Fahrney’s passion project — Ram Racing Stable.
The site is home to Thoroughbreds like Tizzy and Dolly’s Pardon, who gallop toward Fahrney for apple snacks and head rubs as he walks onto their field. It is a Virginia Certified Farm, meaning the horses are available for inspection by an official under an agreement with the Virginia Thoroughbred Association. After six consecutive months in the stable, they are eligible to race for monetary bonuses at most mid-Atlantic racetracks.
Fahrney raises the young horses, called weanlings, until they are a year old, when he either sells them at auctions in Kentucky or Maryland or keeps them to race under his stable’s name.
Managing a Thoroughbred stable is how the retired Virginia Department of Transportation planner aims to draw attention to horse racing, something he discovered a passion for at an early age.
“They’re amazing, incredible animals with different personalities that everyone should have a chance to be around,” Fahrney says. “If you’re having a bad day, they can lift your spirits just by watching them run.”
Growing up in Hagerstown, Maryland, Fahrney often visited a nearby racetrack with his father and grandfather. He remembers sitting in the stands, awed by the sight of the steeds. “I just fell in love,”” he says.
Although the average horse race is over in just minutes, the economic impact of the sport is long-lasting. The most recent data available from 2019 estimates that Virginia’s horse racing and breeding industry supported more than 5,200 jobs, generated more than $26 million in tax revenue and had an overall economic impact of $542.1 million, according to a survey commissioned by the Virginia Equine Alliance.
“You can imagine all the things from blacksmiths who put horseshoes on, to trainers, to farmers that provide the feed and the hay, to all the employees of the trainers, the riders, the grooms,” Fahrney says. “All of those rely on a strong horse racing industry in Virginia.”
Operating his slice of that world reminds him of his previous career. As a transportation manager in Prince William County, Fahrney oversaw virtually everything that happened on the roads, from maintenance to development projects. “It takes planning, and it takes organization,” he says, drawing a comparison to farmwork.
After retiring in 2016, Fahrney began searching for the perfect piece of farmland. By chance one afternoon, he drove past the Rappahannock County property and noticed it was for sale. Fahrney bought the land with his wife Peggy, also a retired VDOT employee, and daughter, Tori. They raised cattle for two years, preparing to build a barn and eventually raise horses. “The rest is history,” he says.
Today, Fahrney spends his days caring for the horses, mowing paddocks where they graze and maintaining the surrounding fence.
“Those may sound like kind of monotonous jobs, but they’re stress free,” he says.
Fahrney is not the type to idle in retirement, unless VCU basketball is on. The farm’s name is a nod to Virginia Commonwealth University, where he majored in urban studies and planning and played baseball. When one of Fahrney’s horses enters a race, its jockey wears custom black-and-gold silks.
Fahrney takes pride in watching his horse cross the finish line after months or years of raising it. “It’s almost like having another child and rooting them on,” he says.
He believes the Thoroughbred can tell when it’s won, signaled by its tail perking up or a swagger in its trot as it enters the winner’s circle.
“They’re born to race,” Fahrney says. “They’re born to run, and that’s what they love to do.”
