Domino Stud founder dies at 90

Kenneth Thomas Jones, an international businessman who owned breeding farms in Lexington, Ky., and Australia, died last Thursday at his home in Raleigh, N.C., at the age of 90.

Jones, a native of North Carolina, co-founded an importing business in Guam shortly after serving in the U.S. Navy Seabees during World War II. The business quickly evolved into an international conglomerate, and in the 1950s he began racing horses in Australia. He later founded Domino Stud in both that country and the United States.

Jones boarded approximately 30 of his own mares at the Lexington farm, which he purchased in 1989. The foals were typically sold at auction.

Jones raced most of his horses in Australia, including Catbird, the winner of the 2000 Golden Slipper Stakes, one of the most prestigious races in that country. In 2003 in the U.S., his homebred horse Sir Cherokee won the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. This year, a horse he bred, Wesley, won the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga.

Jones is survived by his wife, Elaine Cruz Jones, and five daughters.