Perry J. Bolton

Steeplechase stable co-owner was well-known in horse racing

Perry J. Bolton hunted with the Green Spring Valley Hounds until he was in his 80s. Courtesy

Perry J. Bolton, who co-owned and raced competitive horses in Maryland’s steeplechase season and was one of the sport’s best-known figures, died Jan. 28 after suffering a heart attack at his Jupiter, Florida, home. He was 94 and also lived in Brooklandville.

Born in Newport, Rhode Island, he was the son of Alfred “Jack” Bolton, a film executive and his wife, Ida Perry Black Bullock. He was a Gilman School and University of Virginia graduate. His great-uncle, George Brown Jr., saw the first Maryland Hunt Cup in 1894, raced many times and won the event in 1900 and 1916.

Mr. Bolton was a descendant of Van-Lear Black, an owner and chairman of the old A.S. Abell Co., publishers of The Baltimore Sun until 1986. Mr. Bolton was The Sun’s vice president of corporate development and later worked for McCorquodale, a specialty printing firm. He had also been the board chair of Excel Homes.

Mr. Bolton’s first winner as an owner came in September 1947 at Timonium Race Course. He hunted with the Green Spring Valley Hounds until he was 82.

“He was stalwart for timber racing and fox hunting,” said Ross Peddicord, retired executive director of the Maryland Horse Industry Board. “He dressed impeccably and knew the game.”

Cricket Goodall, executive director of the Maryland Horsebreeders Association, said, “Perry was a great fan and supporter of horse racing. He so enjoyed watching his horses win the Hunt Cup. His enthusiasm was infectious.”

Mr. Bolton formed the Armata Stables partnership with his lifelong friend, Benjamin H. Griswold IV in 1993. They owned numerous leading steeplechase horses.

The Armata Stables’ horse Welter Weight won the 1999 Maryland Hunt Cup and finished second four times. His horse Vintage Vinnie won and set a time record.

“He was a happy individual,” Mr. Griswold. “We shared a great interest in fox hunting and racing. We had more fun together. Perry was a wonderful partner. We never had a disagreement.”

Mr. Bolton annually awarded a trophy named for George Brown to the leading Maryland timber race champion. A friend, Stiles T. Colwill, said, “Perry’s uncle was George Brown, whom my father Fred Colwill knew well enough to join with Bryce Wing and Joe Flanagan to commission a silver punch bowl in his honor some sixty years ago as a racing trophy that’s still given every year… We have been near neighbors all of my life and for the past nearly 40 years we have had so much fun breeding and raising our beloved Jack Russells together.”

Mr. Bolton served on the boards of Gilman School, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Institute College of Art and the Maryland Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.

He was a member and played at the Seminole Golf Club and hunted grouse and pheasant in Scotland.

Survivors include his daughter, Aurelia B. Peterson, of Durango, Colorado; two sons, George Brown Bolton, of Jupiter, Florida, and Charles S.G. Bolton, of San Francisco; and nine grandchildren. His wife of 65 years, Aurelia Garland Bolton, a representative for Sotheby’s auctions, died in 2024.

A life celebration is planned for the spring.

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