Merriam-Webster defines “prolific” as marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity or producing young or fruit especially freely. With over 240 horses, including 50 broodmares, for Greg Luther’s Prolific Equine, both definitions apply. Luther, whose Real Estate Sales & Marketing Expert Facebook page has 93,000 followers, while his YouTube channel has nearly 75,000 subscribers, has plunged “all-in” to the harness racing industry over the past several years – you may have noticed his mare Tarapasta won the $456,000 Ursula McIntyre Final at Yonkers last week – and he recently made his biggest commitment of all. After being unable to close a deal (one of the few he has ever not completed) to buy the Winners Circle Training Center, south of Columbus, where his brother Todd trained his 75 head, he decided to start from scratch in Paris, Kentucky, about half-an-hour northeast of Lexington. Okay, he didn’t exactly start from scratch. He already had about 60 acres which housed his broodmares, and he purchased another 100 acres to create Legacy Farm. It was an old Thoroughbred farm, so infrastructure was there, but there was no training track. “I’m an Ohio boy. The move to Kentucky was tough. It will just be my own horses, including mares and babies. With what I was paying in stall fees, I figured I might as well own my own place. I think I paid over $3 million to Winners Circle,” said Luther. The space had its challenges, though. The farm had a huge hill and major excavators and track constructors said it would cost $2-2.5 million to level things. He found a local company. Instead of flattening the hill, they proposed digging the top out and placing it at the bottom to fill in the low space. “We knew we would hit rock eventually, but we hit rock just five feet down. So the track, which meets USTA standards, stands level on top of what’s left of the hill. You can see for 10 miles on a clear day,” said Luther. You can view video of the track’s construction at https://www.facebook.com/prolificeq Luther initially chose Kentucky for his breeding operation because of the state’s dual-eligibility rule. “I have two stallions – Catch The Fire and Captain Kirk – standing in Ohio, and now we can meet both the Kentucky and Ohio rules,” he explained. “Building the training center nearby was a logical choice. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter “Like most people, I started small on the breeding side – one or two mares. Then, we bought Catch The Fire and some mares to breed to him. Then we got Captain Kirk and we bought 15-20 more mares. I breed to some other pacing stallions – both of mine are by Captaintreacherous, so that means nothing in the Somebeachsomewehre line. I have to go outside, I have 15-18 being bred to outside stallions and also have a few trotters. As I said, currently it is just my horses, but a lot of people like to come down for KY eligibility, so we will see how it goes. I want to keep upgrading both locations and my horses - I don’t have partners. On the breeding side I want to sell two mares and buy one that is twice as good. My dream is to win the Little Brown Jug, and last year I saw a homebred win the Jug for the Burke Brigade. Think about it. I could have bought every yearling at every sale and still not won the Jug.” Luther said he’s learned some lessons over the years, including what the market values versus what works best for his operation. “I’ve learned there is a difference between a good racehorse and a good broodmare. Lucy’s Pearl was an okay racehorse, but is a great broodmare, with Lou’s Pearlman and My Girl EJ. And she is about knee-high. A lot of what you want in a commercial operation is not what I necessarily want to do. We will do what we need to do make champions, rather than what it takes to get a $200,000 sale,” said Luther, who is very high on Lucy’s Pearl’s current 2-year-old named Lounado. “He has a white mark on his head, so that’s where he got the name. I also have two really nice 2-year-old trotting fillies – an In Range named Kiss Me If You Can, who we paid $180,000 for, and a Tactical Landing – Trifecta Station – I didn’t give a lot for her but she might be the best we ever had.” Greg’s brother Todd trains his horses and although they sometimes have different viewpoints, they usually come to a solid understanding. “Someone in the barn will tell Todd ‘Greg’s not gonna like that,’ or they will tell me ‘Todd’s not gonna like that,’ but we work it out,” said Luther. For me, the most interesting part of our discussion had to do with Luther’s use of social media and his avid promotion of the sport. He is an expert at it on the real estate coaching side, and now he is applying that expertise to his racing enterprise. Over the last couple months, his Facebook page, which has ballooned to 16,000 followers, has had regular video updates on the track construction, on the horses, and even on the stall doors. His plan is for the farm and training center to be open to the public (although the Facebook page says “Not open for tours. YET). “We have to promote this sport and this is how I want to do it. I don’t have partners so I can do what I want,” said Luther. “When we won the Breeders Crown (with Always B Naughty in the Open Mare Pace last fall) I mentioned it on the real estate page and we got a ton of responses. Some of those folks decided to get into the sport, so I referred them to other trainers. We need to get new people in all aspects of the sport. We need grooms and trainers and Vets, you name it. Recently I got involved with a farrier’s organization – we need blacksmiths too, but it’s more than that.” Not only will Luther open the farm to the public, he has a unique idea to get the casual fan involved, not in racing, but in horses. He will invite families to the breeding center at night to watch mares foal! As a first-time horse dad, I find this to be a remarkable initiative. Although I got to see my colt at less than 24 hours, watching the process of foaling would have been an education. “You might get some folks involved that way, specially young people. There’s never enough help, so that could help with that,” he concluded. Luther has actually bought several homes in Paris that he is making available to his staff to rent at moderate prices. I planned to spend 20-25 minutes talking to Greg Luther, but it was a prolific conversation, lasting just under an hour. And I feel like I have enough material to write another column about him. That’s it for this time. Now go cash. Maybe on Tarapasta’s next start. See you next time!