Perry Bolton, the co-owner of a Maryland stable and a well-known figure in the state’s steeplechase community, died at a Florida home on Jan. 28. He was 94.

“What I got from him was the appreciation for nature and the outdoors and a sense of adventure,” said Aurelia Peterson, Bolton’s daughter. “He had 94 adventurous years.”

Peterson said Bolton had gotten into fox hunting later in life and did things like skiing and flying in a helicopter.

Bolton, of Brooklandville, and Ben Griswold co-owned Armata Stables, which saw success within the steeplechase and timber racing communities. Griswold said he and Bolton were lifelong family friends, but their partnership began in 1993.

“It was a wonderful partnership. We never had a disagreement,” Griswold said. “We made joint decisions on buying horses and where to run them et cetera, but it was a very informal but very open partnership.”

Bolton and Griswold received the Bryce Wing Award for outstanding contributions to Maryland timber racing in 1998, according to the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation.

An Armata Stables horse, Welter Weight, held the title of Steeplechase Horse of the Year in the Maryland Governor’s Cup from 1995 to 1999 and in 2001. Welter Weight clinched the coveted Maryland Hunt Cup in 1999. Vintage Vinnie, another horse at their stables, captured it in 2021 and 2022.

Griswold said his favorite memory with Bolton was when Welter Weight won the Maryland Hunt Cup. “Mr. Bolton said, ‘This is the best day of my life.’ I said, ‘Better than the day you got married?’ He said, ‘Oh, yes,’” Griswold recalled, laughing.

In addition to the Maryland Governor’s Cup Series, Armata Stables has received recognition from the Delaware Valley Point to Point Association.

Bolton has deep roots in the Maryland steeplechase community. Several news outlets reported that his great-uncle George Brown attended the first Maryland Hunt Cup in 1894.

“[Perry] Bolton loved horse racing and Maryland,” Cricket Goodall, the executive director of Maryland Horse Breeders Association, said.

Goodall described Bolton as an “old-school sportsman” who enjoyed everything about horse racing, from training to winning. He also supported the association’s Maryland Horse Library & Education Center in Reisterstown, which highlights the state’s history of horse sports.

Bolton’s first winning race as an owner was at the Timonium Race Course in September 1947. He later worked with Joe Davies, who trained horses for Armata Stables, including Welter Weight and Vintage Vinnie.

According to Davies, Bolton was a wonderful owner who cared about the welfare of his horses. Bolton was a “consummate gentleman” and a “great sportsman” who appreciated all the effort it took to win races as well as the contributions from groomers, riders and jockeys, Davies said.

“After he won the Maryland Hunt Cup with Vintage Vinnie … he pulled me aside after receiving the trophy and said, ‘I just want you to know this victory has meant so much to me. This April has been the best April of my life,’” Davies said.

Outside of the stable, Bolton worked for specialty printing firm McCorquodale and was the vice president of corporate development at The Baltimore Sun. His grandfather also chaired A.S. Abell Co., which owned The Baltimore Sun until 1986.

Bolton served on boards for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Gilman School (his alma mater), the Maryland Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and the Maryland Institute College of Art.

“The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was saddened to learn of the passing of Perry Bolton,” Whitney Brown, the BSO’s director of communications, shared in a statement. “We remain honored by his years of Board service and the Bolton family’s dedication to the Symphony.”

He was also involved with the Maryland Daffodil Society. According to his son, Charles S.G. Bolton, his father got into daffodils when he was around 75 years old and fell in love with them.

“If you came out in April to see my father, he’d give you a tour of all his daffodils,” Charles Bolton said. “He loved his daffodils and loved breeding different varieties.”

His proudest accomplishment, Peterson and Charles S.G. Bolton both believe, was preserving Strontia Farm, which has been in their family for 115 years.

In addition to Peterson and Charles S.G. Bolton, Bolton leaves behind another son, George Brown Bolton, who also bred horses, and a host of grandchildren.

Bolton’s family is planning a celebration of life in the spring. In lieu of flowers, his family asked for donations to be made to Living Classroom Foundation, a Baltimore education nonprofit, in his memory.