Gerald Lilley has decided to trade his snow shovel for sunscreen.

After six years of managing the Manestreet Stable in Rockwood, Ont., he will soon be spending his winters in Georgia, managing the Hawkinsville Training Centre.

Canadian winters often means sleepless nights plowing snow and conditioning frozen tracks. Bundling up in layers of clothing, gloves, goggles, scarves and boots. Only to wake in the morning to start the plowing and conditioning all over again.

Hawkinsville's soft red Georgian clay track comes with its own challenges, but Gerald Lilley has worked on the track in his younger days and looks forward to doing so again.

Only 125 miles north of the Florida border, Hawkinsville is blessed with a temperate climate that is cool in the morning and sunny and warm in the afternoon making it a great place to train a horse compared to the snow and frozen tracks of the north or the extreme heat farther south. Horses stay sound and don’t miss many days because of weather.

According to Fred Drouillard, who has been training horses at Hawkinsville every winter for the last 16 years, “Hawkinsville is the best kept secret in the South. The track is wonderful and the rates cannot be beat.”

The Hawkinsville Training Centre has an all weather half-mile track and a one-mile red clay track. There are 450 horse stalls with dorm rooms at the end of each barn, and RV hookups available.

“Some trainers come to Hawkinsville for the golf,” said Drouillard. "The beautiful PGA Course in Hawkinsville is $25 per game and the Golf Course in nearby Cochran is only $27 for a monthly membership.”

Gerald Lilley is young and ambitious.

"My vision for Hawkinsville Training Center is to make it a top facility for horsepeople to come and train their horses for the winter months," said Lilley.