Stonestreet Stables and Bolton, George

Stonestreet Stables and George Bolton have partnered to campaign a number of Thoroughbred racehorses, most notably multiple Grade 1 winner My Miss Aurelia and Preakness Stakes third-place finisher Astrology.

Barbara Banke, the widow of Stonestreet Stables founder Jess Jackson, now operates both Stonestreet Stable and the family winery, Jackson Family Wines, after Jackson's death in 2011. Banke is a UCLA and Hastings Law School graduate who formerly practiced land use and constitutional law.

Also a lawyer by trade, Jess Jackson and his family bought an 80-acre pear and walnut orchard in California in 1974. He converted it into a vineyard and sold the grapes to local wineries. In 1982, a downturn in the grape market forced him to make his own wine. In the years since, the Kendall-Jackson label has become one of the most popular labels in the country.

Jackson named his racing operation after his father. Although he raced Thoroughbreds for a time in the 1960s, Jackson re-entered the game in 2003, and in 2005 he acquired farms in Kentucky and Florida.

Stonestreet is best known for campaigning 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin and 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. The remarkable filly produced her first foal, a colt by Curlin, in 2012, subsequently named Jess’s Dream. Jackson did not live to see the birth of his dream foal, having died nearly a year before of cancer. Rachel Alexandra produced a second foal in 2013 but after complications with both foalings, the mare will not be bred again and will live out her days at Stonestreet's Kentucky farm.

Rachel Alexandra's second foal, a filly named Rachel's Valentina, won her debut at Saratoga as a 2-year-old and went on to win the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes and finish second in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Also at Saratoga in 2015, Jess's Dream made his debut as a 3-year-old and won with a strong closing kick.

The first Grade I winner both bred and campaigned by Stonestreet was My Miss Aurelia, who secured an undeafeated 2-year-old season that included victories in the Grade II Adirondack at Saratoga, the Grade I Frizette at Belmont and the Grade I Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs. She was named champion 2-year-old filly of 2011.

Stonestreet has also campaigned multiple graded stakes winners Kantharos, Kauai Katie, Dreaming of Julia, Rock Fall and Cavorting. Stonestreet has also bought young unraced horses in partnership as potential stallion prospects to campaign and possibly later stand at stud, including multiple graded stakes placed Iron Fist with Regis Farms and multiple Grade 1 winner Carpe Diem with WinStar Farm.

George Bolton is chief investment officer/portfolio manager at WestEnd Capital Management, a San Francisco-based asset management company. He peviously spent nearly 20 years at Alex Brown & Sons, where he was managing director when he left that company.

Bolton grew up near Pimlico Race Course, and both his father and grandfather were involved in steeplechase racing.Purchased his first racehorse in the late 1980s in partnership with Bill Farish, with whom he attended University of Virginia.

 Bolton has owned most of his horses in partnership, the most famous being two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. Bolton, who owned a 20 percent share, was part of the partnership (along withStonestreet Stables and Padua Stables) who bought a controlling interest in Curlin.