Maryland timber racing losses a stalwart 

©Tod Marks

Perry Bolton, who co-owned Armata Stable with Ben Griswold and campaigned Maryland Hunt Cup winners Welter Weight and Vintage Vinnie passed away Tuesday at his home in Florida at age 94.

A Maryland fixture, Bolton, who resided in Lutherville, formed the Armata partnership with his lifelong friend in the early 1990s and the duo campaigned many accomplished runners, primarily over timber, including Cornhusker, Dynaski, New Member, Toughkenamon, Orsay, Wildcatter, Coal Dust, Brother Sy, Our Friend, and Fashion Line. 

Armata’s Welter Weight captured the 1999 Maryland Hunt Cup and finished second four times in the historic race, while Vintage Vinnie was a back-to-back winner in 2021 and 2022, setting a record for the fastest time and widest margin. Over the years, Armata has sent out more than a dozen horses for the Hunt Cup.

Bolton, who made it a practice to target the annual Maryland timber triple in April — consisting of the Hunt Cup, My Lady’s Manor, and Grand National — was interviewed by Betsy Burke Parker for the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation several years ago, and reflected about his time in the sport: “It’s been one helluva partnership, and one helluva run.” Griswold added: “Looking back over these last 30 years, we’ve had some very good horses, some very good times, My favorite story is when Welter Weight won that Hunt Cup for us – both our first, Perry said ‘This is the best day of my life!’ 

Both of the partners have deep roots in the sport. Bolton’s great-uncle, George Brown, attended the first Maryland Hunt Cup in 1894, and participated in the race many times as a rider, winning it twice early in the 20th Century. Each spring, Bolton would subsequently award a trophy named in honor of his relative to the leading Maryland timber runner. Bolton, who fox hunted until age 85, cited never having ridden in the Hunt Cup himself as one of his great regrets. The duo’s relationship dates back decades, to 1939, specifically, when Griswold’s father hired Bolton’s future wife’s father, Charles Garland, to run the Alex Brown investment firm.

According to an article on Thisishorseracing,com, Bolton’s first race winner as an owner came in September 1947 on the flat. He graduated from the Gilman School and the University of Virginia. Bolton’s farm was bequeathed by his great-aunt, Ida Perry Black, a prominent steeplechase owner. Her husband was an aviation pioneer and chair of the A.S. Abell Co., which owned The Sun until it was sold to the Times Mirror in the 1980s. Bolton’s great-grandfather, Van Lear Black was chairman of Abell for 15 years. Bolton was vice president of corporate development and later worked for a specialty publication company.

He hunted with the Green Spring Valley Hounds, which noted that there would be a memorial service for Bolton in the spring. Perry’s wife, Aurelia, passed away last April. Son George, a well-known thoroughbred owner himself, was part of a group that campaigned Preakness winner and Hall of Famer Curlin. He also co-owned champion My Miss Aurelia, named for his mother. Bolton is survived by two other children, too, Aurelia Bolton Peterson and Charles S.G. Bolton, and eight grandchildren.

Kathy Neilson, one of Armata’s trainers, had this to say about her friend: “Perry Bolton had an extremely good sense of humor. It was my favorite thing about him. He would always laugh at my jokes no matter how inappropriate. He lived and breathed steeplechase/timber racing. He absolutely lived for it. I am so grateful that I got to work for him. He was the best.”

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