Kentucky Oaks 2025 Owners - John Ed Anthony (Shortleaf Stables) with Quietside

John Ed Anthony’s lasting legacies in the timber industry and horse racing in Arkansas are forever linked by the names he chose for his stables, Loblolly and Shortleaf: “They’re both pine trees. The loblolly is a larger tree, and the shortleaf is a higher quality and more dense tree. I’ve been running sawmills all my life.”

His family’s business, Anthony Timberlands, was started by Anthony’s grandfather Garland, when he took ownership of the tiny Harlow Sawmill, in 1907. Seven generations later, Anthony Timberlands still prospers: “There were 19 mills in south Arkansas when I came home from college (University of Arkansas) when my dad died in 1961. Now ours is the only remaining privately-owned timber company. My son, Stephen, is president. My second son is Anthony, and he is the pedigree expert.”

At the age of 86, he is the all-time leading owner at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, and when Quietside annexed the $750,000 Gr. 2 Fantasy Stakes on March 29th, he also became the all-time leading stakes winning owner with 40: “They gave me a sign to hold. I just passed John Franks’ record, which I didn’t know… They kept up on those things. I bought {my first horse] a horse in the fall of 1971. My first win was in 1972. I’ve been in the business for 54 years. I guess after so long, you’ve kind of seen it all. Lots of things have changed.”

He's known victory and tragedy on the racetrack. When asked why he enjoys horses as much as he does, Antony laughed and said “first of all, it’s a challenging endeavor. I kind of go back to what Napoleon said in his comeback mode: `If you set out to capture Vienna, take Vienna.’ With the Arkansas Derby, okay? Here we go.’”

He's won three Arkansas Derbies with Temperance Hill (1980), Demons Begone (1987) and Pine Bluff (1992).

“It’s the challenge of the horses,” Anthony continues. “This is the only sport out there when you lose four out of five, you’re doing great. I had to train myself many years ago. As much as I enjoy winning and running well, I had to decide I’m not going to let a horse race ruin my day.”

Demons Begone and Prairie Bayou tested that. Demons Begone went off the 2-1 favorite in the 1987 Kentucky Derby when he bled profusely during the race. “We have the distinction of running the horse that didn’t even finish the race,” Anthony said.

But at least he survived. Prairie Bayou, named for a bayou between Little Rock and Hot Springs, won the Gr. 1 1993 Blue Grass Stakes and went off the favorite in the Kentucky Derby. He was too far back early, but rallied to finish second to Sea Hero. He bounced back to win the Preakness Stakes, a year after Pine Bluff won the race. But Prairie Bayou broke down during the Belmont Stakes and had to be euthanized.

Temperence Hill, Vanlandingham and Prairie Bayou were Loblolly champions. Temperence Hill, who won the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes, was the Eclipse Champion Three-Year-Old Male in 1980; Vanlandingham, the Champion Older Male in 1985 and Prairie Bayou the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt in 1993.

Much earlier in his owner career, Anthony and his former wife, Mary Lynn Dudley, had great success with Cox’s Ridge. “One of the biggest problems was finding people who love to race in New York,” Anthony said. “No one wanted to go to Hot Springs, That’s changed in recent years.”

Cox’s Ridge won 16 of his 28 starts, capturing the 1978 Razorback Handicap, Excelsior Handicap, Oaklawn Handicap and the Metropolitan Handicap. The following year he won the Tom Fool Handicap.

Cox’s Ridge was a phenomenal sire, the father of seven millionaires: two-time Champion Life’s Magic, who won more than $2.5 million; Little Missouri, the sire of Prairie Bayou; Vanlandingham, Cardemania, De Roche, Lost Mountain and Sultry Song. Anthony raced Little Missouri, De Roche and Lost Mountain.

Loblolly Stable and its famed chocolate brown and yellow silks ranked fourth nationally in earnings in 1993 off 50 victories from just 204 starts, but soon afterwards, Loblolly was disbanded when Anthony and his wife divorced. “We had to have a dispersal in 1993,” Anthony said. “She finally wanted out. So we decided to start over.”

Shortleaf Stable was born and then reorganized in 2010 with the assistance of Anthony’s son, Ed, a pedigree and bloodstock analyst.

Trainers Joe Cantey and Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey were key to Loblolly’s success. “I’ve never liked to have horses with the big-name trainers,” Anthony said. “They have horses in so many places. They’re not the trainer. They’re managing. We focus on bright, shiny new trainers like Lindsay Schultz and Johnny Ortiz.

Ortiz has done an outstanding job with Quietside, and now Anthony and a lot of his family are headed to Churchill Downs, where they’ve never won a Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks: “I spent the morning speaking with people at Churchill Downs about how many seats we could have for the Kentucky Oaks. It’s a lot of fun, but there’s an awful lot of us. We have a big family. Churchill is super in supporting us to make it as easy as possible. We’ve been in seven Derbies. The best place to see the Kentucky Derby is on television, but they built new suites since I was last there. Churchill puts on a really good show nowadays. I enjoy going back. A lot has changed in racing in my life for sure.”