In the pantheon of influential names in California racing, Clement L. Hirsch ranks up there with Bing Crosby, Dr. Charles Strub, and Elias “Lucky” Baldwin, owners and breeders whose passion for the sport translated to a lifetime of work on its behalf. Hirsch came from a family with generations of business success and translated those skills into efforts like the Oak Tree Association, a nonprofit with a focus on charity that established a stellar multi-decade autumn meet at Santa Anita Park.

Successful on the track and off, Clement Hirsch stands as a Pillar of the Turf thanks to his tireless efforts as a breeder, owner, businessman, and philanthropist, his legacy a thriving Del Mar racetrack and a Grade 1 distaff stakes race won by several of the sport’s greats.

Businessman

Clement L. Hirsch (Del Mar photo)

A prosperous retailer in St. Louis, Mo., Urban Hirsch decided to take his young family, including wife, Florence, sons, Urban Jr. and Clement, and daughter, Ellen, west to California, where he translated his success as part of his family’s Cal Hirsch and Sons into the Famous Department stores. Educated at Beverly Hills High School and then Menlo College, Clement Hirsch’s inherited business acumen and interest in sports came in handy when he and some friends rescued a greyhound from a track they frequented. The group rehabilitated the dog, feeding him a diet of quality meat, and then returned the pup to the racetrack once he had recuperated. From that experience, Hirsch got the idea to start a dog food company at the age of 22.

The young businessman grew his Dog Town Packing Company (later Kal Kan Foods) by selling door-to-door and even being photographed eating his product at local grocery stores. Then World War II intervened and Hirsch joined the Marines, seeing action in the Pacific Theater, including at Guadalcanal. When he returned home after the war, he picked up where he left off with Kal Kan, eventually selling the company to Mars, Inc., which now markets Kal Kan as their Pedigree label pet foods. Hirsch also maintained his interest in a food-processing company, Rocking K Foods, which later became known as STAGG.

Hirsch’s sons Greg and Clement L. (Bo) Hirsch Jr. followed their father into the food business as Bo took over Rocking K and then spun off Palisades Foods from that while Greg then helmed Rocking K. Bo also inherited more than his father’s business acumen: he also continued the Hirsch family’s investment in racing, which started with a horse named Domirood.

Sportsman

Hirsch had success with that rehabbed greyhound in the 1930s and he extended that joy in racing to Thoroughbreds in the late 1940s. In 1945, he bought Domirood for $3,000 and raced the colt until he was claimed. Then trainer Robert H. “Red” McDaniel claimed Blue Reading, a son of Australian sire Reading II, for Hirsch in 1949. The colt went on to win several stakes, including the San Diego and Bing Crosby Handicaps, before standing stud at Northridge Farm in California for his breeder, Annette Ryan. Hirsch worked with McDaniel until the businessman got the idea to establish a racetrack in Las Vegas in the late 1940s. The family moved out to the fledgling gambling destination, but Hirsch ran into a number of roadblocks that stymied his efforts. Though the track did open briefly in 1953, it went belly up after a mere 13 racing days. The endeavor did give Hirsch valuable experience that he would apply a decade and a half later.

Hirsch, center in suit, with June Darling after 1970 Norfolk Stakes. (BloodHorse Library)

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Hirsch was one of the leading breeders and owners in California. Together with trainer Warren Stute, who took over the businessman’s string, horses like June Darling, Figonero, and Magical Maiden carried the Hirsch colors to the winner’s circle on a regular basis. The California-bred June Darling was a multiple stakes winner at age 2, including a victory in the inaugural Norfolk Stakes, which later became the American Pharoah Stakes. He also imported a series of horses from South America, including Figonero, an Argentina-bred who won the Hollywood Gold Cup and the San Diego and Del Mar Handicaps. Magical Maiden brought home multiple Grade 1 victories in Hirsch’s black and gold colors, including the Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

In 1968, his foray into racetrack development in Las Vegas helped the lifelong businessman understand what he needed to do when he and several partners, including Robert Strub, owner of Santa Anita Park; Lou Rowan, an owner/breeder; veterinarian Jack Robbins; and a few others decided to found the Oak Tree Racing Association. Their idea was to put on a not-for-profit meet during the dark days between Del Mar’s summer and Santa Anita’s winter meets. The first Oak Tree meet came in October 1969, 20 racing days where an average crowd of just under 15,000 wagered more than $29 million. From 1969 to 2010, the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita Park hosted five Breeders’ Cups; saw horses like John Henry, Cougar II, Ack Ack, and Ferdinand win stakes; and donated more than $27 million to a variety of causes, including equine research at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

The Oak Tree meetings became the greatest of Hirsch’s many contributions to the sport of horse racing. That model of the nonprofit organization worked at Del Mar as well; when the track’s lease came up for bid, Clement put together another nonprofit group to run the San Diego racetrack, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which runs this historic facility to this day. Both Oak Tree and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club make up a big part of Hirsch’s legacy in horse racing, his love of the sport extending beyond the winners he raced and into the two organizations that continue to make a difference well into the 21^st century.

Pillar of the Turf

After Clement L. Hirsch passed away on March 15, 2000, Del Mar renamed the Chula Vista Handicap for this visionary sportsman. A Grade 1 stakes contested at 1 1/16 miles on the dirt, the race is open to fillies and mares 3 years and older, and has seen Hall of Famers Azeri, Beholder, and Zenyatta grace its winner’s circle. In addition, son Bo Hirsch has followed in his father’s footsteps, breeding and racing Ce Ce, a granddaughter of the elder Hirsch’s Magical Maiden. Ce Ce’s graded stakes wins include the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, the Beholder Mile, and the Apple Blossom Handicap.

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame honored Hirsch as a Pillar of the Turf in 2024, writing that “A Pillar of the Turf must make a difference, a simple enough definition for an honor bestowed upon so very few. And yet, for the difference to be honestly measured, time and distance are required, because a Pillar of the Turf is not of a particular moment. They are forever.” His business ventures may have enabled Hirsch to invest in racing — buying and breeding and racing — but his tireless work on behalf of the horses and the people behind them has left a mark on the sport through both Oak Tree and Del Mar. As his profile on the Hall of Fame website says, “In business, in philanthropy, in the world of Thoroughbred racing, there always was Before Hirsch and After Hirsch.”