Aiken Training Track To Host 18th Breakfast at the Gallops March 13

The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation, and Tourism will host the 18th annual Breakfast at the Gallops at 8 a.m. Friday, March 13, at the Aiken Training Track. People will watch horses before they head out to race tracks across the country.

Joe Sharp, a multiple graded stakes-winning trainer, and Larry Rowe, a former exercise rider at the track in the 1960s and '70s, will serve as guest speakers. Joe Sharp has been involved in thoroughbred racing his whole life.

After working as a jockey and exercise rider, Joe Sharp moved to training. He worked under Mike Stidham for over five years and spent about four years with Mike Maker, overseeing Maker's Keeneland stable. Joe Sharp scored his first win as a trainer on Sept. 10, 2014, when Holiday Drama won a claiming race at Kentucky Downs.

Larry Rowe was born in Lewis County, Kentucky. At 14, he started working under Lexington horseman John T. Ward, who owned Fort Springs Training Center near Keeneland racetrack. He traveled to major tracks with Ward's horses, including Belmont Park, Saratoga, and Hialeah.

"Mr. Ward was sending some horses down, so I got on a Greyhound bus and headed south," he said, according to the Aiken Standard. "I found my way to the track and became a freelance exercise rider, although in those early days I did a lot of my riding for John Gaver."

Tickets cost $20 in advance and $30 at the gate. Space is limited. Advance tickets are available at H. Odell Weeks Activities Center, Meybohm Real Estate, the track office, True Aiken, and the Visitors Center & Train Museum. Online purchases are available at e.sparxo.com.