NEWS
THOROUGHBRED TIMES, BRIS founder Broadbent dead at age 73
Posted: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 5:35 PM
Richard F. Broadbent III, founder of Lexington-based Bloodstock Research Information Services (BRIS) and the THOROUGHBRED TIMES, died on Monday at the age of 73.
After attending West Point Academy and the University of Kentucky, Broadbent became a prominent bloodstock agent.
Broadbent was a pioneer of the information age when he started BRIS in 1971. The company provides computerized pedigree and racing information, much of it ahead of its time.
During the 1980s, Broadbent’s Crestview Farm was a large breeding operation that raised 1985 champion two-year-old filly Family Style and bred 1983 Italian champion two-year-old Northern Tempest through Bloodstock Partners.
In 1985, Broadbent started the THOROUGHBRED TIMES. He sold half the company to Peter Brant in 1988 when THOROUGHBRED TIMES merged with the Thoroughbred Record, which was first published in 1875 as the Livestock Record. Brant bought the remainder of the company in 1992 and resold it to Bowtie Inc. in late '93.
Broadbent developed an online service for horseplayers in the late 1980s and by 2001 launched an advance-deposit wagering service that was sold to Churchill Downs Inc. in 2007 along with BRIS’ information services for a reported $44.7-million.
