Houghton family’s Sylmar Farm early home to Princess of Sylmar
By Steve Haskin
The Houghton family can best be described as straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, portraying a slice of Americana many people can only imagine
and long for—the home fires burning bright, Ron and Betsy’s four children and 11 grandchildren gathered around at the holidays or helping celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, swift Thoroughbreds running free right outside the house, Amish horse-drawn buggies clippity-clopping down the road, and a 200-year-old log cabin newly restored by their daughter and her husband as a bed and breakfast about a mile away. Add to that, raising one of the finest 3-year-old fillies of her era, Princess of Sylmar.
It should be obvious by now that the Houghtons’ Sylmar Farm near Christiana, Pa., is unique among Thoroughbred breeding establishments in that it has prospered over the years in an idyllic setting not known for raising Thoroughbreds, while maintaining its close-knit family ties.
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