Spring Garden Ranch was founded in 1912 by Frederick Northrup Burt, the former owner of F.N. Burt Boxing Co. in Buffalo, New York. He started the the company F.N. Burt Boxing Co. in 1886. The company did, and still does manufacture fancy paperboard packaging. He sold it to Moore Corp in 1909 and subsequently moved to Florida. A crew was formed by F.N Burt in order to clear out the untouched land of the ranch’s location in Deleon Springs, Florida. He started building barns, a water tower and a few other structures, which are still in existence to this day. Originally a cattle and dairy farm, Spring Garden Ranch evolved into a standardbred training facility in 1949.
Since 1949, Spring Garden Ranch, with its snowless winters has produced several world champions, including three Hambletonian winners and eighteen Breeder Crown winners. Famous Horses that have wintered at the ranch world champion “Gallo Blue Chip,” who was named “Harness Horse of the year” in 2000, and Triple Crown Winner “No Pan Intended.” The horses that have trained at Spring Garden Ranch have collectively brought in anywhere between $ 7 million to $15 million dollars in prize money annually.
Spring Garden Ranch has changed management a few times in its history. In 2003, the current owners have invested million’s of dollars in major renovations to the facility. Spring Garden Ranch is set on 148 acres of land and can accommodate up to 650 horses, making it the largest standard bred horse training facility in North America. The ranch contains 80 paddocks, 18 barns, 500 stalls, a 1 mile clay track and a ½ mile clay track. The track is maintained by “World Famous” track consultant Greg Coon. Greg Coon has been designing and managing the up keep of various well known horse racing tracks for over 30 years. Some of his work includes the “Red Mile” in Lexington and the “Little Brown Jug” in Delaware. The USTA has certified our clay track at Spring Garden Ranch as being an official USTA qualifying race track. This allows the ranch to hold annual qualifying races before the harness racing season begins. Other amenities include, tack rooms, offices, an RV park, and a recreation center , which overlooks the track. Spring Garden Ranch is also close to many attractions, such as The Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios and many beautiful beaches.