 (Update: A memorial service for Thoroughbred owner and breeder Cary Jackson has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19 at St. James Church in Monkton, Md. with a reception to follow at Elkridge-Harford Hunt Club).
By Joe Clancy
Cary Jackson and Nick Arundel? On almost the same day? And they weren’t together?
The two steeplechase men passed away this week, Jackson (left) while traveling from Kentucky Monday and Arundel at home Tuesday. A Marylander with a deep background as an owner, breeder, horseman, Jackson was 88. A Virginian who founded the Great Meadow Race Course, served in the Marines, graduated from Harvard and owned Sugar Bee, Arundel was 83.
“We lost two great supporters of the sport,” said Jack Fisher, who trained horses for both men. “In different ways they did a lot for steeplechasing.”
I just saw Mr. Jackson last week at Northview Stallion Station’s annual open house. I walked into the stallion barn and there he was – holding court with John Price and Charlie McGinnes outside Not For Love’s stall and telling tales (some of them tall for sure). An hour later, the crowd assembled for the stallion parade – lining the walking area plowed in the snow beside the barn. One at a time, Two Punch, Not For Love, Bullsbay and the others circled as the people stood to the sides and watched. Well, all but one. Mr. Jackson – blue baseball cap pulled low, collar turned up on his camouflage jacket, stallion information in his pocket – stood in the snow to get a head-on view of the stallions. Only Mr. Jackson would stand in a foot of snow to get a head-on view of a 28-year-old stallion. See photo below – that's Mr. Jackson standing by himself up near the barn.
Jackson bred and raced Thoroughbreds on the flat and over jumps. He rode jump races, back in the day as they say, and campaigned 2009 and 2010 hurdle winner Northern Bay among others. Jackson campaigned timber stakes winner Dr. Ramsey with Fisher and based a small string of horses with various trainers including Kathy McKenna, Doug Fout, Todd Wyatt and (on the flat) Tim Keefe. Jackson bred three Maryland Horse Breeders Association yearling show champions on his Fox Harbor Farm in White Hall, Md. His Langfuhr colt, out of the Regal Intention mare Millashand, won the 2010 championship.
Jackson was a regular at Thoroughbred sales – Kentucky, Saratoga, Timonium – and was traveling back from a few days at Fasig-Tipton when he died.
“You’d see Cary in different places, places where you didn’t expect to see him,” said Fisher. “He tried to make lesser horses work, did it on a smaller scale, but had a lot fun and gave a lot of fun to people in jump racing.”
 As Keefe put it, Jackson had his quirks and liked to share his opinions, but he was a steadfast client.
“He was one of my first owners, and always sent me horses,” Keefe said. “I was just a young guy starting out and it always seemed like he sent me horses to help me but it lasted longer than that. There were a few guarantees with him: He’d show up at the races in his coat and tie, he’d tell you what he thought and he’d keep sending you horses. I’ll really miss him.”
As he did with Keefe, Jackson supported Wyatt's relatively new training operation.
"Mr. Jackson, I never called him Cary, sent me one horse, then another one and I think he felt obligated to keep supporting me," Wyatt said. "We didn't have any real connection – he asked me about a 2-year-old one day and sent it to me. That horse broke its maiden at Belmont and we kind of went from there. I've got four horses for him that are getting ready to run over jumps this spring. He was excited about them and we did some things last fall to have them ready by April. It's hard to believe that he’s not going to get to see them, to see it through."
Jackson served on the NSA board, and was always interested in the game’s health. He’d routinely stop me in the paddock at a race course somewhere and quietly – very quietly – discuss a hot-button issue or two. Always a Steeplechase Times supporter, Jackson usually found something to advertise – a horse for sale, a job opening, something – and sent us a small check pretty much every year.
Unlike Jackson, Arundel filled a room. He commanded attention, spoke up, shook your hand. As evidence, his death was on The Washington Post internet site hours later while Jackson’s official obituary waited a few days to make any source.
Anyone who attended the Virginia Gold Cup in any official capacity heard Arundel’s pre-race speech and felt motivated to do a good job. Anyone who heard him toast the Gold Cup winner – complete with a champagne sip from the Cup itself – afterward felt privileged to be there.
Arundel’s father, Russell, ran the Virginia Gold Cup when it was in nearby Warrenton at the Broadview course. The Pepsi-Cola executive was as an NSA director, an owner and a Virginia foxhunter. In 1972, Russell Arundel received the F. Ambrose Clark Award from the National Steeplechase Association for his work in increasing purses in the early 1970s when steeplechasing weathered major cutbacks at the New York racetracks.
His son took those interests another step – buying, building, founding and preserving Great Meadow (site of the Gold Cup meets in May and October), owning quality horses, launching the Morningside Training Farm, placing thousands of acres of Virginia countryside into conservation and pursuing causes (Steeplethon course, anyone?) with gusto.
“Nick always wanted to do what was needed, not what would work or what made business sense,” said Fisher. “Look at the Virginia Gold Cup. He did everything there first class. He made that place when it could have just gone away.”
At various times in his life, Arundel was a Harvard student (with Bobby Kennedy), a Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, a CIA paramilitary officer during Vietnam, a journalist, a newspaper publisher, a candidate for state senate and more. His philanthropic endeavors included work with the Friends of the National Zoo, George Mason University, the Piedmont Environmental Council, the U.S. Marine Corps Heritage Center, the National Press Foundation, the Washington Journalism Center, the African Wildlife Foundation, the Monticello Founders Board, the Virginia Higher Education Business Council, National Sporting Library, National Military History Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, George Washington University, Waterford Foundation, Fresh Air/Full Call Campaign, the Virginia Racing Commission, and the Americans at War Foundation. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Virginia Communications in 2001 and was to be honored as the 2011 Virginian of the Year by the state General Assembly on the day he died.
Within steeplechasing, he was an NSA board member and much of the energy behind the creation of the National Steeplechase Foundation. His racing stable included Sugar Bee, who won the Virginia Gold Cup, Maryland Hunt Cup and International Gold Cup timber stakes for Arundel. Trained by Charlie Fenwick, Sugar Bee won the NSA timber championship in 1985. More recently, Arundel campaigned timber stakes winners Monte Bianco and Seeyouattheevent with Jack Fisher.
“As an owner, Nick was always really good, we never had any hint of an argument, or discussion,” said Fisher. “His goal was strictly timber and that’s what we were looking for. The two timber races he wanted were the Gold Cup and the Hunt Cup, but he didn’t force it. He wanted to win at Great Meadow and Seeyouattheevent and Monte Bianco won in the right spots, where he wanted to win.”
Steeplechase Times caught Mr. Arundel’s attention early. He’d pick my brain, suggest stories, ask about revenue streams, future plans and so on. I could never tell if he was simply proud of the paper or a little annoyed that he hadn’t founded Steeplechase Times. Probably a little of both, but the point was clear – he appreciated the journalism, the product, the endeavor.
This month, he communicated with Sean about a book idea for ST. It would have been a fun project.
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ARUNDEL MEMORIAL: A memorial service for Arundel will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, Feb. 11, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, Va. The Arundel family will receive friends after the service at Merry Oak Farm in The Plains.
• • •
JACKSON OBITUARY: Longtime steeplechase and flat owner Cary Jackson, 88, died Monday, Feb. 7 after a car accident on his way home to Maryland from Lexington, Ky. Jackson owned steeplechase horses for many years, including Dusty Corners, Robber Ramble, Straight Paths and Dr. Ramsey. Jackson had four steeplechase horses in training with Maryland-based trainer Todd Wyatt, including 2010 Philadelphia Park allowance winner Northern Bay. Jackson also campaigned flat horses, several with Laurel-based Tim Keefe.
Jackson lived at Fox Harbor Farm in White Hall, Md. where he oversaw his band of broodmares. Jackson retired the Chanceland Farm Challenge Trophy at last year’s Maryland Horse Breeders Association Yearling Show when his colt by Langfuhr won the grand champion award for Jackson’s third in the last six years.
He served in the U.S. Army, receiving a Purple Heart in World War II. He was a member of Army Specialized Training Program. Jackson graduated from Johns Hopkins University and worked for Bethlehem Steel, building liberty ships, before starting a construction and contracting business in the 1950’s. C.W. Jackson & Assoc. built many area schools and public buildings as well as other commercial real estate endeavors.
Jackson founded and served as the first president of Maryland Association for Wildlife Conservation. He served on the board of the NSA, SOTA, MFHA and was presently serving on the board of the Maryland Million.
The former amateur jockey rode in the Maryland Hunt Cup three times, finishing second aboard Dark Of The Moon in 1948.
Jackson is survived by his wife Ann and children Elinor J. Lloyd, T. Taylor Jackson, Catherine Y. Jackson, Leila W. Jackson; another son, Cary W. Jackson Jr. predeceased his father; two grandchildren and four step-children. Jackson was previously married to Charlotte Smyth, Louise Speer and Katherine Brewster.
St. James Church at 3100 Monkton Rd., Monkton, Md. 21111 will host a memorial service at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19. |
