Even in the inherently small world of horse racing, every so often the shifting plates of the business align with a symmetry so precise it feels less like coincidence and more like destiny.Half a century ago, Ron Stolich got to know Verne Winchell while shipping mares to Mira Loma Farm to visit Southern California-based stallion Donut King, the 1961 Champagne Stakes winner who first put Winchell's burgeoning racing empire on the map.Now over five decades later, Stolich has still never met Winchell's son, Ron, but he's certainly familiar with the stable's famed maroon and white silks.Having never missed a race featuring the stable's latest standout, Magnitude (Not This Time), Stolich has had a lot to cheer for lately. The best horse he ever bred has swept his last four starts, rocketing to the top of the older horse division with his most recent score in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes.It would be a thrilling ride for any breeder, but it's particularly sweet for Stolich, who is taking it all in at the age of 91.Magnitude wins the 2026 GI Stephen Foster Stakes | Coady Media “It has just been so exciting,” he gushed. “When he went to Dubai and won all those millions of dollars, oh my God, could you believe that? I can't wait to watch him run again!”Stolich's infectious enthusiasm is not reserved for this one star, who he is looking forward to watching in next weekend's GI Whitney Stakes. The charismatic horseman has been passionate about all things equine since childhood.“It's always been just instinct for me,” he explained. “I'd have my dad stop the car if there were horses by the road even when I didn't know anything about them. Pretty soon I had a little horse and I learned how to ride. I have a photo of when I was 10 at the junior rodeo where I'm holding a pair of boots and a little trophy I'd won.”Those early days at the rodeo in his hometown of Salinas, California gave way to an affinity for show jumping as a teenager. But in 1957, his time in the saddle was cut short when he was drafted into the army at the age of 22. Stolich served a two-year stint in Hawaii before returning home to the family business.Stolich's father ran a massive agricultural operation that primarily grew lettuce, which would be shipped east by railroad cars to New York, Pittsburgh and Boston. The younger Stolich spent eight years working alongside his father and when the business was acquired by Chiquita Brands International, he stayed on for another eight years.At the age of 40, Stolich was ready for a change. He had spent several years breeding horses on the side as a hobby, but as his involvement grew, so did the pull of the sport. He quit his job, relocated to Northern California and in 1979, founded Blooming Hills Inc., an ambitious venture that soon blossomed into a thriving, full-service breeding operation.“It was in the little town of Clements, about 10 miles from Lodi,” Stolich recalled. “It was a beautiful property, but it was far out. That was all I could afford at the time and almost everyone said, 'Ron, you're not going to make it. You're too far away.' But I'm kind of a perfectionist and it was just a beautiful property. I don't know why we got along, but it just started building and building and before you knew it, we had so much business that we hired a resident vet.”During the off-season, around 150 horses called the farm home. The roster swelled significantly when the breeding season was in full swing and at its peak, Blooming Hills stood as many as 10 stallions anchored by their foundation sire, Shanekite (Hoist Bar).Stolich recognized early on that the key to growth was hiring experienced horsemen.“I think if you surround yourself with people who are more knowledgeable than you are, you have a better chance of learning,” he said. “I picked up on all those things and I made it a point to put one person in charge of the breeding shed, one in charge of training and one in charge of layups. Then I could go to the different barns in the morning and go through everything with them.”The grueling schedule rarely wore on him. But after running the operation for nearly 30 years, he sold the property in 2005, sensing a shift in the climate of California's breeding program and wanting the flexibility to travel with his wife, Fran.Stolich retained a handful of his best mares and sent them to Kentucky. In the two decades since, he has maintained a tightly focused commercial operation guided by his longtime friend and advisor, Eric Anderson.Ron Stolich (right) and advisor Eric Anderson | courtesy Eric Anderson“He has always been a breed-to-sell operation, primarily as weanlings,” said Anderson, another California native. “The idea is to get the money up front and try to improve the broodmare band. He has three mares right now. Every year we go through our inventory and we're always looking to claim mares or buy mares. He's been a lucky person in the horse business.”One example of Stolich's good fortune was when he claimed Malibu Mistress (Malibu Moon) for $10,000 at Los Alamitos in 2022. Two months later, a colt out of the mare's half-sister emerged as a promising 'TDN Rising Star.' Shortly after Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) captured the 2023 GI Pacific Classic Stakes, Stolich sold Malibu Mistress for $230,000 in foal to Uncle Mo at the Keeneland November Sale.Another time luck—or perhaps astute thinking—paid off was when the early progeny of Not This Time proved highly profitable for Stolich in the sales ring. Anderson shopped the 2021 Keeneland November Sale looking for more mares in foal to the Taylor Made sire. He landed on Rockadelic, a 7-year-old daughter of Bernardini out of dual Grade I winner Octave (Unbridled's Song), whom he secured for Stolich for $140,000.“She was maybe a little bit average looking, but in my notes I have good bone, good size and good body,” said Anderson. “She had not produced a winner yet when we bought her, but she had a couple of More Than Ready foals that we thought might help us out.”When Magnitude arrived the following March at Ballyrankin Stud, he was everything they had hoped for.“In my notes from Sally Lockhart, the farm owner, she said he was a very handsome colt with the bone of his mother,” noted Anderson.The colt was so impressive that Anderson and Stolich decided to send both him and his dam to the November Sale. None of Rockadelic's older offspring had made an impression on the racetrack since the mare had been purchased, but they wagered buyers would be impressed when they saw the physical she had thrown in her latest foal.Magnitude sold for $310,000 and Rockadelic went through the ring immediately afterward, bringing $110,000, in foal to McKinzie.Stolich harbors no misgivings about selling the future Grade I winner and his dam. It was always the game plan to strike while the market was hot, and for him, the true reward has been enjoying Magnitude's ascent from afar.Magnitude in Saratoga | Sarah Andrew“I wish I could have been able to do this for Ron 10 or 20 years ago so he could really enjoy it,” Anderson admitted. “He's 91, so he probably can't travel to the Breeders' Cup. When I sent him a photo with Magnitude and the foals Ron has this year, he was so excited that he hung it in his office.”That enduring enthusiasm is exactly what keeps Stolich moving at a pace that defies his years. Now living just outside of San Diego in the small town of Bonsall, Stolich walks the beach nearly every morning and logs time in his at-home gym before settling into managing the logistics of his boutique operation.This past weekend, Stolich was represented by another promising program graduate in Lady Diversity (Outwork), who broke her maiden at Ellis Park on Sunday. Stolich sold the future Cherie DeVaux trainee as a weanling at the Keeneland November Sale before she was purchased last year as a 2-year-old by U Racing Stables.In addition to his broodmare band, Stolich maintains a small roster of around a dozen racehorses based in Texas. Last year, he campaigned the champion 2-year-old colt in Texas, It's All Right (Cairo Prince), and the champion 2-year-old filly in Iowa, Somavia (Basin).“Most people my age just want to take it easy and back off,” he reflected. “But not me. I want to go for it! I just want to keep doing what I'm doing and improve it.”Stolich is the living embodiment of the old adage about turning a passion into a career so that it never feels like a job. It may have taken him until the age of 40 to pivot his life toward that calling, but now he uses his own blueprint to advise younger generations.“Find something that you love and go for it,” Stolich said. “Because you love it, you're going to work hard, and then the odds are you're going to do well. That's my philosophy.”The post Keeneland Breeder Spotlight: With Magnitude, Ron Stolich ‘Going For It’ at 91 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.