Keeneland, Investing in Racing's Future since 1936.
Issue link: https://keenelandmagazine.epubxp.com/i/681141
40 SUMMER 2016 K KEENELAND.COM passion for the land No planning could have guaranteed a season like this. The dams of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, Central Bank Ashland Stakes winner Weep No More, and grade I winner Divisidero are in residence with new foals by their sides. The story of the Hinkle family coming to own mares of this quality is a tale as long as the half-century that Thoroughbreds and cat- tle have occupied these present 1,000-plus acres. The story did not follow a straight trail. Outside business interests periodically diverted the family's focus away from raising horses, so that about 12 years ago, the operation hit a wall. The Hinkles found them- selves down to six or seven mares from at least several dozen. "If you've only got six or seven mares, it's hard to breed very many stakes horses. It's a game of num- bers," remarked managing partner Tom Hinkle. The family needed to decide if it was content operating at Hinkle Farms has refashioned itself as a boutique operation, focusing on quality over quantity. Top, a colt by Curlin is a half brother to Ashland Stakes winner Weep No More. this level — or if the Hinkles should perhaps leave the horse business. This was not what the farm's late patriarch, Buckner Hinkle, had envi- sioned when he acquired his frst two broodmares at the 1967 Keeneland sales. He had high goals, for he wanted a viable Thoroughbred operation for his farm and he believed these mares would start him on his way. He deposited the two mares in a former mule barn he had "fxed up" for horses. Unfortunately, the two mares produced nothing of value. Odd, how mules that had lived in this barn had contributed more to the farm than Hinkle's frst two mares. Mules long had been important to this land. Hinkle's father-in-law, Catesby Spears, used mules to pull the machin- ery that thrashed the Bluegrass seed he raised on the original 600 acres of this farm. Bluegrass seed was at one time big business in Paris. Four blue- grass seed cleaning plants dried and exported the product from Bourbon County, and this family played a major role in the industry. Spears was a partner in one of these four seed manufacturing enterpris- es, the Spears-Kiser Co. Hinkle Farms now keeps offces in the warehouse building where Spears-Kiser bagged its product for shipment and sale, after spreading seeds for drying on the concrete foors. Deep Kentucky roots The Spears family, as well as Hinkle's ancestral Buckner family, has