Aiken Training Track

Aiken Training Track is a historic, award winning Thoroughbred training facility used to educate yearlings, rest older horses or bring a horse back to the sport of racing. The track has a long history of producing Champions. Check out the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame for more information.

The track hosts seasonal and annual events throughout the year including the Aiken Trials, Breakfast at the Gallops, Backstretch Tour and Historic Barn Tours.

History

The Aiken Training Track opened in November 1941 and immediately saw success with Shut Out winning the 1942 Kentucky Derby. Elkridge named as the 1942 Champion Steeplechase horse. There were 200 horses booked to train at the Aiken Training Track in the spring of 1942. Notable owners included John H. Whitney with 35 horses in training, George H. “Pete” Bostwick with 20 horses in training, Mrs. Ogden Phipps with 10 horses in training, William Post with 18 horses in training, Brookmeade Stable with 40 horses in training and Lindsay C. Howard/Bing Crosby Stable with 12 horses in training.

During the “Golden Age of Racing,” which according to some experts was during the 1930s–60s, the Aiken Training Track was the home of flat and steeplechase racehorses that were owned by some of the richest and most famous people in the world. Some of these owners included Elizabeth Arden, Walter P. Chrysler, Isabel Dodge Sloane, John D. Hertz, Louis B. Meyer and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr.

#FunFact: The Legend of Blue Peter’s Tree – Blue Peter was a two-year-old Thoroughbred horse who won 8 out 10 races in 1948, was named the 1948 Champion Two Year Old Male Horse and was considered a favorite for the 1949 Kentucky Derby. He returned to training in 1949, but after three months, an attack of appendicitis and a fever of 103.5 degrees left him weak and unable to train. His trainer Andy Schuttinger, said that it was in the horse’s best interest to give him time to heal. He began to train again at the Aiken Training Track in December 1949 and appeared to have recovered from his illness. However, in early January 1950, he developed pneumonia and had to stop training. Blue Peter died in his stall at the Aiken Training Track on January 12, 1950 and was laid to rest underneath a large Live Oak in the infield of the track. This tree became the logo for the Aiken Training Track and still stands today as a monument to Blue Peter.