Enjoy Saratoga, Horse Lovers' Paradise!
The Hampton Classic Horse Show has come and gone once more, leaving countless horse-lovers with dreams of extending the experiences of that magical week into a daily lifestyle. The realization of that dream may be only a ride north, to Stone Bridge Farm in Schuylerville, New York, just 10 miles away from another locale where horse history is made: Saratoga Race Course.
A world-class, fully integrated thoroughbred broodmare nursery and training facility, Stone Bridge Farm is on the market for $13.5 million. Listed with Darren Weiner, Managing Director of Douglas Elliman Sports & Entertainment, the property offers some 425 acres over three separate locations. In addition to horse facilities, there are a main house and a quartet of additional staff residences. The main house is a Georgian neoclassical estate built in 2008, offering 5,969 square feet of living space, a lofted three-story foyer entrance, five bedrooms with full bathrooms, a dining room, solarium, living room with gas fireplace, custom kitchen, breakfast area and private office, along with several decks and patios.
“We started in 2002 with one location which had one barn and one house on it, and I’ve loved building it,” says owner Jeffrey Tucker. “People tell you building houses is a nightmare, but in the end everything we’ve done there, the fun of building it was great.”
Here Tucker talks about what makes Stone Bridge Farm special, the enticing environs and creating an exquisite home for horses and horse lovers alike.
Setting Stone Bridge Farm Apart
“What we felt always distinguished us from a lot of other farms was that it was an integrated operation—particularly in New York, where nothing like that existed. Most thoroughbred operations are either dedicated to mares and foals, mothers and raising babies, or it’s a training facility where horses, as they get older, get ready to run and perhaps come back to a training facility. And we just combine that. And we designed it for horses. So there’s lots of space, 425 acres, and we built a bunch of houses and we did it all right so that the help would be happy. We employ about 25 people at any one time.”
On the Right Track
“We put in a synthetic track as part of the training facility, which again is an unusual fact about the farm. About 10 or 15 years ago a company in England installed a synthetic track in some places—it’s made from silica sand, various fabric materials, bound with a wax, and it drains through a big center drain underneath it. So one, we tend to never have a lot of mud on it—we have almost no mud, which is something that dirt tracks have to deal with. And two, the track tends to be the same every day, so horses get used to it, and that’s something you don’t always find on the dirt tracks. We think it’s easier on horses, dealing with lameness and other problems they have from racing and training. The more we can do to keep them sound, the happier owners are, the happier trainers are, the happier horses are.”
Home Sweet Home: The Main House
“We had a wonderful architect. Its got a big atrium, its almost three stories, the center of the house, it has a very light feeling to it, and as you walk directly back from the entrance is a big circular room that sits out back. It’s nice to read in, but you can also watch the horses train from there. There’s a big deck in the back, and you can watch the horses train from there as well. They both look onto the racetrack.”
Celebrate Saratoga
“We’re 11 miles from the racetrack. We get a lot of people who come up for the races and wind up staying and living there, because it’s a wonderful area. Seven weeks of the summer we have racing, we have two big sales up there in August that we generally participate in. It’s a wonderful area. There’s a lot of culture, between Skidmore and the performing arts center, and a number of other entertainment venues. Skiing is nearby, lakes are nearby, and the town itself is something wonderful.”
For more information about Stone Bridge Farm, visit
or call 305-532-0022.