The Eclipse Award-winning owner of 1980, Diana Firestone died July 12 in West Palm Beach, Fla., at the age of 91, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News. Alongside her husband, Bertram Firestone, she is perhaps best known for campaigning Genuine Risk, just the second filly in history to win the Kentucky Derby (1980).
In all, the Firestones campaigned 17 Grade or Group 1 winners and multiple champions: Honest Pleasure (1975 U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old); April Run (1981 French Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, 1982 U.S. Champion Grass Mare); Blue Wind (1981 English & Irish Champion 3-Year-Old Filly); Play It Safe (1981 French Champion 2-Year-Old Filly); Theatrical (1987 U.S. Champion Grass Horse); and Paradise Creek (1994 U.S. Champion Grass Horse). They operated Catoctin Stud and later Newstead Farm, both in Virginia, and owned a farm in Ireland.
The Firestones originally partnered with Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley, but were also responsible for sending Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his first big horse, Theatrical.
“I can't say enough good things about her and Bert and the opportunity they gave me when I shifted from the Midwest to New York,” Mott told TDN. “They gave me the opportunity to break into New York and they treated me like family. She was a wonderful person and a very good horse person herself. She was very knowledgeable about racing and breeding. She always conducted herself so well and was a very kind person.”
Bert Firestone passed away in 2021.
Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.
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