Magalen O. Bryant

Magalen O. Bryant, the respected long-time steeplechase owner, has continued to operate the family stable of her father, George Ohrstrom Sr. and her late brother George Ohrstrom Jr. with 120 horses in the United States and 150 in France. She has also owned horses in partnership with Centennial Farms. “On many horses,” said Cynthia Curtis, Bryant’s racing manager in the U.S. 

Curtis picked out V.E. Day at the Ocala Breeders’ March Two-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale last year. Bryant purchased him for $135,000.

Bryant has been a prominent environmentalist in Loudon and Fauquier Counties, west of Washington, D.C. She owns Locust Hill Farm in Middleburg, Va., and was one of the first property owners in that area to place her land in a conservation trust. Chairperson of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Bryant received the Land Trust of Virginia’s Conservationist of the Year Award in 2011. That same year, her home-bred Ptarmigan was the National Steeplechase Association’s Filly and Mare Champion.    

Bryant let Curtis do all the talking at the Travers’ post-race press conference. Later, in the Trustees Room, she wept watching the replay of V.E. Day’s historic victory. Someone mentioned that Art Sherman was 77 when his best horse, California Chrome, came along. “Heck, that’s a baby,” she told Steve Haskin of The Blood-Horse. “I’m 85 and I don’t give a damn anymore what anybody thinks. I still have lots to do. And today was the first goal.”

Willis Horton

Willis Horton, who at the age of 73 is five years younger than his Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, is a native of Marshall, Arkansas, who developed D.R. Horton Custom Homes, which became the nation’s largest builder of single-family homes. Horton retired when the company went public in 1992. That allowed him to pursue his passion: horses. He’d had them growing up, and he became the managing partner of Horton Stable, which included his brother Leon, his son Cam, and his nephew Terry. Among their best horses were Kentucky Oaks winner Lemons Forever, and Partner’s Hero.

Horton fell in love with Will Take Charge, a colt in the 2011 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “I liked his pedigree, his size, and his conformation is terrific,” Horton said. “I’ve been in this business for about 50 years, and not on a big scale. I did it on a small scale. But this was the best-looking horse I’ve even seen in a sale.”

Another bidder was also impressed, but then stopped bidding. Why? It was Lukas. “I looked out and saw Willis bidding and I thought, ‘Whoa, I better back off here,’” Lukas said. “We’ve been friends forever.”

“It’s the most wonderful feeling to be able to get somebody put up the money, stay by you, believe in you, to give them that moment,” Lukas said. “Three strides before the wire, the only thing I thought of was him (Willis) and his wife.”

Asked what it meant to win the Travers, Horton said, “Well, it’s hard to describe, you know? I’m so happy.”