Adena Springs farm breeds some great horses
as well as a lot of goodwill in the community

By Stephen Burnett

KYForward Correspondent

No two days are alike at Adena Springs Farm in Paris.

Just this week, Eric Hamelback, the farm’s general manager, arrived at work early Wednesday to watch horses leave a foaling barn, before his expected yearling evaluations. Suddenly he needed to rush to the side of a mare giving birth, deal with her difficulties, and assist in the delivery.

The little one is fine, and so is its mother, Holy Blitz, Hamelback said later that afternoon.

“Foaling season theoretically begins January first every year,” he said. “It’s not as common for mares to foal during the day. Usually they foal at night.”

About 100 employees work on the 2,400-acre thoroughbred-breeding facility in Paris, the flagship farm of a network of farms in Canada and in two American states, founded by Canadian businessman Frank Stronach. An immigrant from Austria, Stronach made his fortune in the automotive parts industry, before getting into the thoroughbred and racing industries. Promoting those fields has been Stronach’s forte, Hamelback said, while also using his resources for the community, especially organizations and schools in Bourbon County.

From cars to horses

Long before Stronach and his farms earned a total of eight Eclipse Awards and nine Sovereign Awards (in Canada) for their world-renown breeding, the owner was gaining ground in Canada.

After moving from Austria to Canada, in his mid-20s Stronach founded a tool and dye firm. His success gained the attention of Magna Electronics, which contracted the firm to develop car parts. Eventually the two merged, into the corporation now known as Magna International. That company, with its base in Stronach’s home of Aurora, Ontario, now has operations in 26 different countries, making parts for most vehicles in use today, Hamelback said.

“That led to his passion for racehorses,” he continued. “[Stronach] was able to really start in the early eighties, when he had some partnerships with good horses.”

His first farm in Kentucky was actually in Versailles. Stronach bought the property in 1989, and that facility, though now adjunct, was originally his headquarters. The name “Adena” came from the Adenas, a Native American tribe once prevalent in Kentucky who had left a burial ground on the 640 acres in Versailles. “Springs” describes the underground freshwater spring on the site that still runs to this day, Hamelback said, and which is still used to water that farm.

Seven years later, the farm added Adena Springs South in Williston, Florida, which grew over the years from about 450 acres to 3,800 acres. In 2005, the farm bought its 2,000 acres in Paris and began breaking ground on a new state-of-the-art facility. Two years later, Adena Springs moved its base of operations in Kentucky, including its stallions, to that area.

Now the Kentucky operation stands renowned stallions, such as Breeders’ Cup winners Awesome Again, Macho Uno and Ghostzapper.

That growing legacy drew Hamelback himself to the farm, where he began in 1997 as a yearling manager.

“Our main purpose is: breed to race,” Hamelback said. “I’ve always called our operation an extremely good team operation, because from Canada to Florida to here, we all work together for the same goal, which is to breed the best racehorse we can.”

Stronach has since also purchased several racetracks in the U.S., such as Gulfstream Park in Miami, Fla., and Laurel Park in Laurel, Md., and Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

“He is extremely vested in this industry, from the farms to the race track,” Hamelback said. “He has a substantial stake in making sure that this industry is as strong as he can possibly help it to be.”

Horses and humanity

Helping the horse-racing industry nationwide also has plenty of benefits for Adena Springs’ regional neighbors, especially those in Bourbon County, Hamelback said. That includes the Bourbon County Young Men’s Christian Association, whose fall benefits the farm has hosted the last two years. A donation from Adena Springs also helped the Bourbon County school system gain funding to build a new athletic complex.

Last month, Adena Springs’ Open House Stallion Show donated portions of one stallion’s signed breeding contracts to the Starting Gate Youth Program for Bourbon schools. Hamelback said that students will also be able to meet that stallion, Einstein, and to tour the farm to learn about the thoroughbred-breeding and racing industry.

The farm also supports local Humane Societies, especially in Bourbon County. It donated funds for a community center called Wesley’s Place, named after a six-year-old boy murdered in Paris in 2007. That center opened its doors last spring, providing office space to nonprofits.

“We’re also known for our support of the retired horse,” he continued. “We have our own retirement program.”

The Adena Springs Retirement Program is intended to provide horses now done with racing, with new lives with caring owners, he said.

For more information on that retirement program, see its website at www.AdenaRetirement.com. The main Adena Springs Farm website is at www.AdenaStallions.com.

Almost everyone has a fascination with the horse, Hamelback said. And as long as they do, and while regions continue supporting the thoroughbred and racing industries that in turn support them, Adena Springs Farm will continue going strong, he added.

“Most every child that I’ve ever known wants a pony,” he explained. “Just that draw of the horse brings a tremendous amount of people to the sport. … We in the profession get into it because we love it.

“It’s just a very addictive, strong feeling of the connection you have with one of the most beautiful animals in the world,” Hamelback continued. “The appeal of the majesty of the horse  touches everybody, whether it’s the casual person who goes to Keeneland and watches three or four races — they’re enthralled by  it — or those of us who are right there in the trenches, foaling or raising and getting them to the race track.”