Godolphin Racing, which has a division in Aiken, owns a 3-year-old colt in the 141st Kentucky Derby.
Frosted, who captured the Twinspires.com Wood Memorial Stakes in New York in March, will run for the roses early this evening at Churchill Downs. The post time for the big race is 6:34 p.m.
"We're excited even though Frosted was never here," said Tim Jones, Godolphin's trainer in Aiken. "It's quite an honor for our operation as a whole to have a horse in the Kentucky Derby. He's not the favorite, but the Derby is a race that anybody can jump up and win. He's got enough tactical speed to avoid any trouble early."
Godolphin is owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, who is the ruler of Dubai. He has a huge international Thoroughbred racing and breeding operation.
"We're a spoke in a very big wheel," Jones said.
Godolphin's Aiken division, which is based on Audubon Drive and leases two barns on other properties nearby, receives 60 to 80 yearlings each September. A staff that includes eight exercise riders and 35 grooms breaks the young horses and prepares them for racing.
The animals are still in Aiken when they become 2-year-olds on the universal birthday for Thoroughbreds of Jan. 1. They leave in the spring or summer.
The young horses are introduced to various types of tack and other equipment. They also learn how to gallop around the Aiken Training Track and how to behave in the starting gate.
"We want to get them physically and mentally fit, and the mental aspect is a big part of it," Jones said. "Horses have minds of their own, and it's a challenge to try and figure them out. There's never a dull moment. By the time they leave here, they'll be breezing three-eighths of a mile."
The Aiken division usually starts sending its Thoroughbreds to trainers Tom Albertrani, Eoin Harty and Kiaran McLauglin, who has Frosted, the week after the Kentucky Derby.
As the horses depart, some of the Godolphin youngsters that were broken in Florida the previous fall, but didn't progress quickly, come to Aiken and stay for a while before going to the racetrack.
"I don't know exactly how Godolpin divides all their horses up, but Frosted went to Florida and wasn't ever here," Jones said. "We would have liked to have had him - it would have been great - but we didn't."
Frosted's 2-year-old half-sister, however, is among Godolpin's current group of horses in Aiken. Named Indulgent, she won a race during the Aiken Trials in March.
"She acts like she has going to be a nice filly," Jones said. "She has class, and she's handled the training well."
Frosted and Indulgent share a mother, Fast Cookie, but they have different fathers. Frosted's dad is Tapit, and Indulgent's is Bernardini.
Dede Biles is a general assignment reporter for the Aiken Standard.