NEWS
Gerry, owner of Forego, dies
Posted: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 10:18 AM
MARTHA GERRY
Photo by Z
by Jeff Lowe
Martha Gerry, the owner and breeder of three-time Horse of the Year Forego, died on Monday night following heart surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital. She was 88.
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame recently named Gerry an examplar of racing. She was the first woman of the six people to receive the honor, joining C. V. Whitney, George Widener, Walter Jeffords, John Hanes, and Paul Mellon.
A Thoroughbred owner for more than 65 years and the aunt of Lane’s End principal William S. Farish, Gerry was chairman emeritus of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame board of trustees and a member of The Jockey Club.
Gerry and her mother, Libbie Rice Farish, began racing as Lazy F Ranch following the death of her father in 1942. They raced their first stakes winner a year later and developed a steady flow of quality runners, including ’44 Delaware Oaks winner Plucky Maud and ’46 Maryland Futurity winner Nathaniel.
After churning out multiple stakes winners Circus and Treacherous and New York Handicap winner Marchandeuse in the 1960s and early ‘70s, Lazy F became synonymous with Forego, a homebred who overcame many physical ailments to earn eight Eclipse Awards.
The last of the great weight carriers, Forego registered 24 stakes victories while incorporating a rare versatility that allowed him to score back-to-back victories in the 1974 Vosburgh Handicap (G2) at seven furlongs and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at two miles.
Forego collected 14 Grade 1 wins and garnered Eclipse Awards as champion older male from 1974 to ’77, Horse of the Year from ’74 to ’76, and champion sprinter in ’74.
Gerry, a fixture with Forego in the winner’s circle, pointed to Forego’s head victory over Honest Pleasure in the 1976 Marlboro Cup Handicap (G1) as her favorite. The Forli gelding carried 137 pounds over the sloppy track at Belmont Park.
"At the head of the stretch, he looked totally defeated," Gerry recalled in Daily Racing Form in 2004. "[Jockey Bill Shoemaker] told me that all of the sudden, he started to run. He came so wide, I wouldn't move from my seat because I didn't know if he had won. That's the way it was with him. You had your heart in your throat the whole time, but he usually came through."
Gerry won a division of the Test Stakes (G2) with Clef d’Argent in 1979 and the Manhattan Handicap (G1) with Silver Voice in 1987. She bred Grade 1 winner and successful California sire Swiss Yodeler in partnership with Farish.
“It is one of the last dynasties in the game,” said Angel Penna Jr., one of Gerry’s trainers. “The horsemanship of this lady, the class of this lady, it’s hard to find anymore, to be honest with you. I hate to say it, but you don’t find people like that anymore, like her and Paul Mellon. Her demeanor and the way she would talk to you, the understanding she had, it’s hard to find.”
A long-time trustee of the New York Racing Association and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, Gerry was recognized by the New York Turf Writers as the woman who did the most for racing in 1974. She was the Thoroughbred Club of America’s Lady Guest of 1978.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
