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THEY SAID IT JULY 3, 2010 "He was eating well and enjoying himself all day Wednesday, but took a turn for the worse during the night. Obviously, at 24-years-old, it was his time, and there was nothing else to do, but I still am getting used to the finality of it. Even when we had to say goodbye to him when he went to Japan (for stud duty), I didn't feel the void I'm feeling now because we still had some connection to him. There was always a bloodstock agent or someone around who could keep an eye on him for us and keep us updated on how he was getting along over there." —Dee Poulos, widow of Black Tie Affair's trainer Ernie Poulos, speaking of losing the Horse of the Year to laminitis "I guess part of the grief I'm feeling now is because while Black Tie Affair was alive he was my last living connection to Ernie and the life we had together, and of course he was the horse that changed Ernie's and my life together forever. After he won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Black Tie Affair became the people's horse. He was America's blue collar horse and so many people began to identify with him. They still do. Even this morning (Saturday), I'm getting e-mails from all over the country from people -- some of whom I know and some from people I don't know -- all of them expressing their sorrow. Also, a lot of people want to let me know exactly where they were when Black Tie Affair won the Breeders' Cup Classic, and how much it meant to them when he did." —Poulos on what Black Tie Affair meant to her and all his fans "I'm very grateful that my sister (Dianna Caramico) and I went down to Old Friends to see him last month. It was really a spur of the moment kind of thing that we even went. We had no reservations or any thing like that. We just wanted to see him and say hello. We didn't verbalize about it at the time, but I think both of us had the feeling it might be the last time we might get to see the old boy. I didn't want to say goodbye, but I think he did. His eyes kind of told us it was his time." —Poulos speaking of her last visit with Black Tie Affair "One other thing we are very grateful for is how well Black Tie Affair got to spend the last year of his life. He almost made it to a full year at Old Friends, and for all that time he just got to be a horse. There were no demands made on him. He got to enjoy life with a bunch of people who really loved him and took care of him. Some horses never get to do that." —Poulos expressing her gratitude to Old Friends, a retirement and rescue facility for pensioned Thoroughbreds where Black Tie Affair had been residing
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