Heartwood Farm Launches on Historic Indian Creek Property Near Paris, Kentucky

Juan Aguilar joined Indian Creek as yearling manager in 2019, earned a promotion to farm manager two years later, and spent the better part of a decade helping horses from the Bourbon County property sell at the top of Keeneland's books. On April 2, he and longtime colleague Sarah Sutherland announced they are carrying that work forward under a new name: Heartwood Farm.

The operation occupies the same 1,140-acre spread outside Paris, Kentucky, long known as Indian Creek and owned by Shack Parrish and his family. The property, which Parrish's family acquired in 1971, encompasses 16 barns and an infrastructure built for serious sales preparation across more than five decades of Thoroughbred commerce. Heartwood assumes full boarding and consignment responsibilities, and the principals have committed to retaining the existing workforce where possible.

That commitment matters more than it might appear on paper. In the yearling and two-year-old markets, where a horse's physical presentation can swing its hammer price by six figures, the grooms, handlers and conditioners who know individual animals are among the most valuable assets any consignment carries. Heartwood is betting that continuity of people, at a facility buyers already recognize, is the offer consignors need heading into a 2026 auction season already underway.

Aguilar arrived at Indian Creek carrying credentials from the highest tiers of American sales preparation, having previously worked with Niall Brennan, St. George Sales, Stonestreet Farms, Godolphin, Kim Nardelli and Ben McElroy. Sutherland complements that operational depth with market access: as the daughter of a noted bloodstock agent, she brings established buying and client networks to a venture that will need both to build a consignment book quickly.

"Sarah and I are very grateful to the Parrish family for the opportunity they gave us at Indian Creek," Aguilar said of the transition. Sutherland cast the launch in terms of momentum rather than disruption: "We're excited and thankful for the chance to move forward with our clients, friends and incredible farm staff."

The operational scope covers the full pre-sale cycle: yearling handling, conditioning, pre-sale veterinary checks and turnout management. These are the granular disciplines that determine how a horse presents to inspectors, walks into the ring and reads on the sales sheet. Indian Creek built a recognizable name at Keeneland on exactly this kind of detailed preparation, including a $1.2 million Nyquist colt and a $2.25 million three-horse Book 1 session from a single Keeneland September sale.

Heartwood is not positioned as a reinvention of that program but as its stewardship, under two principals who helped build its recent credibility. For consignors weighing options ahead of the major summer and fall books, the pitch is straightforward: the name on the consignment card changes, the expertise, the property and the people behind it do not.