Mission Brief colt Command Center leads Hunterton offerings
by James Platz
Coming off a record Lexington sale, Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Sales Agency enters Harrisburg this week with a 57-horse consignment filled with high quality yearlings. The Paris, KY-based breeder arrives at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling sale with a roster that favors trotters (41 in total) to pacers (16 cataloged) with a well-known name at the top of the list.
“It is kind of a slightly broken record that the star of the show will be Apex’s three-quarter brother,” Steve said. “He took a great video, and he’s a very, very nice horse.”
Two-time Dan Patch Award winner, Mission Brief is the gift that keeps giving, and this season is no exception. Her five previous foals have grossed $3 million in the sales ring, an incredible average of $600,000 per yearling. Last season’s offering, G1 Mohawk Million winner Apex, was the first from the mare offered at Harrisburg. He sold for $525,000, but has returned $870,599 in freshman earnings while leading the division. His brother, Hip #152 Command Center selling in Monday’s opening session, is a Gimpanzee colt, making him a full sibling to Kadena.
“He is extremely, extremely athletic and he shows a lot of effortless movement,” Steve said of the colt. “It looks like he just does it so easy. He shows acceleration and stays on the trot the whole time. But what appears to us is that it’s effortless. But this guy puts you in the mind of Apex. You know, he’s not a big colt at all, and Apex was not a big colt, still not a big colt. But he puts you in the mind of that. He’s a very sharp-looking colt, too.”
Outside of Command Center, Steve said that Hunterton is bringing one of the farm’s strongest consignments to Harrisburg.
“I’m well aware that every consignor says this is their best consignment ever, but it is,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the sale. This is a very good group we have going. There are a lot of higher end pedigrees that we’re bringing. You know, we’ve got Woodside Charm’s Muscle Hill filly. We’ve got D’One’s Tactical Landing filly. They are just really good individuals, and that kind of carries to the day.”
Nine yearlings from the consignment will sell Monday. Hip #49 Promises To Keep, is the aforementioned Muscle Hill filly from Breeders Crown champion and Dan Patch Award winner Woodside Charm. She is dual eligible. The same can be said for Tactical Landing filly Duomo, Hip #102, third foal out of 100-per cent producer and millionaire D’One.
Besides Duomo, Hunterton will offer six other yearlings sired by Tactical Landing. Among the group is Hip #346 Cirrus, a dual-eligible colt selling on the second day. He is the fourth foal from Chasin Clouds Away, a Credit Winner mare that has already produced three winners from as many foals.
“He is a very, very nice colt,” Stewart said. “You know, most of these aren’t going to go through the roof, but they’re nice.”
Sublime, Hip #515, is a dual-eligible Tactical Landing filly from Chapter Seven mare Ostrich Blue Chip, a $170,000 winner on the track. The filly is a full-sister to six-figure earner Smooth Landing, and sibling to graded stakes-winning freshman Requiem 2, 1:52.3-’25 ($143,300).
“I think this filly is extremely nice,” he said.
Steve highlighted another trotter from the consignment that he feels is a strong individual. Hip #139 Ava Brooke, selling on Monday, is a Walner first foal from Muscle Hill mare Jula Emmylou Me that started at 3. The dam is sister to O’Brien Award winner and millionaire Emoticon Hanover.
“She will be very interesting to sell, because it’s a Walner filly out of a sister to Emoticon Hanover,” he said. “Whenever you’ve got something like that, that kind of works wonders, you know. That one should sell well. Anytime you’ve got a hot family, the brother or sister or Super Chapter in the pedigree or Maryland, that’s what people always sink their teeth into.”
Steve said that while consigning sale toppers is a nice feather in the cap for Hunterton, offering yearlings that go on and produce on the racetrack is key. He noted four individuals that sold at last year’s Harrisburg sale that have gone on to great things this season. Apex, as we know, has turned in a campaign that merits divisional honors. But another top trotting colt, Endurance, also sold out of the consignment. The son of Captain Corey passed through the sales ring on Day 1, bringing $14,000. He has earned over $550,000 for his connections, winning the $400,000 KYSS Championship Series final and racing second in the Mohawk Million.
Fragment sold last year at Harrisburg for an $80,000 tag. The $300,000 NYSS and $250,000 Big Apple Pace final winner has banked just over $520,000 to date.
“He’s basically won everything,” Steve said. “Unfortunately, he drew the 10-hole in the Breeders Crown final, but he was kind of the king of New York.”
The other standout from Hunterton’s 2024 roster is Topville Lucky. The Sweet Lou filly brought $27,000 in the ring and has gone on to win six of seven starts — including the $400,000 KYSS Championship Series final and a pair of graded stakes at The Red Mile — while accumulating $372,000.
