From what was a large cotton and corn field, champions have grown and been developed at the Springdale Training Center.
The 450-acre world-class facility, discovered by accident in 1927 by Harry Kirkover while working some of his champion hunting dogs, is home to the Carolina Cup and Colonial Cup steeplechase races.
The course, which is owned by the state of South Carolina, is open 365 days a year.
The brainchild of Kirkover and his business partner and Jell-O founder Ernest Woodward, the pair purchased the property in 1927 and developed Springdale into a track much like those which they had seen in Europe.
The first Carolina Cup was run at Springdale in 1930 and continues to hold its early spring spot on the National Steeplechase Association schedule. In November of 1970, the inaugural Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup Steeplechase Races — featuring the nation’s first steeplechase race offering a six-figure purse — were contested at Springdale. The fall race meet ran until 2016. The Carolina Cup Racing Association reinstated the Colonial Cup Races in the fall of 2024 and they continue to run in November.
The Carolina Cup Races and the Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup Races provided Camden with a unique place in steeplechasing history, but the Springdale Training Center is more than just a place for jumpers.
Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard won eleven Eclipse Awards with horses trained at Springdale Training Center. Nine steeplechase winners and two flat horses; Forever Together and Informed Decision. Also of note, Jonathan Sheppard trained the legendary Storm Cat at Springdale in his early years.
The Training Center was also the winter home for Hall of Fame conditioners Janet Elliot and the late Burling Cocks. Elliot, the winningest female trainer in American steeplechase history, trained two-time Eclipse Award winner Flat Top out of her barn in Springdale’s adjoining facility located across the street. Cocks, a Springdale staple for the majority of his career, brought two-time Eclipse champion Zaccio to freshen in Camden during the winter months.
Hardly a one-dimensional facility, horses which have gone on to bigger and better things on the flat track have graduated from Springdale.
Kirkwood Stables, a premier two year old sale business, was based at Springdale Training Center for over forty years. Kirkwood produced Eclipse Award winners Smoke Glacken and Soaring Softly, Kentucky Oaks winner Gal In A Ruckus and Plum Pretty, Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus and Breeders Cup Classic winner Alphabet Soup. Most recently, Kirkwood produced Mucho Gusto who won the 2020 Pegasus World Cup.
Springdale Training Center is currently home to the very successful steeplechase stables of Kate and Bernie Dalton’s FitzDalton Stables who produced multiple graded steeplechase stakes winner Abaan.
Arch and Wendy Kingsley’s Long Leaf Stables who produced 2023 steeplechase Eclipse Award winner Merry Maker.
Frank and Daphne Wooten’s Frank Wooten Stables is training twenty to thirty yearlings each winter. Wooten Stables has produced multiple graded stakes winners, as well as an Eclipse Award winner and Breeder’s Cup winner. Recent stakes winners include Tom’s D’Etat and Masqueparade.
Donna Freyer’s Custom Care Stables trains twenty to thirty yearling and older horses year round. Custom Care produced recent graded stakes winners Get Stormy and Get Smokin.