Heiress from a long line of hardboots, Alice Headley Chandler has become the leading lady of the Bluegrass

There have been Headleys in Lexington since before there was really a town in Kentucky called Lexington. A Headley is said to have been among the group of pioneers camped at McConnell Springs in the Kentucky wilderness in 1775 when they heard the news of the British attack on American patriots at Lexington, Massachusetts.

A descendant of that original Headley, Hal Petit Headley, established Beaumont Farm on Harrodsburg Road in Lexington in the 1870s and owned 1897 champion three-year-old Ornament. Hal Petit Headley's son, Hal Price Headley was educated at Princeton University but returned to take over Beaumont when his father fell ill in 1908. A man of many talents, Hal Price Headley was a dirt farmer, raising tobacco and cattle; a breeder of Thoroughbred champions; and a visionary who was the prime mover in the foundation of Keeneland.

"He would have been good at anything he did," said his proud daughter Alice Headley Chandler, owner of Mill Ridge Farm. "He was, among other things, a land nut. He loved the land." By the time of his death in 1962, Headley had acquired some 4,000 acres of the Bluegrass, as well as the 15,000-acre Pinebloom Plantation in Georgia.

Headley recognized that the fourth of his five daughters and one son was the one who, in her own words, was "crazy about horses." Alice Headley also inherited her father's love for the land, his respect for animals, his tenacity, and his talent for breeding Thoroughbreds.

Alice's older sister, Alma, married Louis Lee Haggin II, longtime president of the Keeneland Association; younger sister Patricia married Robert Green, longtime manager of Greentree Stud; and younger brother Hal Price Headley Jr. lives on a portion of Beaumont he leases to Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Alice, however, went out on her own.

When Price Headley died at Keeneland in 1962, Alice (then Mrs. Reynolds Bell) inherited 286 acres of Beaumont Farm on Bowman Mill Pike.

"He gave me this piece because he thought it was the farthest away from future development," Chandler said. "Wrong! I mean Palomar (an upscale Lexington subdivision) is right over the fence."

With that land and four broodmares given to her by her father, but few contacts outside Lexington, Chandler launched Mill Ridge as a boarding farm shortly after her father's death. Today, almost 40 years later, Mill Ridge encompasses 1,050 acres, and is home to top stallions Gone West and Diesis (GB) and approximately 400 year-round boarders.

Along the way, Chandler has bred and/or raised champions Sir Ivor, Ramruma, Soviet Star, and Orojoya, and major winners Keeper Hill, Cetewayo, Ciao, Secret Hello, and Nicosia.

Mill Ridge also has developed a highly successful sales arm, annually selling major consignments at Keeneland's September yearling and November breeding stock sales. In 1999, Mill Ridge ranked fifth among all North American consignors of yearlings, selling 59 horses for more than $14-million.

Chandler has served the Thoroughbred industry in innumerable other capacities during her long career. Former president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, she now serves on the Kentucky Racing Commission, chairs the Gluck Equine Research Center board, and is active on the board of Keeneland Association.

Chandler is also a mother of four whose three sons, Reynolds Bell Jr., Headley Bell, and Michael Bell are all prominent in the Thoroughbred industry. Chandler married her first husband, father of son Michael and daughter Patricia, at age 18, "and that says enough about that!" Chandler said.

She married horseman Reynolds Bell, father of Reynolds Jr. and Headley and adoptive father of her first two children, in 1950. They divorced in 1966. She married South African-born John Chandler, D.V.M., in 1972. John Chandler is president of Khaled Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms operation.

At 74, Chandler is the grande dame of the Kentucky breeding industry, but she is far more than just the distant, regal figure that term implies. She retains a rare passion for the causes she believes in and a rare willingness to work to bring her most passionate dreams to reality-just as she did with Mill Ridge. A lover of the Thoroughbred, the land where Thoroughbreds roam, and the traditions and standards set by a heritage of excellence, Alice Headley Chandler has made her own way to the top of the Thoroughbred industry.

Chandler was interviewed at Mill Ridge on May 11 by John P. Sparkman, bloodstock/sales editor of Thoroughbred Times.

Thoroughbred Times: You have been credited with naming Menow (champion two-year-old of 1937 and sire of Tom Fool) when you were only ten years old or so. Tell us how that came about.

Alice Chandler: "We used to meet Daddy at the door at Beaumont, and there was a big entrance hall down there and we would all jump up and down and say 'me now, me now.' You know, 'pick me up, me now.' That was the clean version. There was a dirty version about a tom cat on a back fence (laughs heartily), but let's go with the clean version.

"My half sister Adele was studying Roman mythology, Greek mythology, and she started calling me Alcibiades, obviously because my name was Alice. So that's how Alcibiades (champion two-year-old filly of 1929 and dam of Menow) got her name, which to me is more interesting, really, than how Menow got his."

TT: Your father was the hardboot's hardboot. What kind of impact did he have on your philosophy in the business?

Chandler: "He just had a huge impact on me, period. I don't know really about the impact he had on me in the business, because I guess the impact he had on me as a child probably carried over into the business. As I said the other day downtown (in her acceptance speech for the Winner's Circle Award from the Lexington chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners), he never said 'Don't do it, you might get hurt.' I had the run of the place.

"This (the current Mill Ridge Farm land) is the back end of 4,000 acres; this was the last part that he bought. And he put me here because he thought that this would be the last part development would get to. Wrong! I mean Palomar's right over the fence. They've been a good neighbor, but they're there. "In all that time, he raised a huge amount of tobacco; he raised a lot of cattle; he raised his horses; and he always said that in the years one didn't work, the other two held him together.

"But while I was growing up, there were a lot of men on the farm, and I guess that I had people watching me all the time in case I got hurt. And I did get hurt. I got hurt a lot, but I tried to ride every yearling that I wanted to. And I tried to climb every tree that I wanted to. I tried to do everything I was big enough to try to do. And he never said 'Don't do it, you might get hurt.'

"Just watching him-he loved the land, he loved horses; he did things a certain way. He didn't cheat. And he was a businessman. He would have been good at anything he did. He was a tremendous, tremendous example to me in growing up."

TT: As you said, you inherited some land from him when he died, which obviously gave you some advantages, but what difficulties did you have starting Mill Ridge?

Chandler: "I didn't know a lot of people, and I only had four broodmares, and I obviously with no money could not make this place go with four broodmares. So I had to go out and hustle some clients. (Arthur B.) "Bull" Hancock (Jr.) was a big help. He sent me Mike Phipps's yearlings, and he sent me some clients to board. He was always being asked to board horses, and he couldn't take them because he was full. So he sent me a lot of his overflow to start out with, and that was a really big help.

"But a lot of people helped me. I've never had a problem with people being nice and I've had a lot of help along the way. But that was the toughest time of all getting this place started. When Daddy died that barn (pointing to the barn that also houses the farm office) was half finished, and I borrowed the money from my mother to finish it. He had finished those two little stud barns down there (where Diesis and Gone West are now stabled), but, you know, it took some money to finish what he hadn't been able to do before he died."

TT: Where did the name Mill Ridge come from?

Chandler: "It's on a ridge; it's on the Bowman Mill Road (smiles). I actually did it before Daddy died. He knew he was going to leave this to me, so he had no problem with me naming it what I wanted to name it."

TT: How much of the difficulty do you think was due to being a woman?

Chandler: "I don't. Probably 90% of my friends are men. I guess it's because I was raised as a tomboy, which I was. He'd had three daughters when he had me, and I knew he wanted a boy, so he raised me as a boy, and I just never really realized that there was any difference. I truly didn't. That was a wonderful award the other day, but as I said, I didn't deserve it because I didn't really realize what it was all about. I mean, I've had so much fun doing this, and as I said down there, it's not a business, it's a way of life. And I never realized there was any difference. Honestly."

TT: You said you did not know a lot of people. I assume you meant people outside of Kentucky who could be clients.

Chandler: "No, that came later. The people that Bull sent knew people, and it sort of built up that way. The people from the West-you see the top part of that loading chute there? Most of their horses came in on cattle trucks, and that's the reason that the top part of that loading chute is there, because we jumped them off of cattle trucks. That's the kind of clients I took to get started, and the word spread."

TT: You had bred good horses before, but Sir Ivor is bound to have been a big help in the development of your business.

Chandler: "He was. I had four broodmares at the time, and one of them was Attica, and she never could win a stakes, but she was stakes-placed at Delaware. Daddy gave her to me telling me that he thought maybe someday she'd throw me a good horse. He died in 1962, and in '64 I bred her to Sir Gaylord, because I thought it fit. In my mind, she needed some speed, and I liked him as a racehorse. The Mr. Trouble (Attica's sire) mares were a little mentally quirky. He tried every day of the world to commit suicide, and he was the only horse I ever knew that my father insured.

"So Sir Gaylord was a real stable horse with a lot of speed and a lot of conformation and I thought it would be a good fit for Attica.

"Sir Ivor was a real good colt temperament-wise. He lived right down there in that paddock (pointing to one near her home) when he was a yearling. One night we had a terrible, terrible thunderstorm and I could hear him, so I went to get him. The lightning was so bad I didn't even take a shank. I just ran out there and grabbed him by the halter and I brought him in and put him in that barn. And he was very willing to come in.

"He was an early May foal. He grew straight up, but he was a bit slab-sided when I got him to the sale. Raymond Guest bought him for $42,000."

TT: On Mr. Hancock's advice, I've read.

Chandler: "Guest asked him to pick him out a colt, and Bull found two, and he ended up getting Sir Ivor. And the rest is pretty much history. He was a nice horse. He traveled a lot, and I think the temperament that he had stood him in really good stead, because that was in the days before we did a lot of flying. He was sort of a pioneer in that.

"But the nicest thing was, aside from what it did for me, was what it did for the Keeneland sales. He was the horse that really got it started I think. He's the horse that really started the foreign interest."

TT: Was he a critical horse in the development of Mill Ridge? Did he gain you new respect and new clients?

Chandler: "I'm sure it did, but those are the things that you really don't pay attention to at the time. It just sort of happened. The thing that really helped Mill Ridge was when I married John (Chandler) in 1972. He had worked in Newmarket (England) as a vet and, of course, Sir Ivor went to stud over there in 1969. It was all sort of a continuation of the same effect. It probably all worked together. I think the Sir Ivor thing definitely was a help, but you can't put your finger on it and say 'this is how much.'

"The first time I had ever gone to England was the day that he ran in the Epsom Derby, and I didn't get back over there for a little while after that. But when I really started going back over there on a regular basis with John, the Sir Ivor effect was apparent then. It became more apparent then that I was better known for having done it than I would have been if I hadn't. In the meantime I changed my name, too (from Mrs. Reynolds Bell to Mrs. John Chandler); so that was a little complex, but it had to have helped."

TT: Who are your principal clients now? How did you develop your impressive client list?

Chandler: "There was John Howard de Walden before he died. Probably the fact that we were over there (in England) as much as we were gave us an advantage. You see, he didn't want to stand (full brothers) Kris and Diesis against each other because the base of the broodmare band in England is so much smaller than ours. The fact that I was over there and pretty visible, I'm sure that's the way I got Diesis.

"I've had some mares for the Queen; I've had mares for Newgate (Fahd Salman); I have mares for Thoroughbred Corp. (Ahmed bin Salman); I have mares for Eric Puerari and Michel Zerolo; Jean-Luc Lagardere, sort of the French connection; Paul de Moussac's son, Charles Henri de Moussac has been a client for a long time."

TT: You have been in the business all your life. What do you see as the principal changes since you were a child? Are they positive or negative?

Chandler: "Well, it's gotten bigger for starters. The business has grown. When I was young, my father was the only trainer, owner, breeder. And he trained everything that he raised. So offset knees and all those other things didn't mean a lot. You just took them the way they were, and you did the best that you could do, and usually it turned out pretty well.

"Back in the old days there was minimal pollution. There was much less stress on horses than there is now. It is incredible now.

"Keeneland sales were just beginning. The Keeneland sales really started because we couldn't get to Saratoga during the war, as you know, and I've watched that grow. In the beginning, there was no intention by the powers that be at Keeneland to have a sales division, but it was one of those things that happened, and it turned out very well.

"The owners like the Whitneys and the Wideners and people like that are not nearly as prevalent as they were when I was a kid. There were a lot of big owners then, big absentee landlords that had farms down here. "Those are the primary differences I can think of."

TT: You have established Mill Ridge as a successful stallion operation with horses like Gone West and Diesis. What are the principles you use to choose a stallion?

Chandler: "I pick on pedigree and ability and soundness. Speed is a factor. Those are probably the four most important things."

TT: How did you get Gone West?

Chandler: "Reynolds (son Reynolds Bell Jr.) was responsible. Reynolds was the farm manager at Mill Ridge for 15 years. He was a fairly obvious horse, because to me he was the best-bred son of all the Mr. Prospectors, probably that has ever been. That's a broad statement, but I think he ranks right up there. He was a good enough racehorse and conformationally he was OK-$1.9-million as a yearling. Reynolds and Mr. (James H.) Mills were buddies and that's how we got him.

"I had no idea he was going to have the grass ability that he's bred. I couldn't see where that would come from, but he has it, which makes him an international sort of horse."

TT: You've not opted to go the shuttle route with your stallions. Is this a trend you are opposed to or would you consider it in the future?

Chandler: "I feel so strongly against that! I think we're over-breeding our stallions. I mean even domestically, even the ones that don't (shuttle)."

TT: 100-mare books-what's your policy here?

Chandler: "Gone West gets about 92 a year, and he's very fertile. He's probably around 98% fertility. At the end of the day, you know, you can say as far as the horse is concerned, it's not the number of mares; it's the number of covers. That's for the health of the horse. But, when you come to the economics of the thing, it's not the number of covers, it's the number of mares.

"I mean, what are we doing to the business? Isn't it just four-legged artificial insemination that we're doing here?"

TT: Do you think it has long-term implications for the breed?

Chandler: "Yes. I think we're narrowing our base dramatically, because I don't think we're giving some horses a chance that should be given a chance because we're breeding too many mares to a select few. That's the way I feel. "The south-of-the-line thing, I don't think it's fair to the horse; I don't think it's fair to the shareholders here that send something they're economically involved with down there where they can't look after it or anything. I'm dead against it."

TT: What are your views on medications, and do you think they've had a positive or negative effect on the breed?

Chandler: "It has a negative effect. I think we're hurting the breed. Nowadays when you're considering a stallion, I think the first thing you have to investigate before you take him is whether he did it more or less on his own or whether he had huge help, because I don't want to breed from anything that had an inherent weakness.

"I don't know how we can do away with Lasix on race day. That would be the only thing, if I could do it, that I would want to use.

"I have three philosophies: We need to get the best testing we can get and (Maxwell) Gluck (Equine Research Center) is going to have to get a new facility over there because they've outgrown the one that they have. The consensus that I feel out there is that Kentucky should have the greatest testing lab in the country.

"I'd like to see the tightest security that we can get.

"And the detrimental thing to anybody that's trying to cheat is the penalties. That's the thing that's going to give people pause before they cheat. And the penalties should apply to the vets; they should apply to the trainers; they should apply to the horses. And I mean days. I don't mean money necessarily. If he gets caught, he's out of there; he turns loose of his horses. It's going to have to be so severe to really make people think.

"This is my passion right now. This is what's moving me, aside from Mill Ridge."

TT: You serve on the board at Keeneland. How do you view Keeneland's partnership with gaming companies in the purchase of Turfway Park? Are you opposed to other forms of gambling at racetracks?

Chandler: "I was shocked! I mean I was really shocked. I'm so against casinos. I'm just one of those old straight-arrow people. I've been against casinos and VLTs (video lottery terminals) and all that stuff for years, and I was very surprised, let's put it that way."

TT: Do you view casino gambling in Kentucky as inevitable?

Chandler: "No! I don't. For people to say that it's really going to save racing, I cannot see that. To me there's no upside to it."

TT: You mentioned Reynolds managing the farm for 15 years. To what extent are your children involved in Mill Ridge?

Chandler: "Reynolds is not involved at all. He's doing his own thing, and he's doing it very well. And I think it is a blessing for him because I think he really subconsciously needed to be on his own.

"I guess I tried to retire when Reynolds was here and I couldn't (leave it alone). That's what happened, probably.

"Headley has been a big help. He runs Nicoma (Bloodstock), but you know if I need something or a question answered or to try to find a season for a client, he's always there and he's always willing to help. But he's not actively involved, day to day, with the management.

"Headley has a great feel for pedigrees and for matings. And he has bought some very nice mares for Mill Ridge and for our partner, Tolie Otto. He's been a huge asset."

TT: As a parent, did you actively try to instill a love for the business, or did they develop that on their own?

Chandler: "Well, honestly, you know they grew up on the farm and had a great farm upbringing. But truly, I told them that this was a very small boat, and it was in imminent danger of sinking every day, and if they would go find something else to do, be a lawyer or doctor or something like that, we'd probably all be better off. And it didn't take at all-obviously!

"And Mike, he's down there at Churchill Downs. There are three of them, and it didn't take a bit. They didn't hear me. So I guess it was sort of bred in them."

TT: What are the principal problems you see that the industry needs to solve right now?

Chandler: "I'm a big fan of the NTRA (National Thoroughbred Racing Association). I think that the main problem is that we need unity in the business. And I think we need to give them more time.

"We had a meeting about a month ago and everyone at the meeting sort of felt the same way, that they (the NTRA) needed to advertise what they are doing. They need to get some appreciation of what they are doing and how far they have come and where they're planning to go.

"One of the things that was painfully obvious to me was when you realize that the casinos have $2.5-million to lobby with and the American Horse Council has $36,000. And if we lose simulcasting, we're dead. And all that made me aware that we need to support the NTRA for the obvious reasons.

"I worry about the integrity of our business. I worry about the unity of our business. I would like to have a uniform medication rule. I mean, we're a bunch of states, for heaven's sakes, and we're all a bunch of little independent kingdoms. I don't want the federal government getting involved either. I just want us to unify ourselves.

"Whenever they start sniping (at the NTRA), I think, 'We must be getting somewhere.' We've got to thicken our skins and just go.

"On two-year-old in training sales, the sales companies really need to get together and come up with some uniform rules. We're asking an awful lot of them (the horses) right now. It's only going to get worse the way it's going. I don't know what the answer is. If you wanted to go to extremes you'd take away the whips and the spurs, but I don't know if we can ever do that or not.

"Maybe the thing would be to breeze without whips and spurs and then have uniform drug testing. Maybe that would be more humane, do it without any additives."

TT: You have served Thoroughbred racing in a lot of ways. What would you like to see as your legacy to the industry?

Chandler: "I really haven't thought about it, and I really wish I had something brilliant to say.

"Well, I feel very good that having tried to talk my kids out of doing this that they're involved in it. And I have a grandson that is crazy about it.

"Care for the horse, to me, is tremendously important. Something that has come a long way in the last few years is the retirement programs. I'd like to see that carried on. If I have a colt that breaks down that I can't do anything with, I try to find a home. Most of us do. I think that also goes with old age. You get very, very sensitive about dumb animals getting mistreated.

"I just want to be remembered as somebody who loved horses who tried to play the game straight."

Alice Headley Chandler

Birthdate: January 15, 1926
Birthplace: Lexington, Kentucky
Education: University Training School, Lexington; Ethel Walker School, Simsbury, Connecticut
Residence: Mill Ridge Farm, Lexington, Kentucky
Family: Husband, John W. Chandler, D.V.M.; sons, Reynolds W. Bell Jr., P. Headley Bell, Michael H. Bell; daughter Patricia B. McDowell
Prior positions: President, vice president, secretary, treasurer of Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders; president, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association; trainer
Current positions: Owner, Mill Ridge Farm; member of Kentucky Racing Commission; director, Keeneland Association; trustee, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association; member of the Jockey Club; chair, Gluck Equine Research Center board of directors; director, Kentucky State Board of Agriculture; director, Equine Drug Council
Best horses bred: Ciao, Flemensfirth, Keeper Hill, Nicosia, Pillow Talk, Rash Statement, Secret Hello, Sir Ivor