Kristen and Matthew Esler may be relative newcomers to New York’s breeding industry, but the experience that they bring to their farm is rooted in decades of some of the state’s most successful breeders.

Their Saratoga Springs property is the site of the old Stepwise Farm, owned for decades by Bill Wilmot and Joan Taylor, fixtures in New York breeding and racing for generations of equines, including such standouts as Naughty New Yorker, Twisted Tom, and Incurable Optimist.

Their farm consultant, Jeff Raines, previously worked at Chestertown Farm, the breeding and racing operation owned by Chester and Mary Broman, who have several times been named New York Breeder of the Year. Kelly Zanella, who has bred horses herself, was the real estate agent when the Eslers bought the farm, and she introduced them to trainer John Kimmel, who has been training horses in New York since the 1980s. And their farm is a mile from McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, a mainstay since Joe and Anne McMahon bought their farm in 1971.

“The McMahons have been very instrumental in our education about this business,” said Kristin. “We were received here with open arms.”

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