Silver Springs Training Center Revives Bwamazon Legacy

History is on the side of the new Silver Springs Training Center off Paris Pike, which has restored the six-furlong training track built by renowned breed-to-race operation Bwamazon Farm.

"When I first came to Kentucky, whether you were at Churchill or Keeneland, people would tell you to never bet against a Bwamazon 2-year-old," said Steve Johnson, who owns the training center with his son Erik, farm trainer Kevin Noltemeyer, and bloodstock agent Matt Bowling. "The track is a really good mixture of sand, silt, and clay. We were thrilled to get the opportunity."

The partners lease the 280-acre training center property from B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm, which has owned the land since 2015. More detail about how Silver Springs Training Center was developed can be found in the May 23 issue of BloodHorse magazine.

A key to Bwamazon's success, according to Johnson, was its training track. Bwamazon was founded in the 1970s by St. Louis real estate executive Millard Waldheim and later bought by Elmer Whitaker after Waldheim died in 1983. When Waldheim built the training track, he trucked in the same material used for the main track surfaces at Churchill Downs and Keeneland at the time.

Under Waldheim's ownership, Bwamazon became the second owner to earn a gold pitcher through Keeneland's Milestone Trophy program. A gold pitcher is awarded for having 16 graded stakes winners at the track. Bwamazon made its presence felt at Churchill Downs, as well, earning a place as the eighth-leading owner with 63 total winners among owners who raced at Keeneland and Churchill Downs during 1980-88.

Bwamazon's 2-year-olds were especially tough to beat.

Between 1980 and 1985, Bwamazon was the leading owner by number of 2-year-old winners for four years at Keeneland and still ranks among the top 10 owners by total juvenile winners at Keeneland during 1980-2019 with 22. In 1980 and 1982, among all the owners of 2-year-old starters at Churchill and Keeneland, Bwamazon had the highest combined total of juvenile winners for the year. Bwamazon's top homebreds during this time included 1980 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G3) winner Television Studio and Highland Park, who won the Kentucky Jockey Club, Iroquois Stakes, and Breeders' Futurity (G2) in 1982.

Whitaker shut down Bwamazon and dispersed his stock in 1988. As soon as the last horse came off the track, the surface was leveled and seeded with millet so the roots would prevent the material from shifting due to erosion. Silver Springs began restoring the training track last year and now has the oval fully refurbished.

"They did a good job protecting it," said Noltemeyer, who runs the training center for the partnership that is also involved in a mare/foal and sales prep operation named Silver Springs Stud, which Steve Johnson started on two other pieces of property near Paris, Ky. "The track has a lot of cushion. When a horse gallops by, you can hardly hear it."