Growing up in Steuben County in southwestern New York State, Dr. Guy Hammonds cherished visits to his uncle’s dairy/horse farm.

“I would go up there and help on the farm,” Hammonds said. “My grandparents were there and my cousins. I’d go to the county fairs with him when he raced. That’s the first thing I wanted to do. He had a stallion and mares, too. As a kid, you really got to appreciate standardbreds. I said, `If I could do it, I’d want to have a farm with babies.’”

Now, at the age of 52, Guy, his wife, Jennifer, and their five children have dozens of babies, racehorses, broodmares and a stallion on their Steuben Farm in Bath, New York. The farm is named for the county, which in turn derived its name from Baron von Steuben, a Prussian colonel who crossed the Atlantic Ocean to help George Washington win the Revolutionary War.

“He had a lot of experience on how to prepare troops and how to march them,” Guy said.

So Guy named his farm, his nearby veterinary clinic and his horses with the good colonel in mind, and the colonel would be pleased with how those horses have been prepared for battle in the New York Sire Stakes.

Last year, Steuben Lone Pine, a three-year-old trotting filly by Sand Vic out of Pine For and who is owned and trained by Vernon Downs-based David Fisher, won an $86,577 NYSS leg at Yonkers Raceway. On Saturday night, she took a lifetime mark of 1:55.3 winning a conditional race at Vernon Downs.

“She’s going to be a good broodmare for him at some time,” Fisher said.

Fisher and Hammonds have been working together for more than eight years.

“He’s pretty fascinating in all the things he’s done,” Fisher said. “We’re a good team. He doesn’t bother me about the training and he understands that there’s going to be ups and downs in the business. He’s just a good owner to have.”

Two other Steuben horses have done well in the Excelsior Division of the NYSS this year: Steuben Patriot, a three-year-old son of Bettors Delight, won legs at Goshen and Buffalo Raceway, and Steuben Dreamboat, a two-year-old daughter of Crazed, also won at Buffalo Raceway.

The Hammonds think they know the key to their success: not being there in person.

“For me, it’s tough to go because I’m not good luck,” Guy said.

His wife, Jennifer, added, “We kind of have this superstition: The horses don’t seem to do as well when we’re there, so we watch the races on computer. If it works, you don’t want to change it.”

And things are going pretty well for the Hammonds these days. They recently added a stallion to Steuben Farm, Passailed.

“He used to stand in Quebec,” Guy said. “His first crop are two-year-olds this year. Some are racing now. Some have won qualifiers.”

And one, Steuben Gypseysoul, a 2-year-old pacing filly, won a New York Sire Stakes County Fair race at Dunkirk on July 2.

But the success the Hammonds are having would never have happened without a crucial decision Guy made in 2001 when he learned that Joe Robbins was looking to sell his farm, which included a half-mile track.

“They said they were going to sell the farm,” Guy said. “I said, `Here’s my opportunity.’ It’s just grown from there. We have about 65 head, including 25 broodmares, and we farm 600 acres.”

The Hammonds grow corn, soy beans, oats and hay.

“We’re pretty much self-sufficient,” he said. “We grind and mix our own feed and hay, and we sell a lot of hay.”

He also has a veterinary clinic 15 miles away, concentrating on small animals, cattle and horses.

How he’s able to do all this every day is a mystery.

“He’s real busy,” Jennifer, who helps with the books, said. “I wouldn’t see my husband every day if I wasn’t married to him.”

She’s very happy that she is. She did not have a background in horses.

“I just married into it,” she said. “I grew up on a beef farm with pigs in Martinsburg, West Virginia. I met my husband in school in Pennsylvania. We were at the same clinic. I was a technician. It was a summer job.”

She’s pretty much full-time now with their horses and couldn’t be happier doing so.

“I really enjoy the farm life,” she said. “It was great getting back to it. I enjoy the horses. From seeing their ultra-sounds – it’s just like with people, you can see their little hearts – to seeing them born and then go out on the racetrack … I enjoy it very much.”

Their five children range in age from 11 to 24. Greg, the oldest, works as a logistics specialist for the international feed company, Cargill. Mark, 21, just graduated from college and wants to go to a veterinary school. Liz (16), Shelby (13) and Wyatt (11) are still in school. Greg and Mark worked summers on Steuben Farm, using the earnings to help pay for college.

Paul Knowles is the farm manager, which continues to increase in scope.

“I could never have envisioned that it would be this big,” Guy said. “It’s just hard to believe we’ve grown that much. We started out breeding a couple of mares. They were nothing special.”

What they helped accomplish certainly is: Asked what makes him happiest about any of his endeavors, breeding horses, raising horses, farming, veterinarian work, Guy said, “What makes me happy is in the spring when we have all the mares and the foals; when we’re ready to turn them; and to watch them, the mares and their foals, run on that green pasture. That’s why I like it so much.”

His uncle probably liked it, too.

(HHBNYS)