Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to this week's Harness Racing Alumni Show. I'm Freddie
Hudson and I'm here today with Trade Martin and Bob Marks.
This week's Harness Racing Alumni Show is brought to you
by Hunterton Farm, selling their consignments at the upcoming Lexington
Select Urine Sale September twenty ninth through October third, and
at the Harrisburg Sale November three through the seventh. For
(00:25):
more information, visit Huntertonfarm dot com. The Metal Lands Racetrack
visit Playmetalands dot com. Also, we are looking for sponsors
for the upcoming October release of the bill o'donald Tribute.
Sponsorships available visit us trots dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
The Harness Racing Alumni Show with your hosts Freddie Hudson
and Trade Martin.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Joining us today is Hunterton Farms Steve Stewart. Steve, Welcome
to the Harness Racing Alumni Show.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Welcome, glad to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
That's always a pleasure to have you. Well, it's that
time of the year again. You have the big sales
coming up. You have Lexington been followed by Harrisburg. Why
don't you fill us in on a little bit about
the Lexington.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Sales, well, you know, I think it'll be another pop sale.
I think that if you just I don't think we're
any different than anybody else that has a lot of
nice horses. And I think that just looking through the catalog,
you know, if you can't find one at Lexington or Harrisburg,
(01:35):
you're not going to find one. So I think, you know,
I'm always encouraged and always think positive, but I think
if you look at the Keeland sale, it's over the top.
I really don't think that we need to be over
the top. I hope we're not over the top like
they are. I think that I think there's the breeders
are making enough money in my opinion, and I don't
(01:58):
think we need to go any higher. I hope that
we're even as the way we've been the last couple
of years. But the demand is going to be there
in my opinion. I mean, if you look at the
USC website, it'll show you to date the perse structure
and basically exactly where we were this time last year.
(02:20):
And I love the fact. The one thing that I
always tell people that I love about the standardbred business
is that you can you can find a year land
at any price range that can compete at the top level.
And the perfect excuse me, the perfect example is we
sold two colts at Harrisburg last year on the first day.
(02:43):
Hip number thirty was Endurance, and he brought a whopping
fourteen thousand dollars and he's, you know, one of the
top horses trotting colts in the country. A little bit
later on the first day, we sold Apex for five
hundred and twenty five thousand, and he just won the
uh Peter out on Friday and they're both going to
(03:05):
meet up in the Mohawk Million on Saturday. So you know,
the fun part in our game is you can play
at the top level and get lucky and do well
like we did with Maryland at four hundred and seventy five.
But there's room for everybody to play, and you can
play with confidence. I don't think that you have to
(03:26):
feel like the chances aren't there for you. They are,
and that that's a that's a shining example of two
horses selling on the same day, one for fourteen and
one for five hundred and twenty five, and they're at
the top of the game. So I'm always encouraged and
I think everybody else should be too, because I think
(03:47):
you have a shot. Everybody has a shot.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
The other thing I want to bring up is that
the sale is September twenty ninth through the through October third,
and that the catalogs are on the way, and that
anyone can also download download the catalogs at the Lexington
Sales Select website.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
That's exactly right. And yeah, they're a little slow getting
the catalogs out this year, but it's gonna be well
worth the wait. I think I think there's eighty If
I vodes well for the shoppers or whatever, there's going
to be an abundance of probably whatever you're looking for.
So I think, I, I, you know, I'm encouraged and uh,
(04:28):
and I think we all should be because I think
everybody's kind of get a drink. Everybody's kind of get
a drink of the success. Now.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Now you probably have a lot of people looking at
the yearines already.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Are there a lot of Canadians down there looking at them?
At this point?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
They're not. The Canadians aren't really here yet. Usually the
Canadians will come the week, you know, prior to we
ship in on Friday before the sale on Monday, and
you'll get it almost seems like after the little Brown
jug this Thursday, you start getting people much more in
the area and so you get much more people uh
(05:05):
coming and and uh and that that's always encouraging or whatever,
you know. I mean, you get kind of a taste
of what uh people like and what they're looking at,
and so it's kind of a preview of the mad
house once you get to the sale. You know, not
everybody has the opportunity to come to the farms to
look at them. They should come if they can, and
(05:28):
uh and a lot of the guys do. But uh,
it's kind of a fun. It's obviously it's an ectic time,
but it's a fun time too. You know. It's enjoyable
to be able to show off what's your three years
of work or whatever to uh and and most of
the people are We've got a lot of nice horses.
So it it's encouraging when they do come.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Now Kentucky is doing fantastic and also and Durance won
the Kentucky Championship on Sunday. Congratulations there, thank thank you,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And then you had you.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Had a couple of third Yeah, you had a couple
of thirds there I saw also, so yeah, you.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Know, we we had three of the eight winners at
the championship. We sold a Philly last year to IRV
Miller and another success story. It was a it was
a we did not raise the Philly, Sweet lou Philly.
I think it's trying to think of the name of it.
But anyway, she won the two year old Phillies or whatever,
and IRV just sold her to uh mister Pollock for
(06:31):
a whole a boatload of money and she won very impressively.
I think it's top Line Lucky or something, top Ville Lucky.
I think there's their name. And Sweet lou Philly that
we sold at Harrisburg for twenty seven thousand, and IRV
Miller bought her whatever and cast here in ten months
later and for a boatload of money. And so now,
(06:53):
and we did the same thing with Yotelly. Otelly sold
two years ago. We sold her whatever and for twenty
five thousand, and the gentleman that bought her, you know,
sold her to mister Pollock last fall or whatever. And
obviously she's undefeated. So and that's kind of, like I said,
that's kind of the fun part. We don't need You
(07:13):
don't need only inexpensive year lands winning. You need all
across the board. And as I'm kind of repeating myself,
but that's kind of the good thing in our business. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Now getting back to Kentucky race, like those finals, we're
going for four hundred thousand dollars each. Do you see
the purses for standard bred's increasing in Kentucky over the
next couple of years.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I think they'll be tweaked that we will. There's I
feel very confident that we won't raise the four hundred
to five hundred. I don't think we will do that,
but I think what we will do is and I
think the Red Miles portion of it. You know, we
have the three tracks. I think the Red Miles is
pretty well taken care of. I think where we might
(08:01):
add here if we have extra money, and we probably will,
would be to Oak Grove and to Corbin would be
my thing. You know. This year we added I think
four legs of the thirty five thousand dollars at the
Red Mile for a four year old. And so but
there's everybody is you know, horsemen are always let's adjust
(08:25):
here and adjust there, and there may be some adjustments
as we go forward. And the good thing in Kentucky
is you have a wonderful founding board or a wonderful
situation where the decision making is in Ivory tower somewhere.
It's a bunch of horsemen trying to we're all in
(08:46):
this together, so to speak, and trying to do the
best thing. And so there's four different levels. You got
the Wildcat at ten thousand, and then you got the
Golden Rod at fifteen thousand, and then you got the
Commonwealth at thirty, and then you got the Championship eighty
and those are the legs and so and each one
of those that the Red Mole has four and then
(09:07):
the other tracks have have two or three legs, and
then finals and whatever so and then the fair program
is very healthy. So it's it's very very encouraging to see, uh,
the success that Kentucky brings. And most of the horses
are dual eligible, so if you don't want to compete here,
then they're usually eligible in Pennsylvania or New Jersey or
(09:30):
or whatnot. So it's very uh, it's very lucrative and
very uh. There's lots of options for you, that's for sure.
The key is to find the good horse The key
is to find the good. If you can find if
you've got a good horse, you're pretty well taken care
of because the money is there, there's no question about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Now the other thing, we have a couple of big
races coming up. We have the Jug and the Drug
Get coming up this this week, and we have the
Mohawk Million coming up. Uh, what are your what are
your what do your feels there?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well? I think that the Jug is always fun. Sindy
and I try to make it up if we can.
If we're not, you know, don't get too many lookers
on Thursday and and this Thursday. But we hope to
go there and you know, take hands and and tell
people what we have and that that's always fun. And
then we'll then we'll have a fun night, hopefully a
fun night. Uh. We own part of Apex and we
(10:26):
own part of Maryland. So they both were racing on
Saturday at their big night at uh at Mohawk on
Saturday night. So uh, there's there's a lot going on,
and there's a whole lot of money being given out
at the moment, which is perfect right before the sales
and and uh, you know, and you have all the
I think Ohio goes after their sale this past Friday,
(10:46):
but uh, a lot of the money is is distributed
right before the sales, which is kind of a nice
situation for everybody to kind of see where they're at.
So yeah, I think it's gonna be. Uh it's a
very very fun time of the year to kind of
see and it's you know, whether it's us going off
three years of of deciding who to breed your mayor
(11:08):
to to yearland time, to the guys that bought Ireland's
last year and the year before showing off what whether
they bought the right ones or not. So it's kind
of a show me time of the year, that's for sure.
And it's it's fun, you know. I mean, that's kind
of what we all do this for.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Correct And that you also have a consignment going to
the Harrisburg sale, which is good, which runs from November
three through November seventh. Any thoughts on the Harrisburg sale
or anything you want to share with us about the
Harrisburg consignment.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I think that it'll be a very good sale. I
think that, you know, I think people fall over themselves
trying to find good horses and and there's there's lots
and lots of good horses at Harrisburg. Also, if you
just look at Apex and UH and Endurance as an
example of the two horses we sold, and then Top
(12:01):
Bill Lucky. I mean we sold three of the top
you know, not champions, but we'll see, but three top
top horses that we sold in our consignment last year.
I think we've got about just about We always stay
around fifty or fifty eight yearlings at Harrisburg, and it's
(12:21):
a good situation. You know, it's at the end of
the year and whatnot, and the tradition there is there's
no better tradition than Harrisburg. So I you know, I
think it'll be a very good sale there. Also, no
I was just you know, I mean with some of
the some of the new stallions and and a lot
of the other ones, I think the Bulldogs are going
to do very well this year selling. We've got several
(12:42):
really really nice ones to sell, and then you've got
some of the old guard of Walner's and tactical landings
and whatnot. I think there's you know, many years there's
been times where a certain stallions is lays over everybody
else and it's like, well, if you don't have one
of them, you really don't have much of a chance.
But I don't feel that way at all. I think
(13:04):
there's enough stallion success across the board that everybody can
You don't have to have a walner. You don't have
to have you know, there was no there wasn't a
whole lot of screaming and hollering looking for Captain Cory's
last year. But obviously a lot of people have been
rewarded by buying them last year, so you know, there's
(13:28):
it seems like there's a smorgas board of stallions.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I want to say one thing, Steve, like I just
looked at the charts here and currently you're sitting in
third place for the breeders who are on the year,
You've had two hundred and forty starters and one hundred
and fifty seven winners and earnings of six million, three
hundred and fifty nine thousand. Congratulations on that, and that
looks like a great year for you guys.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
The Lynchington Select Sale is taking place September twenty ninth
through Friday, October third. The Harrisburg Sale is taking place Monday,
November third through Friday, November seventh, check out the Hunterton
Farm consignment. That's a wrap for this week's show. Steve,
thank you so much for joining us, and please don't
forget to join us again next week now. Just a
(14:16):
little reminder, Hunterton Farm selling their consignments at the upcoming
Lexington Select Urine Sale September twenty ninth through October third,
and at the Harrisburg Sale November third through the seventh.
For more information, visit Huntertonfarm dot com. The Meatallands Racetrack
(14:36):
visit play Metalands dot com. Also, we are looking for
sponsors for the upcoming October release of the Bill o'donald Tribute.
Sponsorships available visit us trots dot com.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
The Huntess Racing Alumni Show