'Remarkable' Year Puts Hronis Racing on Center Stage

In an era when more and more big horses belong to multiple partners, Hronis Racing is a family-owned enterprise that employs just one trainer, John Sadler. It's a loyalty-based philosophy that has served brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis well, both in their horses and in their central California business that began as grape farming and now is a major supplier of table grapes and citrus fruit.

While Pete can't get to the racetrack every weekend, Kosta and his wife, Stephanie, almost never miss. Sadler has built them a multi-faceted stable that means Hronis Racing has an entry in most Southern California stakes, as well as in overnight events.

Tony Vadurro, an usher at Santa Anita Park, introduced the brothers to Sadler, a meeting that has changed the landscape of the Southern California ownership map. Hronis Racing leads or is near the top of the owners at every Southern California race meeting. In 2018, the stable led the nation by earnings with $7,344,810.

Accelerate  accounted for much of that success, though he didn't do it alone. True, all five of the Hronis grade 1 victories came from Accelerate, but Catalina Cruiser added the Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) and the San Diego Handicap (G2), and Yuvetsi won the Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3). Then, five days before the end of the year, Gift Box signaled what 2019 might look like by capturing the San Antonio Stakes (G2).

"It's been an amazing year," Kosta Hronis said. "It's not just about a horse. It's about the barn. It's about all of John Sadler's work and everything we've done for the whole year, putting together all the pieces. It's been a blessed year, no doubt."

Hronis always credits Sadler with the stable's success. While he wanted Accelerate to win the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) as much as any other owner, Hronis especially wanted it so that Sadler would finally get that long-awaited initial Breeders' Cup win.

Accelerate obliged both of them, successfully capping such an astounding year that he thrust himself into a Horse of the Year discussion vs. that rarest of rarities, a Triple Crown winner.

"Everything came together really nicely," said Hronis. "The horses continued to step forward."

He shook his head, still finding it hard to believe that he and his family have come this far in only nine years, adding, "I guess 'remarkable' is a good word for it."