Darley Closes Aiken Training Track Stable

Darley America will no longer have a string at the Aiken Training Track near Aiken, S.C., according to Darley America president Jimmy Bell.

Owned by Sheikh Mohammed, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Darley kept an average of 65 horses at the facility. The training facility was purchased in 2008 when Darley acquired several assets from Robert and Janice McNair's Stonerside operation, including approximately 80 horses in training, plus another 170 or so broodmares, yearlings and weanlings, as well as the main 2,000-acre farm near Paris, Ky.

"Aiken is and will always be a very special place," said Bell. "To have been a part of the strong community there for seven years has been very important for our racing program, but unfortunately, from an operational point of view, we found it necessary to go in another direction."

Darley operated out of two barns at the training center, which is near downtown Aiken. One barn, previously used by Hall of Famer trainer MacKenzie "Mack" Miller, was purchased from Stonerside. A second barn Darley rented had been owned by Willard C. "Mike" Freeman, the trainer of Shuvee and other top horses. Freeman died in 2013.

Training center president Brad Stauffer said he was notified operations will shut down Sept. 1, and the barns will be sold.

Most of the barns at the Aiken Training Center are privately owned, which has been the case since the facility was founded. Barn owners pay annual fees for rights to use the training track.

"Those families that owned barns have died or moved on," said Stauffer. "It takes the right person with the right amount of money and have the stock to do it. It is easier to send the horses to someone else and let them worry about the maintenance."

Stauffer added that show horse operations have taken an increasing interest in Aiken. He said they get a lot of horse owners from Canada who stay in Aiken over the winter to trainer three-day eventers or just pleasure ride.