breakers, pre-trainers and pinhookers in
this neighborhood, over the past 25 years
or so, has given a new dimension to Flori-
da's postwar emergence as the meridional
counterpoint to the cold winters of Ken-
tucky and the Northeast.
The roots of the Ocala equine industry fa-
mously trace to the arrival of Carl G. Rose
in 1916 to build the state's first asphalt
highway. The soil proved too sandy, but
this could be alleviated by abundant de-
posits of limestone—which Rose knew also
to be valued in the raising of horses. In the
late 1930s he established Rosemere Farm
as the first thoroughbred stud in Marion
County, and in 1956 the nascent breeding
industry here was put definitively on the
map by the Kentucky Derby success of Nee-
dles, raised at Bonnie Heath Farm.
Subsequent champions bred in these
parts include Affirmed and Holy Bull, em-
boldening those rearing other breeds to
come and exploit the sunshine and water
of Florida. With 29,000 residents employed
with thoroughbreds alone, the econom-
ic impact of the overall equine industry in
Marion County has been computed at $2.6
billion.
