Stronach to sell Kentucky farm

Adena Springs’s flagship breeding farm in Paris, Ky., will be put up for sale, with plans to expand the operation’s breeding program into other states, owner Frank Stronach said in a release on Wednesday.

The 2,000-acre property was purchased in 2005 and houses nine stallions, including Awesome Again, Ghostzapper, and Macho Uno.

Regardless of when the farm changes hands, Stronach said the stallions who were scheduled to stand in Kentucky for the 2018 breeding season would remain there, and he was willing to work with potential buyers regarding options to keep them on the farm for the long term. Decisions on which Adena Springs stallions would move out of state would be made at the conclusion of next year’s breeding season.

“There’s no question that whatever happens, they will be there next spring,” Stronach said. “If somebody would buy the farm, I’m open to an arrangement to keep some shares in the stallions and send my mares there. On the other hand, I could move some stallions to California, but it’s too close to the season. I have people doing their planning, so for next spring, I’m quite sure they will stay where they are.”

The Stronach Group owns farms in Williston, Fla., and Aurora, Ontario, and the release said the company is exploring opportunities to establish farms in Maryland and California. Stronach said he already owns property in both states.

The farms would complement racetracks in the same states owned by The Stronach Group, including Gulfstream Park in Florida, Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields in California, and Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park in Maryland.

Stronach said he and his company have a wellestablished connection with the horsemen’s groups in Maryland and would like to expand their relationships with California’s groups.

“We have a shortage of horses in California, so I want to interface with the horse community there, the racing commission, the breeders, and the owners, and say, ‘What can we do together?’” he said. “I think we might need a little better stallions and good programs so we have more Californiabred stallions.”

Stronach said he currently keeps about 150 mares in Kentucky and would reduce that number to 40 or 50 after relocating the others to support different states. The remaining mares will reside on the original 640-acre Adena Springs property in Midway, Ky., which Stronach purchased in 1989 and will continue to maintain.

In the release, Stronach said most of the staff at the Paris farm will have the opportunity to move to the farm in Midway.

Stronach said Adena Springs’s locations in Florida and Ontario would be unaffected by the sale of the Paris property.