We are by nature optimists or we would not be breeding nor racing horses, right? Being an optimist is a character trait Hunterton

Farm’s Steve and Cindy Stewart unabashedly wear on their sleeves. In 2020, the year of the worldwide covid-19 pandemic, being

an optimist was helpful as the Stewarts waited for horses to race, and even now as they plan for the future.

Once the stakes racing season got underway, the Hunterton Farm team had plenty of top colts and fillies to watch on the track.

The shining star was Tall Dark Stranger, who Hunterton sold as a yearling on behalf of longtime client Jim Avritt Sr. Tall Dark

Stranger won the Meadowlands Pace and North America Cup, and with his victory in the Metro and Breeders Crown as a 2 year

old, he became the only horse to win all four of those races. As the leading money-winner in 2020, Tall Dark Stranger made himself

a top candidate for Horse of the Year honors.

Party Girl Hill, Tall Dark Stranger’s filly counterpart, was also followed closely by Hunterton. The filly was foaled and raised at the

farm on behalf of client Tom Hill. We watched as she reeled off 14 straight victories, including beating the colts in a division of the

Tattersalls Pace.

Two Hunterton homebreds won major stakes for 2 year olds and have the farm team dreaming about the 2021 racing season.

The 2-year-old trotting colt Venerate, who the Stewarts bred in partnership with Kemppi Stable and Black Creek Farm, won the

inaugural Mohawk Million and showed the kind of speed (1:51.4) that makes him an early-book favorite for the 2021

Hambletonian. The pacing colt Exploit, who was bred by the Stewarts in partnership with Michael Robinson, Bob Mondillo and

Steve Cheatham, won the Metro at Mohawk and then finished off his freshman campaign with a second-place finish in the

Governor’s Cup at the Meadowlands.

When Venerate and Exploit won the Mohawk Million and Metro on Sept. 26 at Woodbine Mohawk, their victories

were the culmination of an unbelievable week for Hunterton. The week began on Sunday, Sept. 20, when Hunterton horses

dominated the Kentucky Sires Stakes finals at the Red Mile winning five of the eight stakes races, with Venerate one of the new

Kentucky champions.

Venerate and Exploit were sold as yearlings by Hunterton and in 2020 the farm again sent yearlings to market that

have huge potential on the track. Courant AB paid a staggering $725,000 for Hunterton’s Walner-sired filly out of

world champion Mission Brief, setting a record for the highest priced filly of all time. Another Hunterton trotting-bred

filly, a daughter of Father Patrick-Graceful Kelly bred by the Stewarts and partners, brought $300,000 in Lexington.

Hunterton’s 2021 yearling consignment will feature several individuals that will likely be candidates as sale toppers, including:

• A colt by Walner from former champion D’One 1:51.3

• A Walner filly from Southwind Serena, the dam of Mission Brief and Tactical Landing

• A filly by Captaintreacherous from My Little Dragon, the dam of $1.3 million winner Stay Hungry

• A Cantab Hall brother to Venerate

Steve and Cindy and Hunterton know how to raise a very good horse, but the planning before that opportunity arises is important.

You don’t sell sale-topping yearlings and produce champions without the right bloodlines. Reinvesting in new blood is a key of the

Stewarts’ philosophy of breeding top horses. The Stewarts and various partners have added three notable trotting mares to the

broodmare band at Hunterton: the world champion Guinevere Hall (by Cash Hall), whose maternal family includes the prolific

matron Amour Angus (dam of Andover Hall, Conway Hall and Angus Hall); Evident Beauty (by Trixton), a winner of $805,301; and

Chasin Clouds Away (by Credit Winner), a half sister to On A Streak, the winner of this year’s Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt Trot.

Hunterton does not stand stallions and has stuck to its belief that concentrating on mares is its winning formula. The farm has

access to all of the breed’s top sires and will be booking mares to the new stallions on the scene in 2021, with Tall Dark Stranger

certainly on the list.

So the cycle continues. The matings are being planned, the foals will be born, and Steve and Cindy will be there to watch young

horses romp through Hunterton’s fields in Bourbon County, Ky., renowned as a birthplace of great racehorses. At this time of the

year, when it is natural to reflect on the past and anticipate the future, Steve and Cindy wish to thank all of their partners and

clients for their roles in helping achieve Hunterton’s goal of producing great racehorses.