John McMahon and Amy Hunter, co-partners in ACE Sporthorses are horseman with a total of 50 years experience between them in the industry. They have put every personal financial resource in to this business, and are currently seeking funding to overcome one final hurdle. ACE Sport horses at Huntington Farms is a small equine breeding business that represents that ultimate goal of following a dream and demonstrating competitive excellence, beauty and strength in the form of horsemanship. It is a business that has been up against the odds from the beginning, working to breed and produce Grand Prix show jumpers in an industry that has been called ‘the sport of kings’, from those with a very average income and middle class background. The decades of work and focus has led to a breeding program that has produced the top 5 and 6 year old young jumpers in the country three years in a row, and now owns equine athletes showing the potential to pursue Olympic goals.
The sport of show jumping requires tremendous commitment in terms of time, in that the horse needs 2-3 years once they reach the Grand Prix ring to generally learn their job and become competitive. 10 years of age is still considered young for a Grand Prix horse, and most of the top horses in the world are in their teens.
In the past year Ace Sport Horses is once again beating all the odds with it’s small breeding program, bringing 2 of these 3 young jumpers to the national level of the Grand Prix ring as 7 and 8 year olds, winning and being highly competitive against top made, much more experienced horse and rider teams. These are unheard of results for such a small breeding program (consisting currently of 10 offspring). The foundation stallion, Cradilo, overcame tremendous odds, reaching the Grand Prix ring with Amy at the age of 14 years after a full retirement due to an early injury (see Cradilo’s story on our webspage listed). The broodmares consist of some of the top thoroughbred bloodlines in the US, including such greats as Secretariat and Northern Dancer. Cradilo’s amazing story has gained national attention, and now the breeding program hopes to accomplish the same with his offspring.