NEWS
Alice Chandler
Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 10:49 AM
ALICE CHANDLER
PhotosByZ.com
Mill Ridge Farm
Alice Chandler has not only influenced the Thoroughbred industry, but also the breed itself as owner of Mill Ridge Farm, one of the world’s top breeding, boarding, and sales prep facilities.
Chandler’s story begins growing up—with her father, Hal Price Headley, having the biggest influence on her—but people began to realize the influence she could have on the development of Thoroughbreds when Sir Ivor, a colt she bred and sold, won the 1968 Epsom Derby.
Chandler sold Sir Ivor at the 1966 Keeneland July yearling sale for $42,000, and Chandler acknowledged in 2005 when speaking as the Thoroughbred Club of America’s Honor Guest that Sir Ivor was “the horse that changed the sale” for Keeneland.
Chandler was synonymous with success through the decades, but one of her farm’s darkest periods loomed at the turn of the new century when mare reproductive loss syndrome ravaged Central Kentucky and Mill Ridge lost 25% of its 2002 foal crop. Chandler did not waver from her position as a matriarch to her farm, its clients, or its residents—both equine and human—during that rocky time, and her lifelong approach to hands-on work with horses paid dividends when two horses born and raised on her farm during the height of MRLS went on to win champion two-year-old filly honors in 2004 (Sweet Catomine) and the ’05 Kentucky Derby (G1) (Giacomo).
Date of birth: January 15, 1926
Birthplace: Lexington
Residence: Lexington
Title: Owner
Company: Mill Ridge Farm
Education: University Training School, Lexington; Warrenton Country Day School, Warrenton, Virginia; Ethel Walker School, Simsbury, Connecticut
Family: Married, four children
Career: Winner of Eclipse Award of Merit in 2008; owner of Mill Ridge since 1962; racehorse owner for 60 years; served industry in many capacities, including as a member of the Jockey Club, director of the Keeneland Association, director of Breeders’ Cup Ltd., trustee for the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, member of Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, chairwoman of University of Kentucky’s Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, and as director and past president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association
Favorite horse: My childhood pony, Pal
What book are you currently reading? Racing My Father: Growing Up With a Riding Legend, by Patrick Smithwick
Favorite television show: “The Glenn Beck Program”
Biggest professional achievement: Mill Ridge Farm and breeding Sir Ivor
Biggest personal achievement: “Giving birth to four very special children.”
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