South Carolina is worthy addition to Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

With this issue, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred welcomes a new state into the fold. From now on the magazine will include news of Thoroughbred breeding and related events in South Carolina. This brings the total number of states covered in Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred to eight, with the others being Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

We are delighted to expand into this new area, and we believe our readers will be also.
While South Carolina makes no pretense about being a center of Thoroughbred breeding—the state had 72 registered foals in 2001, amounting to 0.2 percent of the U.S. foal crop—it is, in some ways, a hub of Thoroughbred activity.

Many of the region’s top training facilities are located within the Palmetto State.
Last year’s Kentucky Derby/Preakness winner War Emblem started on the road to fame in the tiny community of St. Matthews, S.C.

No towns are more steeped in horse lore than Aiken and Camden, S.C., which over the years have beckoned numerous Hall of Fame horsemen and horses to their private training grounds.
And Aiken, of course, is headquarters for Cot Campbell’s Dogwood Stable—among the leading partnership racing operations in the world.

The annual trek of young horses back and forth from South Carolina training centers is guided, in part, by a solid corps of bloodstock agents—several of whom routinely rank among major buyers at Mid-Atlantic auction sales.
“South Carolina’s contributions to the horse world are a lot bigger than some people might realize,” said Ted Hoover, president of the South Carolina Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (SCTOBA). “A lot of people who live here breed and race horses in other states, so we really don’t have figures on the number of Thoroughbred horsemen in South Carolina.”

Hoover is hoping that the SCTOBA’s presence in Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred (the organization’s newsletter appears on pages 83 and 84) will help bring horsepeople together within the state, and beyond.

The SCTOBA, founded in the 1970s, currently has about 70 members, said Hoover. The membership gets together twice a year, for an awards banquet and educational seminar.
Hoover, who owns a construction business in Lexington, S.C., and is in his third year as SCTOBA president, maintains a small racing stable and keeps two broodmares on his several acre-farm.

“We focus a lot on helping each other,” Hoover said. “One of the SCTOBA’s main goals is to give people information they can use in their individual horse operations.

“Of course we would love to have parimutuel racing in the state. It would be a great benefit to everyone, enhancing breeding programs, tourism and providing all kinds of jobs. We’re still a long way from that happening. But a resolution has been introduced calling for the state legislature to allow a referendum on a bill [to establish parimutuel wagering]. It’s a first step,” Hoover continued.

“Most breeders send their better mares out of state to foal, and breed them back to out-of- state sires. We’re looking forward to the day when we can keep them here, and develop a breeding industry of our own.”