Stonestreet Stables LLC, Magnier, Susan., Tabor, Michael B. and Smith, Derrick

STONESTREET STABLES

Owner: Estate of Jess Jackson

Born: Feb. 18, 1930, Los Angeles. Died April 21, 2011

Residences: Healdsburg, Calif. and Lexington, Ky.

Family: wife, Barbara Banke; five children

Website: www.stonestreetfarms.com

A lawyer by trade, Jess Jackson and his family bought an 80-acre pear and walnut orchard in California in  1974. He converted it into a vineyard and sold the grapes to local wineries. In 1982, a downturn in the grape market forced him to make his own wine. In the years since, the Kendall-Jackson label has become one of the most popular labels in the country.

Jackson named his racing operation after his father. Although he raced Thoroughbreds for a time in the 1960s, Jackson re-entered the game in 2003, and in 2005 he acquired farms in Kentucky and Florida.

Stonestreet is best known for campaigning 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin and 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. The remarkable filly produced her first foal, a colt by Curlin, in 2012, subsequently named Jess’s Dream. Jackson did not live to see the birth of his dream foal, having died nearly a year before of cancer.

His wife, Barbara, has continued Stonestreet following her husband’s death. 

The first Grade I winner both bred and campaigned by Stonestreet is My Miss Aurelia, who secured an undeafeated two-year-old season that included victories in the Grade II Adirondack at Saratoga, the Grade I Frizette at Belmont and the Grade I Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs. She was named champion two-year-old filly of 2011.

The Magnier family manages Coolmore Stud, the world's largest breeding operation, which is based in Ireland.

Tabor moved into racing in a big way in the mid-1990s after selling his 114-shop betting company, Prince Arthur, in Great Britain to rival Coral. He succeeded Robert Sangster as a partner in the Coolmore Stud business. Tabor made a splash in America in May 1995 when Thunder Gulch, acquired in a private sale the previous fall, won the Kentucky Derby.

Smith is an Englishman who worked for the British bookmakers, Ladbrokes, before leaving in 1988 to go into business on his own, and he became very successful in property and currency trading. Among the horses he has owned in partnership with Tabor are Lion Heart, Pomeroy, Sense of Style and Chapel Royal. He has been a partner in top horses George Washington and Hurricane Run, winner of Irish Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.