Alma Haggin, Keeneland matriarch, dies

Alma Haggin, daughter of Keeneland's co-founder and first president, Hal Price Headley, and wife of Keeneland's second president, Louis Lee Haggin II, died Wednesday in Lexington, Ky. She was 95.

Haggin's ties to central Kentucky's Thoroughbred breeding and racing community, and especially to Keeneland, ran deep. Haggin and her husband, who died in 1980, owned Sycamore Farm in Versailles, Ky. Her son, Louis Lee Haggin III, is a Keeneland director and trustee. Her younger sister, Alice Headley Chandler, owns Mill Ridge Farm in Lexington and also is a Keeneland director.

"Mrs. Haggin created a living legacy that horsemen and guests can enjoy every time they visit Keeneland," said Keeneland's president and chief executive officer, Nick Nicholson, on Wednesday. "So much of Keeneland's beauty is a tribute to her quiet activism. For more than 60 years, she volunteered her time and considerable sense of style to perfect what today has become known as 'the Keeneland look.' "

Funeral arrangements were pending Wednesday afternoon.