Christine Jones – Director of Stallion Services
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Early Inspiration has a Lasting Impact on our Stallion Services Director’s Lifetime Commitment to the Thoroughbred Industry.
Never underestimate the power of early dreams! Fueled by a fascination with Thoroughbreds in her teens, Christine Jones has enjoyed a long and exciting career in the racing industry.
In the early years, influential Canadian breeder E.P. Taylor played a role, as did the amazing Secretariat, but it all started in Port Perry, Ontario, when Christine was just a girl. The oldest of George and Bernice Knighton’s three children, Christine began riding at age 11 when her parents met friends who showed.
“After having a couple unruly ponies, my dad decided to get me a real Quarter Horse, so he went all the way to Indiana to buy a horse for me to show,” says Christine of the gelding whose registered name was Top Spanish Fly, but she called him “Little John.”
“We showed in Western pleasure, barrels, pole bending – all the gymkhana events. My mother and father dragged our family to every horse show in the summer,” remembers Christine fondly.
The horses captured her father’s interest, but he wasn’t a rider himself. In fact, he owned a restaurant, service station, and hotel, but when a relative got into racehorses, George Knighton wanted in the game.
“My dad first started as an owner with a horse named Better Be Fast – and he was! He got hooked up with trainer J.C. Bentley, an old Irishman, and then got his first broodmares. He bred to horses like Vice Regent and Victoria Park owned by Northern Dancer’s breeder, E.P. Taylor whose Windfields Farm was only 30 minutes from us,” says Christine.
Taylor, of course, was a leading North American breeder numerous times, launching a breeding empire that produced hundreds of stakes winners worldwide.
Taylor was also a friend of Penny Chenery Tweedy, owner of Secretariat, who wrapped up his phenomenal Triple Crown-winning career with a dominant victory at Woodbine in the Canadian International Championship Stakes on October 28, 1973. Christine remembers it well.
“My dad had a horse, Call Him Stanley, stabled in Bentley’s barn at Woodbine. When Secretariat came to run his final race, the Canadian International, he was in the same barn and I got to pet him,” she recalls. “I have the autographs of Mrs. Tweety, trainer Lucian Lauren, and jockey Ronnie Turcott, who used to ride my dad’s horses, too.”
In addition to those cherished autographs and memories, she has a picture of Secretariat with his groom, Charlie. Looking back today, she realizes how special it was to meet that equine hero and the people closest to him. “I appreciate it more now than when I was young,” she says.
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Florida Bound
In 1976, the Knighton family packed up and moved to Florida’s horse country.
“The winters were so bad, and my dad wanted to have more involvement with the horses, which is really hard in those Ontario winters. We’d been coming to Treasure Beach on the Gulf Coast for vacation every year, but his research showed that if you were going to be involved with horses, Ocala was the place to go. So, we moved down here with 11 Thoroughbreds—racehorses and broodmares. It took three trips to get them all moved,” says Christine, who was 17 at the time.
Making the move with the family was John Jones, 19, who worked for Christine’s dad.“He was my first sweetheart and we started dating and then got married,” says Christine. John worked as a vet tech for Larry Shaffer, DVM, for 12 years, before being hired as farm manager at Doug Henderson’s Marablue Farm in Reddick in February 1992. Shockingly, John died of a heart attack while riding his polo pony on February 11,1993. Instantly, Christine’s life changed forever. She was now a widow with two young boys — Bradley and Matthew.
“Doug Henderson is such a kind man. When this happened, he kind of swept all of us up in his arms. He asked me to work in the office booking contracts for Proud Birdie. When the manager who replaced John retired that year, Doug offered me the job,” says Christine.
She became farm manager and was soon promoted to general manager. During Christine’s years at Marablue Farm, the business expanded and stood such noted Florida stallions as Proud Birdie, Tactical Advantage, and Songandaprayer. “We went from 121 acres, 40 horses and 8 employees to almost 700 acres, 687 horses and 67 employees,” recalls Christine.
Because of her noticeable hard work and dedication to the industry, Christine became the first woman ever to be recognized as Florida Farm Manager of the Year in 1998. “This meant a lot because the nominations come from your peers, which were all men,” she says.
“If I wasn’t given the opportunity at Marablue after John passed away, I’m not sure I would be here today, so I have to give a huge heartfelt thanks to Doug Henderson,” she notes.
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Next Chapters
Today, Christine still lives at Stanley Meadows, the 20-acre farm her father bought in 1976. The farm is currently home to four broodmares and their offspring, all of which she owns with a longtime business partner.
The proud mother of two sons, Christine tragically lost her youngest, Matthew, in 2006. She remains very close with her oldest, Brad, who helps her at the farm with daily horse care and works as a surgery tech at Ocala Equine Hospital.
In the industry Christine is known as a people person. That talent serves her well in her current position as Director of Stallion Services at Pleasant Acres Stallions.
She began working with Joe and Helen Barbazon when they opened their stallion barn division in 2014. As Director of Stallion Services, Christine’s days consist of planning matings, coordinating all bookings and contracts, and submitting the Jockey Club reports and paperwork. One of her favorite parts of the job includes meeting with stallion owners, shareholders, and agents to procure new stallions.
“Joe and Helen have trusted me to develop the stallion venture into what it’s become today,” says Christine. “They have encouraged me and graciously given me free rein to negotiate with stallion owners and agents to expand and enhance what we offer. At this point, we’re more like a family than an employer/employee relationship.”
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Early Influence
Christine is the first to say that her early introduction to the Thoroughbred industry still influences her today.
“The whole Northern Dancer saga made such an impact. Those visits to Windfields Farm are always in the landscape of my mind,” she says. “They actually had red carpet in the stallion barn and that made an impression on me.”
She’s made it a point to replicate some of that magic in the stallion shows at Pleasant Acres Stallions. In 2014, the farm held its first stallion show which has now evolved into an invitation-only event held in early January to ring in the breeding season. Each year more breeders, owners, agents, trainers, consignors, and media representatives arrive for the event with up to 750 people in attendance.
“Since the beginning, Pleasant Acres Stallions has diligently worked to raise the bar in Florida for breeders. We are dedicated to bringing in bigger names and better pedigreed horses for our clients. The stallion show needs to be at the level of the horses we stand, so we’ve elevated it to a signature event,” says Christine.
“The Pleasant Acres stallion show is a preview of the new horses and a reminder of the in-house stallions, but regarding breeders and clients, it is the biggest evening of the year to socialize, thank the participants, and welcome new faces to the business,” said Christine. “The breeders are crucial to us and we want to show them we appreciate and value them.”
At the end of each day, whether she’s taking a sunset walk around the paddocks to check horses or wrapping up a late call with a client, Christine often stops to ponder her life as it is today. She admits that riding as a kid was just for fun, however the introduction to racehorses in her teens is what grew her ambition into a lifelong passion.
“It was really the stallions that captured my heart, so it’s amazing I make a living with them now. When I was a kid, I never thought I would be lucky enough to have this as my job,” she says.
“The most rewarding aspect of my career has been the longtime connections I’ve made because of the horses. Making a difference in the lives of the people I’ve met and knowing it matters is the most important thing to me,” adds Christine. “It’s the people who make it all worthwhile. Those connections make my heart full.”
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