History

In the fall of 2005, no one in harness racing knew of Diamond Creek Farm. That changed quickly. The father and son partnership of Chris and Adam Bowden aka Diamond Creek Llc, made a large purchase of broodmares, weanlings, and yearlings during the autumn sales. “It was a very exciting, overwhelming time” says Adam. “We had planned on building our broodmare band a little slower, but the offering was very good that fall, so we went with it”.

Farm manager Sarah Smith joined the team as employee #1 two weeks later, and the team of Bowden and Smith ran daily operations for several months…a team of two. “I really miss those days- we were in the barns, mucking stalls, feeding, checking mares… It was a really fun  time for us”, says Sarah. With the foaling season emminent, Adam and Sarah set about hiring a staff to accommodate the needs of the farm. “We worked ourselves to death that year! We had plenty of twenty four, sometimes forty eight hour days during the first foaling season”, laughs Adam. “It was good for us”.

The operation centered on the 180 acre farm in Paris, Ky, but soon growing pains were apparent.  A one hunded acre parcel was purchased down the road to be used as an annex, but the 2006 crop of foals were going to need more room than we had ot offer. Diamond Creek Farm, yearling division was purchased in nearby Georgetown, KY early in 2006. Of the experience, Sarah recalls many brainstorming sessions. “we had the planning summit right in my kitchen- the paddocks, the barn, the flow of the farm… we worked very hard to make the yearling farm not only asthetically pleasing, but easy  for the horses to live on, and easy  for the staff to work on”. The result? A million dollar barn nestled on a creek bank, surrounded by 260 acres of beautiful Kentucky bluegrass.

Over the course of two years, the staff has been added to, removed, repositioned. Proudly, most of the staff has been with the farm for over a year and a half, and will continue on with the farm for the foreseeable future. “Our staff is so valuable to us”, says Adam,”Our guys keep everything going for us, and we reward them for their loyalty”.

After the number of mares increased significantly, middle management became necessary to oversee both the staff and the horses. “That was the excruciating part”, says Sarah. “We- Adam and myself- were very leery of turning over our horses to anyone else. We worked very hard to set our program up to be a really boutique environment. Our standards were so high, I was nervous about finding the right people to carry out our benchmark.”

After searching for several months, Anne Ricker joined Diamond Creek as broodmare manager. “We are fortunate to have her," says Adam. "She is doing a great job, and does what’s right for the horses, which is harder to find than you might think”.

At present, the broodmare band has a population of about seventy five, and will fluctuate very little over the next few years. The band is culled each year, making room for new mares purchased, and also to make room for fillies retiring from the racetrack. Most of the building and remodeling projects are complete, so this year will be a little bit different. “ We can finally just enjoy the process of a year on the farm, instead of miring through six simultaneous construction projects”, Sarah says of the building and remodeling. “We can take a little time to catch our breath and rub on the horses!”
   
The interesting part is that everyone at Diamond Creek is from hundreds-or thousands-of miles away. Everyone’s family is spread out state to state, which can make for difficult vacation planning, but ultimately has created very close friendships between the staff. “We are so connected to each other, not only because of the long hours, but we all have similar goals for ourselves and for the farm”, adds Anne.  “We really do have a team mentality here”.