John G. Sikura has owned Xalapa Farm in Paris, Ky., for over a year, but he still talks about the property with the kind of enthusiasm often reserved for a kid at Christmas with a new bicycle.
However, Sikura's commitment to his new farm exceeds anything on two wheels. On Wednesday, the entire Hill 'n' Dale Farms stallion roster was vanned 33 miles east from their former Lexington, Ky. base to Xalapa Farm to take up residence for the 2021 breeding season and beyond.
Putting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of horseflesh on vans – including top sires Curlin and Kitten's Joy – might seem like a harrowing task, but Sikura said the expensive cargo handled the process in stride.
“It was a very swift transition,” Sikura said. “All credit to our staff. Our farm manager, stallion manager, resident veterinarian – everybody was there. The horses were full of class. They didn't even nicker. Curlin just put his head down and started eating hay. I think that's a testament to the natural beauty of the place. There's no noise. It's so quiet.”
The history in Xalapa Farm is apparent in its notable past residents. Broodmare of the Year Hildene once called Xalapa home, along with Negofol, who sired winners of the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. That was appealing to Sikura, but the history of the farm's architecture – that natural beauty – was what truly excited the horseman.
Sikura had been invited out repeatedly by an acquaintance tied to the farm to see it for himself, but a packed schedule kept him from venturing out to the property. Besides, he'd seen plenty of top-class farms around the world, and he was skeptical what this one, less than an hour away, could offer that would wow him. The fact that he immediately had to eat his words is part of the reason why he remains so excited about Xalapa to this day.
“One day, I told them I'd like to come see it,” he said. “They showed me around, and when I got in the gate, I went, 'Oh my God.' It wasn't like anything I'd seen before, even though a lot of it was overgrown or in disrepair. All the architectural elements were just incredible.”
The land needed a lot of work. Hundreds of acres on the 1,100-acre farm needed to be fenced in, and infrastructure to get from place to place on the property was scant at best beyond the main buildings. Still, Sikura couldn't shake the place. He went back to visit Xalapa a few more times, and he eventually made an offer.
At the time, his plan was to use Xalapa as a base for Hill 'n' Dale's yearling operation, while the stallions would remain in Yarnalton Pike, between Lexington and Midway. Sikura had too many reasons to stay close to town, so keeping the home base close by made sense. Those circumstances changed last year, though, and so did the plans for the property.
“All my kids are now away at school,” he said. “My youngest just accepted to go to a hockey academy in Rhode Island. I could have never moved out here with my kids in school, because they were in the Spanish immersion program in downtown Lexington, and it's too far to drive back and forth two or three times a day.”
Now with a little more flexibility, Sikura fully committed to the Xalapa property, electing to move the stallions, the staff, and his own personal residence to Paris. He sold the Hill 'n' Dale property in Lexington to Don Alberto Corp., which not only married Sikura's operation to its new location, but also gave it a “save the date.”
“I had 14 months to be off the farm, and I didn't have a breeding shed, I didn't have barns, I didn't have houses for my employees, I didn't have fencing for over 500 acres, roads, electric, water, anything,” Sikura said. “For seven days a week, we've had 100 people out here constantly – Guys building stone walls, the breeding shed, doing electric, the water lines, internet. I knew there was a lot to do, but I didn't realize what a challenge it would be. It was not only an enormous expense, but the time, the mental energy.”
The bones of Xalapa trace back to its founding in 1827. Bringing it up to shape to house one of the country's top Thoroughbred operations required a top-down makeover.
Existing structures were renovated to fit modern needs using the same materials, in order to preserve their historical integrity, down to the hand-crafted hinges on the doors. If a new barn needed to be built, it was built. If a road needed to be made – be it asphalt for vehicles or rubber bricks for the stallions – it was made.
The breeding shed was created by John Howard of Lexington-based Four-H Construction Management, who was the project manager at Keeneland for nearly three decades. Howard's crew built the semi-circle saddling structure in the Keeneland paddock, which Sikura said had an ambience he wanted to recreate on his own property.
When Sikura committed to making Xalapa Hill 'n' Dale's full-time base, he also purchased the adjacent property, Stoner Mill Farm, adding another 300 acres to the project. Stoner Mill presented its own unique challenges, including the removal of 500 dead ash trees.
If the property was being built just to suit the horses' comfort, that would be one thing, but the Xalapa project also involved building or renovating 14 houses for Sikura and the farm's staff. Even the smaller details on such a large property can feel “big picture” when it comes to where one's going to spend their days and nights.
“You drift between excitement and being proud of getting it done, and then being overwhelmed,” Sikura said. “Those emotions will sometimes hit you in the same day. Now that you've got to do the stallion paddocks. How do you take a blank field and fit in 12 paddocks without them being too small, and having enough space between them? Then you've got to figure out water lines and how the roads are going to go. Then, it finally comes together.”
With the stallions settled in, Sikura said there was probably another month's worth of work to do on the property until he considered it officially completed. In the meantime, the November sales are approaching, and breeders will be crisscrossing central Kentucky to inspect stallions for potential 2021 bookings.
Xalapa Farm is far-flung compared to most of its major contemporaries in Kentucky's stallion market. It's about a 45-minute drive from Keeneland. Sikura preached perspective when it came to the farm's location, both in terms of its comparable distance to other Paris farms, and having the kind of product that's worth the trip.
“I think the most important thing you can do to get people to come out to your farm, or to get people to come up to your yearling consignment on the hill at Keeneland, is to have the best horses,” he said, referencing the sale barns furthest from Keeneland's pavilion. “A good horse can change your life, and horses are long-term, multi-million dollar commitments. If you go to Claiborne to see stallions, and a nine-minute drive to Hill 'n' Dale is too far, then you probably should do something else and not be in the horse business. You'll miss some of the quick visits, but I think today, with video walks, stallion registries, and all the professionals who go from farm to farm, all the information you need is out there.
“The difference between 20 minutes and 50 minutes…You have 11 months of gestation,” Sikura continued. “A 30-minute longer drive to get your mare in foal is really a non-factor.”
Sikura doesn't have sights on leaving Xalapa anytime soon, but he was aware of the value he's put into the land after all that work. Beyond all of the breeding and boarding facilities, there's a one-mile training track that also got a shining-up during the renovations, even if there aren't any immediate plans to use it. A stone bridge on the property was used during the filming of the 2003 “Seabiscuit” movie, which is an evergreen selling point, as well.
“I didn't buy it as an asset, but I think it's the most unique, historically significant horse farm; at least that I've been on,” he said. “I hope one or more of my sons have interest in the horse business and want to move it forward. If they do not, then somebody will then buy a one-of-a-kind, pristinely restored, massive, unique farm.”
Until that day comes, though, Sikura said the goal is to make Hill 'n' Dale's new home as welcoming as possible.
Many months and many dollars later, and after the efforts of an army of people, Sikura is still thrilled with his purchase. One of the most fun parts about being excited about something is being able to share that feeling with others, and Sikura said that will be the goal with Xalapa Farm.
“I'm trying to make the farm open and inviting, and the more people see it, the more I think they're going to embrace it – sort of the way the community embraces Keeneland,” he said. “It's private to a degree, but the gates are open and we want to show you how unique the place is.”
The post ‘It Wasn’t Like Anything I’d Seen Before’: Sikura, Hill ‘N’ Dale Go ‘All-In’ On Xalapa Farm appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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