Former UK athletes turn abandoned property into wine, breeding business

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 12, 2025) — The story below, authored by University of Kentucky alum Katie Petrunyak, originally appeared in The Thoroughbred Daily News. It was later featured in the Fall 2022 edition of Kentucky Alumni magazine.

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Allen Carter and Leslie Nichols Carter are the sort of couple who doesn’t do anything halfway.

The former UK running back and the UK Hall of Fame basketball player had great athletic success on campus. And, their academic success was impressive, too. Allen earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Social Work (1986) and Leslie has a bachelor’s in agriculture economics from the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (1987).

In 2010, the Carters came across an abandoned property on the north side of Lexington that was located just a few doors down from what was once Leslie’s grandmother’s house.

“We fell in love with this property,” Leslie recalled. “When we saw that it was abandoned, we would run up to the front door and put notes on the porch saying that we were interested, but we never heard from anyone. Finally, the property came on the market and we were fortunate enough to purchase it.”

They soon learned that their 20-acre plot was home to Silver Springs Distillery from 1867 until Prohibition in 1918. Water from the spring supplied limestone water that was used to produce pure hand-made sour mash whiskey. But today, wine is made from the grapes grown in a five-acre vineyard that Allen planted on the property.

Before the property was abandoned, it had a building on it that served as a bed and breakfast. After moving into what was once the distiller’s house, the Carters renovated the old cottage house into what is now a guest house.

Soon after moving in, Allen realized he would need some help with maintaining the farm’s lawn. He asked Leslie’s father about purchasing a horse. Fortunately for Allen, Leslie’s dad, Harvey Nichols, and her grandfather, K.C. Wilson, were both well-respected members of the industry.

“I’ve been around horses all my life,” Leslie said. “My grandfather was a foreman at Jonabell Farm for 20 years. He handled studs and did pretty much everything. My dad worked at Stone Farm for Arthur Hancock. He took care of Sunday Silence and a lot of other really famous horses. There were four girls in my family and so I always hung out with my dad. Allen calls me my dad’s boy. But I would go out to the farms with him and horses have just always been a part of my family.”

And as regularly happens with the Carters, one thing led to another and now the couple is involved in the breeding business. At Allen’s request, Leslie’s father found a filly named Princess Laila who could be ready immediately, but by the time Allen had the fences fixed and ready for an occupant, she had gone back into training.

“The guy asked me if I would be willing to split the cost with him in racing the horse,” Allen recalled. “We ended up racing her a few times and she actually won a race. When she retired, I brought her to the farm to breed her.”

Princess Laila produced several foals. Her first, Wine Devine, eventually became another broodmare at Silver Springs. She also is the dam of Sellwood, who sold for $40,000 as a yearling and ended up earning nearly $200,000 as a Grade I performer.

“I’ve just been lucky,” Allen said on his fast start as a breeder. “I guess it’s a lot of listening and watching and research to make sure you’re breeding to the right stallion to get the horse that will sell well at the sales or the horse that will run well.”

Well-respected Lexington veterinarian Dr. Robert Copelan helped Allen and Leslie land their second broodmare.

“Leslie’s family is closely connected with Dr. Copelan and I was joking with him that I needed a second horse to help with the grass,” Allen recalled. “I think it was a week later, he called me up and said a guy was on his way to bring me my horse. I thought he was joking. I ended up breeding that mare as well and selling her foal at the sales.”

The mare, Jana D, produced a $20,000 yearling in 2014 and later a Midshipman gelding named Breacher that Silver Springs raced.

“The neat thing is that before this, Allen really knew nothing about horses,” Leslie said.

The Carters acknowledge that they are far from what is the typical breeder in Lexington.

“When people hear what we’re doing, especially with us being a Black couple, they seem to be very surprised,” Leslie said. “In Kentucky, you’re looking at million-dollar farms near us. People ask us, ‘What is that? Is that a house?’ and we explain that it’s a horse stable.

“I guess for us, it’s about trying to expose racing to more Black people so that they can understand that even though we only have 20 acres, it is a business that you can be a part of.”

As the vineyard prospers — Allen won awards in the 2020 Kentucky Commissioner’s Cup with his 2017 Black Type Reserve Kentucky Sparkling Wine Traminette and his White Traminette won a bronze medal — and their small broodmare band continues to thrive, the Carters officially named their property Silver Springs Farm Eqwine and Vineyard.

Allen entered his first wine competition in the 2020 Kentucky Commissioner’s Cup with his 2017 Black Type Reserve Kentucky Sparkling Wine Traminette and won double gold, a highly distinctive honor given only when all judges consider it to be an excellent wine. At the same competition, his White Traminette won a bronze medal.

Silver Springs has one more venture on the horizon — Allen is working on obtaining his distiller’s license. He is planning for a single-barrel bourbon release soon.

“Our long-term goal for the farm is to expand all the products that we are producing,” Allen said. “We have all our products on our website and a few stores around Kentucky.”

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Read and watch more about the Carters here.