Robert Green, managed Greentree Stud, dies

Robert Louis Green, the former manager of Elmendorf Farm and Greentree Stud in Kentucky, died on Nov. 20 in Mt. Sterling, Ky. He was 86.

Green first worked at Hal Price Headley’s Beaumont Farm before Maxwell Gluck hired him in the early 1950’s to manage Elmendorf. But he is best known for his long association with Greentree Stud. John Hay Whitney and Joan Payson hired Green in 1958 to manage the famous farm. During Green’s three decades there, the Lexington farm raised such champions as Stage Door Johnny, Late Bloomer, Bowl Game, and Sea Pigeon. Green also managed some of the farm’s most illustrious stallions, including Stage Door Johnny, Tom Fool, The Axe II, Arts and Letters, Stop the Music, Key to the Mint, and Foolish Pleasure.

Green was president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers’ Club in 1956, and in 1973 the organization named him Farm Manager of the Year. He also served on the Kentucky State Racing Commission in the 1980’s and was one of six commission members who voted in November 1980 to ban medication at state tracks governed by the commission. The ban failed to become law, though, after a legislative research panel declined to approve it.

Green was married for 35 years to Patricia Anne Headley.

Green’s survivors include a daughter, Adele; sons Bob, Tim, Chris, and Finn; 19 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.