In the 1970s and ’80s, Frank “Goree” Smith had to turn horses away from his stables in rural Orangeburg County. There just wasn’t room.

Attracted by South Carolina’s warm winters and Smith’s growing reputation as a trainer who could pick a winner, northern thoroughbred owners competed to send their horses to Elloree Training Center.

Smith had as many as 70 clients and cared for up to 350 horses during the winters back then. But since the 1990s, business has slumped and took a turn for the worse around 2017, Smith said. Today, he has about 150 horses and 20 to 30 clients.

“It’s bottomed out,” he said from behind his desk in his wood-paneled office ringed by trophies and plaques.