Keeneland, Investing in Racing's Future since 1936.
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44 SUMMER 2016 K KEENELAND.COM horse racing and breeding, altering a land- scape that had been on an upward track for more than a dozen years. Auction pric- es declined. All over Central Kentucky, horse farms went up for sale. Like all oth- er breeders, the Hinkles shouldered some very discouraging years following 1986. Tom, mainstay of the farm, was tran- sitioning more into the family's construc- tion business by the late 1980s and this also affected the horse operation. "I wasn't able to give attention to try- ing to build the boarding and sales side of the business," Tom said. As a result, "I sort of got left in the dust by the Taylor Mades and the Eatons." The Hinkles might not have competed in numbers, but they did have their suc- cesses. From Forty Niner's frst crop they bred Tactical Advantage, a graded stakes winner. Additional graded stakes winners they bred have included Ageless and Buy the Barrel. Their most recent successes are Divisidero and Weep No More. The farm's website points out, "Over 10 percent of our graduates are stakes winners." The Hinkle Farms that re-emerged in the past decade is a completely different operation, described today as a "boutique." The Hinkles continue to send yearlings and mares to the sales. But they are basi- cally out of the boarding business, keeping mares for only one longtime client, Bonner Young. Their focus has changed to fami- ly-owned horses, like Seeking Gabrielle, dam of Nyquist. Hinkle Farms purchased the mare for $100,000 at Keeneland's No- vember breeding stock sale in 2013. However, Hinkle Farms did not breed Nyquist, winner of the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Stakes at Keeneland. "We bought the mare when Nyquist was a weanling," Tom said. The colt went through the auc- tion immediately preceding his dam. The Hinkles already had the dam, Seeking Gabrielle, on their list to buy. Seeing the weanling, Nyquist, made the family more determined to acquire the mare. "We nev- er owned Nyquist. He was never on this farm," Tom said. "We're the benefciaries of buying his mother." On the frst weekend in April, Seeking Gabrielle and Madame Du Lac, the dam of Divisidero, stood in stalls opposite the aisle from each other in the foaling barn at Hinkle Farms. Both had foaled March 25: Seeking Gabrielle with a colt by Flatter and Madame Du Lac with a flly by Orb. Crosswinds, the dam of Weep No More, had foaled a Curlin colt on March 22. The once-rosy cast to the landscape of the breeding business seemed solidly in place again at Hinkle Farms. Nyquist won the Florida Derby that weekend, earning a $1 million bonus. The following week at Keeneland, Crosswind's daughter, Weep No More, won the Central Bank Ashland. It goes without saying that the offspring of these two mares will be invaluable con- signments at upcoming sales. "For all the good things you do, this just makes up for all the mistakes you make," Tom said, far too humbly. Turning more serious, he added, "I don't think we have any secrets, but I guess if you stick around long enough, you do fnally make some good decisions and have some good fortune. I do think we have learned some things over the years about stallion selec- tion and what works and what doesn't work." Whatever the changes that have come to Hinkle Farms, the constant has been the land. The farm's tree nursery, where oaks raised from acorns are now saplings, is testament to this family's unchanging and enduring respect for this land. "I won't beneft from these saplings, but maybe Anne Archer's children will," said Tom. The idea, as always, is the permanence of the land through the many generations of this family that have lived on it. This was the idea Catesby Spears and Buckner Hinkle had for their families "We want the land to continue to be owned by our family," Tom said. The little saplings in the nursery and the showy trees that line the entrance drive are visible signs of the family's longstanding commitment to this property. Success with horses has been the payoff in the family's long history in Bourbon County. KM From left, Hinkle Farms' star mares are Crosswinds, with a Curlin colt; Seeking Gabrielle, with a Flatter colt that is a half brother to Derby winner Nyquist; and Madame Du Lac, with an Orb flly. passion for the land