Tag: obituary

The Jockey Club’s Nancy Kelly Passes Away Following Long Illness

Edited Press Release

Nancy C. Kelly, who helped raise millions of dollars for equine research and for individuals in need throughout the Thoroughbred industry over the course of a 32-year career at The Jockey Club, died Feb. 9 in Garden City Park, NY.

Kelly was 71 years old and had been battling ovarian cancer since February 2019, approximately one year after she retired.

As the vice president of development for Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and the executive director of The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, Kelly organized countless fund-raising events ranging from golf tournaments and ladies' luncheons to formal gala dinners. She also managed domestic and international racing conferences, including The Jockey Club's annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing and multiple editions of the Pan Am Conference in New York City.

Kelly had worked in the clubhouse relations department of The New York Racing Association before The Jockey Club chairman Odgen Mills (Dinny) Phipps, who became a longtime friend and cherished colleague, recruited her to join The Jockey Club staff in 1985.

“Nancy had hundreds if not thousands of friends throughout the Thoroughbred industry, and she was as universally respected and admired as much as anyone I've ever known,” said Stuart S. Janney III, the chairman of The Jockey Club. “She was the face of The Jockey Club in many ways and no one was ever a better representative of our organization. Our sincere condolences go out to her entire family.”

Kelly, a native of New Hyde Park, NY, and a resident of Westbury, NY, maintained a long-standing and deep appreciation for the backstretch community and served in a variety of key volunteer roles in the creation and/or development of several Belmont Park-based organizations. Among them were the Belmont Child Care Association and the New York Race Track Chaplaincy.

She was named president of the chaplaincy shortly after retiring from The Jockey Club at the end of 2017, but stepped aside shortly thereafter due to her illness. From then on, she served as the vice president and as a board member.

“This is a sad day for anyone who ever knew Nancy and that includes all the racetrack chaplains around the country with whom she worked on a regular basis,” said Humberto Chavez, the lead chaplain and executive director of the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy. “She was a humanitarian in every sense of the word and took great joy in helping others.”

Though Kelly avoided the limelight at all costs, she was often honored by organizations and community groups for her service to the industry and nearby communities. Among many other honors, she received the Race Track Chaplaincy of America's Award of Excellence, the Jockeys' Guild's Eddie Arcaro Award (presented annually to a person who shows exceptional commitment to jockeys and the organization) and the New York Turf Writers Association's Red Smith Good Guy Award.

Kelly is survived by her sister, Fran Dtugokenski; brother-in-law, Ray Dtugokenski; nieces Lisa Locurto and Michelle Mirabile; and four grand-nieces and two grand-nephews.

Kelly's late husband, Jack Kelly, an Equibase chartcaller and field supervisor, died in November 2010 after a long battle with polycythemia.

The wake will be held Monday, February 12, at 9 a.m. at the Leo F. Kearns Funeral Home, 445 E. Meadow Avenue in East Meadow, NY. It will be followed by a Mass at 11 a.m. at St. Brigid Catholic Church, 85 Post Avenue in Westbury.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy, or the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Donations in Nancy Kelly's name can be made to The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation through its website tjcfoundation.org or by check, payable to The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation and mailed to The Jockey Club Safety Foundation, 250 Park Avenue, Suite 2020, New York, NY 10177.

Donations in her name to the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy can be made through its website rtcany.org or by sending a check, payable to the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy, to the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy, PO Box 37191, Elmont NY, 11003.

Donations in her name to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center can be made at giving.mskcc.org or by sending a check, payable to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Office of Development, PO Box 27106, New York, NY, 10087.

 

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‘Exercise Rider to the Stars’ Joanne McNamara Passes at 67

by Cathy Riccio and Jennie Rees

Joanne McNamara–the first to be dubbed by the turf media as 'Exercise Rider to the Stars' for the long list of champions and world-class horses she rode in morning training–passed away this past Sunday in Ocala, Fla., after a short battle with cancer. She was 67.

Working for Hall of Fame trainer MacKenzie Miller and Rokeby Stables in her first racetrack job, she galloped her barn favorite Rokeby Rose, a multiple stakes winner who also became a prominent broodmare, producing Kentucky Oaks winner Silverbulletday.

McNamara trained a small stable for her dad and a few other clients for several years, one memorable win being her dad's homebred Campbell Hall in a maiden-claimer at 67-1 odds in 1984 at Aqueduct. But the lure of working with top horses won out, and she returned to riding and working to help develop horses in the mornings.

“She was more interested in riding than running a training business,” Patricia McNamara said. “So she went back to what she truly loved: galloping fast horses.”

McNamara went to work for record-setting D. Wayne Lukas in the late 1980s in what proved a long and fortuitous association for both.

“Joanne had such a passion for the sport,” Lukas said. “There was never a day she would come to work and not like what she was doing. There were several of the horses she rode for us that she truly bonded with. One horse that comes to mind is Editor's Note and how well he was doing before the Belmont Stakes in 1996 when he defeated Skip Away and the Preakness winner Louis Quatorze.

“Cash Run was another one that Joanne truly was a big part of her success,” Lukas continued. “When Cash Run was training up to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, we also had Surfside, who was outstanding. But Cash Run really stepped up and we secretly were not surprised when she won the race, defeating Chilukki and Surfside. And later in the day we won the Classic with Cat Thief, and boy did he beat a good field in that race.

“I truly loved her and her passion for our animals.”

McNamara later went to work for trainers Dallas Stewart and Nick Zito before returning to Lukas' barn. Among the horses she got on for Stewart were 2001 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Unbridled Elaine.

“She was unbelievable,” Stewart said of McNamara, who became one of his assistants. “All that pressure was nothing to her. Pressure just rolled off her back. She could handle Wayne Lukas, all the great horses like nothing. She was just that good. She knew everything about what needed to be done. She was one of a kind, Jojo. I don't really know if she knew how good she was. That's what she did, and she did it well. She cared about things, cared about people. You talk about other 'exercise riders to the stars.' She was the real deal.”

McNamara is survived by sister Patricia and brother Edward. It was Joanne's wish to be cremated. A future memorial and life celebration is being planned.

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Globetrotter Falbrav Dies At 26 In Japan

Group 1-winning globetrotter Falbrav (Ire) (Fairy King-Gift Of The Night, by Slewpy) died at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan on Friday, Netkeiba reported on Saturday. The eight-time Group 1 winner, who was pensioned in 2015, was 26.

“Falbrav passed away at the age of 26 in Shadai Stallion Station, Japan,” the Japanese news site posted on X. “Rest in peace.”

Eisuke Tokutake, manager of Shadai Stallion Station, told Sanspo.com, “He had a little colic and was a little sick since the end of last year.”

Bred by Azienda Agricola Francesca and raced by Scuderia Rencati originally, the bay won one of four starts at two in Italy for trainer Luciano d'Auria. At three, he ran second in the G1 Derby Italiano, however it was at four and five that he truly shone. The G1 Premio Presidente della Repubblica and G1 Gran Premio di Milano went his way in consecutive starts in the late spring of 2002, and his first start outside of Italy was a third in that September's G2 Prix Foy. His final appearance at four was a nose victory over Sarafan (Lear Fan) in the G1 Japan Cup.

Transferred to Luca Cumani, he started his 5-year-old season with a third in the G1 Prix Ganay in the spring and won the G1 Prix d'Ispahan in May, with new co-owner Teruya Yoshida signed on. Successful in the G1 Eclipse S. in England in July, he added the G1 International S. two starts later in August and would never be out of the money in four more appearances that season.

Second to High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) in the G1 Irish Champion S. in September of 2003, Falbrav cut back to a mile and landed the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. later that month. At the Breeders' Cup, held that year in California, he was only a head behind GI Turf deadheaters High Chaparral and Johar (Gone West) at the end of October. His career swansong was a two-length victory in the G1 Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin that December. His record stands at eight Group/Grade 1 wins in five different countries with a mark of 26-13-5-5 and $5,825,517 in earnings.

Falbrav spent the majority of his career at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan, although he did stand at Cheveley Park Stud in England at one point and also shuttled to Australia. A total of 18 of his 819 foals were stakes winners, with 12 making the grade at Pattern level. His best progeny included Fravashi (Aus), I'm Yours (Jpn), Fanunalter (GB), A Shin Virgo (Jpn), and Brava Fortune (Aus), who won Group 2 races in Australia, Japan, the UK, Japan, and Australia, respectively.

As a broodmare sire, Falbrav is responsible for 18 stakes winners overall and 11 group winners, with Group 1 winners Kenedna (Aus), a dual Group 1 winner in Australia, and Harp Star (Jpn) and Stelvio (Jpn) flying the flag for his daughters.

Out of the Slewpy mare Gift Of The Night, who ran second in the Listed Prix Herod, Falbrav was a half-brother to the stakes-placed Fattsota (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), and three of his half-sisters are black-type producers.

 

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Country Life’s Andrew Pons Passes Away

by Josh Pons

Andrew MacNamara Pons, who managed his family's Country Life Farm in Maryland during the 1970s, died on Tuesday evening, Jan. 2, following complications from cardiac arrest five days earlier. He was 70 years old.

Born in Baltimore on May 31, 1953, he was the oldest son of Joseph and Mary Jo Pons. He grew up working with horses at Country Life, the oldest Thoroughbred farm in the state, established in 1933 by Pons' grandfather, Adolphe.

Fresh out of high school, Pons began work as an assistant for Hall of Fame horse trainer Henry S. Clark at Delaware Park. He interrupted his own career as a trainer when called back to guide Country Life through difficult times. His equine experience included a term in the stallion division of Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, where he met Marva Jones. The couple were married at Country Life in 1986.

With the support of family in 1991, Pons enrolled in a 28-day, in-patient treatment course at Ashley Addiction Center in Havre de Grace, Md. Thereupon, he determined to finish college and persevered through 10 years of night school to graduate with a Master of Science Human Services Administration degree from the University of Baltimore in 2002. He would later quip: “I finished my sophomore year of college 27 years after my freshman year.”

As the son of a recovering father in the Alcoholics Anonymous program, Pons faced the disease of alcoholism with wry humor: “If I'm carrying a gene for addiction, then I must also be carrying a gene for recovery.” He put that gene to good use, became a counselor at Ashley, then relocated to Chestertown to live on Marva's family farm, Belle Grove, on Langford Creek in Kent County.  He was named clinical director of the A. F. Whitsett Center in Chestertown, a vital facility for those suffering from substance use disorder.

An active, outdoors life he lived right to the end. He was playing pickleball with Chestertown pals at the Y when he collapsed. He was admitted to the Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Lunger Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at the Christiana Care Hospital, adjacent to Delaware Park Racetrack.

“How appropriate,” said younger brother Josh. “The Lungers owned Christiana Stable, based at Delaware Park. That's where Andrew worked for Mr. Clark, who was the first to truly recognize what a fine young horseman he was.”

“I've known him since grade school,” said a Bel Air AA member. “He gave up a life with horses–something he loved–to spend his life helping other alcoholics. That's a powerful statement of who he was. That's what stands out about him as a man. That's what we'll remember. That he helped others.”

Pons is survived by his wife of 38 years, Marva, his stepdaughter Karianna Johnson (Tom) Brace, granddaughters Ellie and Minna; his siblings Norah Pons, Josh (Ellen) Pons, Mike (Lisa) Pons, and Alice Pons; Marva's siblings BJ Jones, Keith (Nancy) Jones, Jonathan (Beverly) Jones and Steven (Caroline) Jones. Nieces and nephews: Tess Jones, Marva Kumpf, Ben Jones, Lindsay (Matt) Diehl, Charlotte Jones, Christopher Jones, Alexander Jones, Philip (Lindsay) Pons, Elizabeth (Garrett) Forsberg, Josh (Shelby) Pons, Dave (Maggie Clough) Pons, and August (Hayley) Pons.

Remembrances of life are in the planning stages for late spring, one at Belle Grove and another at Country Life. Please consider a donation to a favorite cause of his: The Mann House, Inc., 14 Williams Street, Bel Air, Maryland 21014, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit recovery residence where he often attended AA meetings. A link to his obituary can be found here.

Pons will forever be remembered for his impact on the lives of others. Recalled his youngest brother Mike: “If you asked Andy how he was doing, without fail, he would remind you, 'It's a good life, ain't it?'”

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