Two professional golfers who live in Aiken are taking a swing at the Sport of Kings.
Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown, who both play on the PGA Tour, are among the partners in a 2-year-old Thoroughbred named Hiyo.
The chestnut colt is being prepared for racing by trainer Cary Frommer at the Aiken Training Track.
"He's a big, strapping, good-looking horse, and he is still growing," Frommer said of Hiyo. "He's got a lot of maturing to do, but he's done everything we've asked of him very easily and nicely."
The Club Racing LLC put together the group of about 20 people who own Hiyo.
"He is a really attractive horse, and he's doing really well," said Sean Feld, a Kentucky bloodstock agent who is one of The Club Racing's managers.
Kisner's friendship with Willie and Katy Harnett led to him becoming a partner in Hiyo.
"They are our neighbors, and they were getting involved," Kisner said. "My wife (Brittany) and I hang out with them when I'm home."
Hiyo was a weanling at the time and one of several horses in a pinhooking partnership put together by Feld, who bought the colt at the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale in Kentucky for $7,000.
"We put him in the (2014) Keeneland September yearling sale and set a reserve, but he didn't reach it, so we bought him back," Feld said. "Then The Club Racing purchased him from the pinhooking group for $18,000 and started syndicating him to race."
Kisner decided he wanted to be part of that venture as well.
"It's been cool to have him in Aiken and be able take my daughter, Kate, to see him," Kisner said. "We've watched him breeze, and it's been a cool experience. She'll be a year old Tuesday (June 9). I just stand there and let her point at him. I'm not well versed in racing, but I've been to steeplechases and been around horses because I'm from Aiken. I let my friend Katy (Hartnett) explain it to me."
Hiyo is scheduled to leave Aiken soon and go to trainer Mark Hennig in New York. Kisner is looking forward to seeing the colt race.
"It's going to be the best part of the whole deal," Kisner said. "I heard one of the riders say the other day that he is starting to wake up. If I hit a home run with him, I guess I'll have to keep doing stuff like this as long as it's not financially painful."
Brown didn't become a partner in Hiyo until early this year.
"I got into it because my daughter, Elly, who is 3, loves horses," he said. "It was a way for me to get her close to a horse. She and my wife travel with me, but when we're home, Britney will take our golf cart and they'll go see him (Hiyo) and feed him carrots. I haven't been to see him as much as they have."
Frommer, meanwhile, is becoming more interested in golf.
"I've met them (Kisner and Brown) both, and they couldn't be nicer," she said. "I wouldn't say that I'm an avid golf fan yet, but I love any sport at the top level. When they're playing, it's more interesting because I have somebody to root for."
Other local residents who are partners in Hiyo are Rick Hartnett, Alice Knowles, Jason Rabun, Kendall Wheeler and Chad Ingram.