by James Platz

Last year Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Sales Agency sold the second-highest priced yearling at Harrisburg’s annual sale. This year, the Paris, KY-based operation arrives at the Standardbred Horse Sale Company auction with a 53-yearling consignment consisting of a near-even distribution between trotters (29) and pacers (24).

“We always stay right around 100 for Lexington and 50 for Harrisburg,” said Steve. “Obviously we sell more in Lexington because of logistics, but we’ve always liked Harrisburg. As we go forward, we continue to improve the quality of yearlings going there, because we think it’s a very good sale.”

The quality of Hunterton’s consignment will be on display in the first session at the Pennsylvania State Fair Show Complex, headlined by a Walner colt out of the great Mission Brief. Apex, a New Jersey and Kentucky eligible colt that is a half-brother to Vic Zelenskyy, is cataloged as Hip #82. Mission Brief’s four previous foals sold at Lexington, with last year’s offering, Kadena, bringing $800,000. This year, Steve swapped foals from Mission Brief and Jolene Jolene, after the latter’s 2023 offering brought the second highest price at the Pennsylvania sale.

“It’s happened twice now where Jolene Jolene and Mission Brief have the exact same thing,” he said. “Last year they both had Gimpanzee fillies; one sold for $800,000 and the other sold for $535,000. This year we’ve got two Walners. The one sold for $350,000 at Lexington. This year we switched things up a little. I’m glad we did. A lot of times horses change quite a bit in the four or five weeks in between. He has changed a lot. He’s still changing; he’s growing and filling out more. He took a great video, and we’re excited about selling him.”

Highly accomplished on the track, Mission Brief is a 100-per cent producer as a broodmare. Freshman Kadena was twice a winner in Kentucky Sires Stakes Commonwealth series action, while sophomore Vic Zelenskyy is a five-time winner with a 1:50.1 mark, a time that is second only to Sig Sauer’s 1:49.3 clocking this season among sophomore trotters.

“I think this colt will sell very well,” Steve said. “They’ve all shown a lot of speed and talent, but not a lot of money yet. Vic Zelenskyy is starting to show the true talent of the family.”

Steve highlighted a few other horses from the consignment that he believes are notable. Fragment, Hip #253, is a Huntsville colt that is New Jersey and Kentucky eligible. He is the sixth foal from Rocknroll Hanover mare The Show Returns, sister to Put On A Show, who has produced three winners to date but only one six-figure earner.

“The mare hasn’t really set the world on fire, but the colt is very, very nice, and he’ll sell accordingly,” Steve said. “He’s tremendously athletic. He’s not all that big. The mare is not big, but I can just see him buzzing around those half-mile tracks in New York.”

He also singled out a pair of trotters, Hip #354 Deuce Pop and Hip #30 Endurance. Deuce Pop is a dual-eligible Tactical Landing colt from $150,000 winner Atlantic Crest. Endurance is a dual-eligible Captain Corey colt that sells on the first day, out of Muscle Massive mare Love Session.

“The sleeper in the sale, I think, is a Tactical Landing out of a mare that hasn’t produced anything yet, but this is the first one that we have raised,” Steve said. “He’s a really handsome colt that took what I thought was a great video. He’s a beautiful horse. So is the Love Session colt from Captain Corey that sells the first day.”

Hunterton’s consignment is represented by a wide array of stallions, with 10 different pacing sires — seven by Captain Crunch, four by Huntsville, three each from Perfect Sting and Cattlewash, and two from Sweet Lou — and 11 trotting sires, led by six from Green Manalishi S and five by Greenshoe. Yearlings in the group are eligible to the programs in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Ontario.

“From top to bottom you’ve got an extremely high-priced yearling selling the first day and then you’ve got some that won’t bring top dollar,” Steve said. “A lot of people will say that Hunterton only sells their best at Lexington. I have to remind them that the last Hambletonian winner that came from Harrisburg is one that we bred, Forbidden Trade. So, it throws out the theory that we only sell our best at Lexington. That’s not true.”

Dual eligibility has become an important distinction with the resurgence of the Kentucky program, and many of the yearlings in Hunterton’s consignment are eligible to the lucrative stakes in the Bluegrass. Of the 53 consigned, 36 are Kentucky eligible.

“You’re talking to someone from Kentucky,” Steve said. “I think the bottom line is it still comes back to the individual. Is it good to be Kentucky eligible? Absolutely. But I don’t think it’s a death knell if you’re not.”

Last year, Hunterton sold 55 yearlings at Harrisburg, averaging $46,273.