Rockaway Farm has added a new 29-stall barn in the last year and completely refurbished the entire 40-acre facility, including the banked half-mile training track, in the past month.
There are now 78 stalls on the grounds and all but approximately 10 are presently reserved. Located just a half an hour from Running Aces Harness Park, the improved and expanded farm is now welcoming newcomers who plan to race in Minnesota for the first time this summer.
Owners Robert and Trent Drollinger have hired Jim Brown, a veteran horseman, to manage Rockaway Farm and make sure the stabling and track conditions remain as safe and comfortable as possible for both the humans and horses that call Rockaway their home base in 2013.
"The Drollingers have a very nice facility and have been very supportive of every suggestion I've made to improve it," beams Brown. "Those who are arriving for the first time are impressed, and those returning in the next week will be pleasantly surprised. We've added all-weather materials to the training track and the pathways that lead to and from it, and have purchased a track watering system. Every trainer is assigned their own large private grassed paddock to turn horses out for rest and relaxation, too."
Among the early newcomers to arrive were Michigan's Don Sherman, Ontario's Jason Ryan and California's Bob Johnson.
Sherman, one of the top trainers in the Wolverine State over the past three seasons, has exercised his entire 15-horse stable over the track, including some speed miles in several of his stalwarts, and likes what he sees.
"The barns are nice, the track seems fine and the atmosphere is very relaxing for the horses," Sherman says. "I've probably got as nice a stable as I've ever had in my 20-year career," he reports, "so I hope we can do some good at Running Aces. I've heard good things about racing in Minnesota."
Among Sherman's stable stars are open pacers Armbro David and Mayfield Hanover, open pacing mare Age Of Consent, and open trotter Abes Little Blacky.
The first shipment in Ryan's nine-horse stable arrived at Rockaway in the middle of the night on Monday, but already the Canadian trainer-driver is impressed.
"I don't know exactly what to expect, but I've followed Running Aces a little since it started and it looks like a great place to race. I'm looking forward to the challenge of establishing myself in a new market."
Johnson's seven-horse Minnesota stable will be managed by assistant trainer Lemoyne Svendsen when Johnson is tending to other horses he has shipped from California to Hoosier Park in Indiana. "I spent some time at this farm last summer," said Svendsen, "and I can tell you already there have been major improvements. The new track surface and the new watering capability are great. With the paddocks and the more relaxed atmosphere out here, I expect horses will race just fine coming off this farm."
A limited number of stalls are still available for immediate occupancy at Rockaway Farm. For information, contact Jim Brown at 954-263-1999.
(Rockaway Farm)