Georgia Ridder, owner, dead

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Georgia Ridder, a director of the Oak Tree Racing Association whose family campaigned the stakes winners Alphabet Soup and Flying Paster, died last Friday of natural causes in Pasadena, Calif. She was 87.

Ridder was the widow of newspaper publisher Benjamin J. Ridder, a founder of the Oak Tree Racing Association, which operates a fall meeting at Santa Anita. The couple campaigned such stakes winners as Flying Paster, the winner of the 1979 Santa Anita and Hollywood Derbies, and Cascapedia, the 1977 Eclipse Award winner as outstanding older filly and mare.

Following Benjamin Ridder's death in 1983, Georgia Ridder maintained the family's racing operation. She also became a vice-president and member of the Oak Tree board of directors.

Georgia Ridder's stable reached national prominence in 1996 when Alphabet Soup upset Cigar in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Woodbine. In addition, she campaigned Cat's Cradle, the 1995 California-bred Horse of the Year. She had a small racing stable active at the time of her death.

Georgia Ridder is survived by two sons and two grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.