NEWS
Helen Alexander
Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 11:29 AM
HELEN ALEXANDER
PhotosByZ.com
Middlebrook Farm
Racing has always been a family affair for Helen Alexander, from taking care of the Thoroughbred portion of her grandfather’s King Ranch in the months before his death to establishing Middlebrook Farm in 1984 to breeding and racing Thoroughbreds with her mother and sisters.
Middlebrook in part took off because of the acquisition of Courtly Dee, who was carrying eventual champion Althea, by Alydar, at the time. Both Courtly Dee and Althea went on to be fabulous producers for Middlebrook, a tradition that continues with their descendants today.
Alexander is the only woman on the Breeders’ Cup Ltd. board of directors, a former member of the board of stewards of the Jockey Club, a past president of both the Thoroughbred Club of America and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and a director of the Keeneland Association.
“I believe I have a good understanding of the issues which face owners and breeders in the Thoroughbred industry and can
be an effective spokesperson for their interests,” Alexander said in a personal statement issued in May 2008 during the Breeders’ Cup election process.
Alexander also helps influence preservation as chairwoman of the Bluegrass Conservancy, and in 2002, she donated her farm’s development rights to that organization to ensure that the land will never be developed for housing or other uses.
Date of birth: December 4, 1951
Birthplace: Kingsville, Texas
Residence: Lexington
Title: Owner and breeder
Farms: Middlebrook Farm in Lexington; Spring Station in Midway, Kentucky
Education: University of Pennsylvania
Family: Married
Career: Fifth generation of her family to take reins of a major King Ranch operation in the 1970s as the granddaughter of late Robert Kleberg, founder of King Ranch’s horse division in the ’30s; sold King Ranch bloodstock to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum in ’89 and Kentucky land to Robert N. Clay’s Three Chimneys; relocated her own operation to 350-acre Middlebrook Farm in ’84 and purchased Spring Station in ’98
Other positions in racing: Director, Keeneland Association; member, Jockey Club, Breeders’ Cup Ltd. board of directors; trustee, Jockey Club Foundation; former president, Thoroughbred Club of America, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association; former chairwoman, North American Graded Stakes Committee
Leading runners bred and/or owned: Aishah, Aldiza, Altesse, Althea, Alyssum, Aquilegia, Aurora, Ketoh, Twining
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