Stewart said Hunterton is best judged on the success of the horses it has produced

by Dave Briggs

Fresh off breeding their fourth Hambletonian winner since 2014, and a year after leading all Lexington Selected Yearling Sale consignors with total sales of just over $12 million — the second best consignor total in the sale’s history — Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Farm are again primed to compete for the top of the sale’s leaderboard.

But Steve said it’s just as important to look at the horses they have produced and sold in past years than the ones due to sell this week at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion.

“I think we’re one of the very few consignors that only talk about the horses we’ve sold, not the horses we’re about to sell,’” Steve said. “Most people are saying, ‘Come buy my horses’ and we say, ‘Look what we’ve sold.’

“There’s great statistics and rankings on trainers, drivers, stallions, but there’s not anything for consignors. I think if there was, we’d be right at the top.”

The Stewarts were part of the group that bred this year’s Hambletonian winner Apex. They also own a piece of the son of Walner out of the great Mission Brief, a mare they bred, sold and then later bought back as a broodmare after her racing career ended.

This year, Mission Brief’s Gimpanzee colt Top Gun, Hip #88 will be sold in Lexington. Both Apex and Top Gun’s 2-year-old full-brother Command Center were sold at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling auction in Harrisburg, PA – Apex for $525,000 and Command Center for $500,000. Mission Brief’s six foals that have sold at auction have fetched $3.5 million combined.

“In our opinion, [Top Gun is] very similar to [Command Center],” Steve said. “This one is very, very similar in the fact that he’s a June foal, just like Command Center is, but he will sell accordingly. He’s a solid horse.”

Last year, Hunterton sold 120 yearlings in Lexington. This year the number will be down slightly to 110.

“Every year is different, but when you have 20 Walners to sell that usually bodes fairly well,” Steve said. “If you look at our consignment, it’s pretty much Tactical Landings, Captaintreacherous, Confederates, Bulldogs, Muscle Hills. We pretty much have what you want, that’s for sure. We’ve got Chapter Sevens and what not.

“I would say that we’re right where we want to be. A lot of times, you say, ‘I wish I would’ve bred there,’ but there’s not a lot of that from what we’re selling.”

Steve said his best guess is his sale topper will be Hip #76 Indestructible, a Walner colt out of Jolene Jolene.

“That’s a full brother to [Mohawk Million winner] Venerable,” Steve said.

He said he also likes the following yearlings from Hunterton’s consignment:

• Hip #34 Mandrake Bi, a Walner colt out of Dream Child that is a full-brother to Ari Ferrari J.
• Hip #47 Captain Boo, a Captaintreacherous colt out of Hot Mess Express.
• Hip #68 Targeter, a Tactical Landing filly out of Sarcy. “It is the full sister to Tactical Approach. It goes back to what we were talking about, if you’ve got full brothers and full sisters to Hambletonian winners, it kind of helps.”

“The one that I think is going to be the most interesting… is Hip #728 [Zoetry],” Steve said. “It’s Walner Payton’s first foal. It’s by Volstead. Some people have even commented, ‘Who is that stallion that starts with the letter ‘V’?’ There’s a lot of people that don’t even know who Volstead is, but he stands in Ohio and had that unbeatable filly Down Under. He’s a very good stallion, he’s probably unheralded in the United States, but three years ago it wasn’t easy to figure out where to breed a Walner out of a Muscle Hill mare. We had bred Walner Payton and she sold for $500,000 and made $800,000 and then we bought her back from Ken Jacobs and now we bred her. The best part is, when people ask me, ‘Why did we do that?’ then I go, ‘Look at her and you’ll see why.’

“We just got an outstanding individual. I don’t know who will top the sale overall, but I feel like I know who is going to top the sale on the last day and it’s her. If she’s not the sale topper on the last day, then someone got a good buy. She’s not going to sell for as much as they do on the first day, but that’s fine. For us, we paid a lot of money for her, but she’s the ground floor for what the mare will do going forward.”