In early April, trainer Sherri Boland moved her small stable of eight horses from Florida to the Ashwood Training Center on Russell Cave Road just outside of Lexington, Ky. The daughter of Hall of Fame jockey Bill Boland had enough confidence that setting up shop there was the right thing to do that she bought a house not far away.
Less than three weeks after arriving, Boland said, she and more than a dozen other trainers received eviction notices telling them they had until July 1 to vacate the Ashwood premises and find another place to stable and train their horses. The owner of the property is seeking approval from the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's Division of Planning to have a dozen soccer fields built on the property – and possibly a stadium for a pro soccer team coming to Lexington.
Horse people usually know how to roll with the punches, and Boland was no different.
“I assumed since we are in Kentucky, the Horse Capital of the World, that there would be plenty of stalls,” said Boland.
She soon found out that was not the case.
“The Thoroughbred Center (on Paris Pike) said when they rebuilt they were down 300 stalls from before,” Boland said of the Keeneland-owned property. “I'm on a waiting list there, but they have no room. Keeneland said they were renovating and had no stalls. Turfway is closed for the summer. The farms are private. There are no options. The little guy has no place to go.
“I am very surprised this is happening in Kentucky,” she said. “Some trainers have already left the state – some to Ohio, some to Indiana. The 250 or so horses who are there help employ a lot of people.”
On Monday, June 13, at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 200 E. Main Street in Lexington, the Division of Planning's Board of Adjustment will conduct a public hearing on the conditional use request by Anderson Communities, which leases the Ashwood Training Center property to Marc Ricker. The site plan has the soccer fields located where the training track sits and near the southeast border of Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's sale grounds. The fields are adjacent to trainer Ken McPeek's Magdalena Farm. The site plan also calls for 750 parking spaces.
The land is currently zoned Agriculture Rural (A-R).
Staff for the Division of Planning are recommending a postponement on the issue, citing questions about the relationship between the proposed recreational fields and what it says is an “anticipated” commercial stadium for a USL League One professional soccer franchise that is coming to Lexington in 2023. Plans for a downtown soccer stadium have fallen through and no new plans have been announced. The site plan did not include a stadium, though the Division of Planning staff said “separation between the uses” (recreational soccer fields and pro stadium) be more “clearly delineated.”
William J. Shively, owner of Dixiana Farm in Lexington, brought the franchise to Lexington. Vince Gabbert, a vice president at Keeneland, is the franchise president.
Gabbert declined to comment on the proposal, referring all questions to the property owner, Anderson Communities, which did not return phone messages.
The facility, previously known as Victory Haven, was opened by Ricker in the spring of 2019 and features a six-furlong track, nearly 300 stalls, 30 turnout paddocks and indoor and outdoor arenas.
Ricker did not return a phone message seeking comment.
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