Victory Haven has been bought and is now going to be a boarding facility for hunter/jumpers and sporthorses. Doesn’t leave much options for smaller operations in the Lexington area. 
I wish that guy who bought it would of made it a better training facility since he’s involved in the racing industry.
Not living in Lexington, I’m curious–
Is the demand drying up, or are rising costs making it difficult to make ends meet, or are large facilities dominating the market, or there is just a big demand for more show horse facilities at the moment, or something else entirely?
From last November;
Can’t say if Anderson is right or wrong in his statement but I can say PA is not where they are coming anymore, specially mares. From a high of over 2000 foals dropped here 5+ years ago down to a little over 500 last year.
I don’t even bother to try and recruit mare owners anymore. The state and the well meaning people who run the Breed incentive program have completely screwed it up.
Just like the saying, “nothing like a perfectly good plan being forked up by amateurs”
Thanks for sharing the article, Gumtree. But it still has be scratching my head about Lexington and this situation. From my point of view as a neighbor, I don’t see horses fleeing Lexington or Kentucky in droves like is implied. Hence my curiosity.
PA’s 15 minutes of gambling fame has definitely fizzled. New York will soon be facing similar problems for their lower dollar horses. Indiana is hopping at the moment, but if anyone thinks it’s going to last, they are kidding themselves. The bubble will burst as it always does and those horses and people will need somewhere to go (back to KY). I’m pretty out of touch with Louisiana, but someone recently told me things are not as good as they seem.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8714397]
Thanks for sharing the article, Gumtree. But it still has be scratching my head about Lexington and this situation. From my point of view as a neighbor, I don’t see horses fleeing Lexington or Kentucky in droves like is implied. Hence my curiosity.
PA’s 15 minutes of gambling fame has definitely fizzled. New York will soon be facing similar problems for their lower dollar horses. Indiana is hopping at the moment, but if anyone thinks it’s going to last, they are kidding themselves. The bubble will burst as it always does and those horses and people will need somewhere to go (back to KY). I’m pretty out of touch with Louisiana, but someone recently told me things are not as good as they seem.[/QUOTE]
Some other southern training centers have come on line in the last few years. Why pay someone to train horses in the crappy Lexington winter weather?
I would imagine that a contributing factor is the drop in the number of TBs bred each year. In 2008, there were 36,000 foals born. In 2015, there were 23,000. That’s a big difference.
Also, I think the 2008 crash weeded out a lot of people who were owning and/or training racehorses on the cheap. Those who remain are willing to pay a bit more for better services. I’m not saying that Victory Haven wasn’t a good place because I’ve never been there–but the comments below the article gumtree cited are pretty damning about the quality of upkeep and management.
A new farm/training center with great staff and amenities opened in Midway a couple of years ago and they don’t have a problem filling their stalls.
Yeah Lucien kept raising the rates but heaven forbid he did any upkeep. There was a lot of times we couldn’t use the track because they would take care of it once in awhile and I’m surprised the fences kept the horses in the paddocks. At least the indoor Walker worked. I’m surprised Eaton didn’t buy it and expand their tiny farm.
Eaton is for sale also. And Ricker is keeping the track open for training - the show horses will be in the front part of the farm. I have kept horses there a number of times through the years and IMO it all started with The Paasch’s. They built those horrible barns, the track has never been maintained well and you have always paid too much for what you get. Last I had horses there stall rent was 50 cents a day cheaper than KEE. I wish Mark well in his new venture.
[QUOTE=QHJockee;8715529]
Eaton is for sale also. And Ricker is keeping the track open for training - the show horses will be in the front part of the farm. I have kept horses there a number of times through the years and IMO it all started with The Paasch’s. They built those horrible barns, the track has never been maintained well and you have always paid too much for what you get. Last I had horses there stall rent was 50 cents a day cheaper than KEE. I wish Mark well in his new venture.[/QUOTE]
What was the stall rate out of curiosity? I believe The Fair Hill Training Center charges around $15 per day per stall to the owners of the barns. But it is a pretty darn nice set up and very well maintained.
When I was last at VH, in 2010, I was paying $8/day. At KEE I was paying $8.50. The Training Center on Paris Pike was $7 for the big barns, which I hate being in. I don’t know what Lucien was charging at the end
