Ogden Phipps

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Ogden Phipps (November 26, 1908 - April 21, 2002) was an American stockbroker, Court tennis champion and Hall of Fame member, Thoroughbred horse racing executive and owner/breeder, and an art collector and philanthropist.

Born in New York City, Phipps was the son of Henry Carnegie Phipps and Gladys Livingston Mills. Born into great wealth, his grandfather Henry Phipps was a major philanthropist who had amassed a fortune as the second largest shareholder in the Carnegie Steel Company. Educated at Harvard University, Ogden Phipps became a champion Court tennis player, capturing the U.S. championship seven times and the British championship once. In 2001, he was inducted into the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame.

During World War II, Ogden Phipps served with the United States Navy. After the war he became a partner in the prominent brokerage firm, Smith Barney & Co. then used his training to head up Bessemer Securities Corporation, a private holding company that managed the fortune left to Phipps family members by their grandfather.

[edit] Thoroughbred horse racing

Ogden Phipps was named for his mother's brother, Ogden L. Mills. His mother and uncle loved Thoroughbred horses and formed Wheatley Stable in 1926 as a partnership that successfully raced and bred Thoroughbreds. Influenced by his mother, Ogden Phipps first registered his own black with cherry cap racing silks in 1932. In November of 1937, he married wealthy New York socialite Lillian Bostwick, the sister of Hall of Fame steeplechase jockey, George H. Bostwick. Lillian Bostwick Phipps would become a major figure in American steeplechase racing who owned two U.S. Racing Hall of Fame horses and won the American Grand National eight times.

After WW II, Ogden Phipps bought a group of horses from the estate of Colonel Edward R. Bradley that formed the basis for what would become his major horse racing operation. Like his family's Wheatley Stable, Phipps too would use Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky for breeding and developing of his horses. In 1959 he became a founding member of the New York Racing Association and a member of its board of trustees. Approaching his 80th birthday, he resigned in 1988 and was named a director emeritus. He also served as a Chairman of the The Jockey Club for twenty years and at the time of his death was the Club's longest reigning member.

Ogden Phipps owned and bred Reviewer who sired Ruffian for his sister, Barbara Phipps Janney. He inherited the stallion Bold Ruler from his mother's estate who was mated with the mare Somethingroyal in 1969. Through the toss of a coin, Christopher Chenery got Somethingroyal's 1970 colt, Secretariat.

Ogden Phipps bred nine Champions of his own, winning Eclipse Awards for both leading owner and leading breeder in 1988. His most famous horses include Buckpasser, Personal Ensign, and Easy Goer, all of whom are in the United States Racing Hall of Fame. He never won the Kentucky Derby but came close twice, finishing 2nd with Dapper Dan in 1965 and 2nd again with Easy Goer in 1989 who went on to win the Belmont Stakes. In 1980, his horse Quick as Lightning won the prestigious One Thousand Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse in England. He won three Breeders' Cup races. First with the undefeated Personal Ensign in 1988, then Dancing Spree in 1989 and My Flag in 1995.

Three Hall of Fame trainers conditioned Phipps' horses. Bill Winfrey came out of retirement to train for him in 1963 then Eddie Neloy took over in 1966, followed by Shug McGaughey in 1986.

[edit] Other interests

Ogden Phipps and his wife acquired 18th century French and English furniture and were early clients of Denning & Fourcade and made many acquisitions through them. Ogden Phipps had an art collection that included works by Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent. He also maintained a greenhouse collection of orchid varieties from around the world.[1]

An honorary governor of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Phipps continued the family's philanthropic work.

Ogden Phipps was 93 years old when he died in 2002 at Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Friend and fellow Thoroughbred owner Marylou Whitney called Phipps's death "the end of an era in racing". [2] The Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park is named in his honor. His daughter Cynthia Phipps and sons Ogden Mills Phipps and Robert W. Phipps have been involved in Thoroughbred racing.

[edit] References

• Ogden Phipps obituary at The Jockey Club
• Phipps family article at Chicago Barn to Wire
• Ogden Phipps, 2002, The (London) Independent