Giles Brophy, owner, dead

B. Giles Brophy, a co-owner of 1991 Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold, died Sunday while visiting farms in South Carolina, according to family members. Brophy, 68, had been battling cancer.

Brophy, the founder and owner of the trading company Giles Securities in New York and other financial companies, bought his first horse in 1984, and in 1990 his Thirty Six Red won the Gotham Stakes and Wood Memorial. Though Thirty Six Red would finish ninth in that year's Kentucky Derby, Brophy was back the next year in the Derby's winner's circle with Strike the Gold, trained by Nick Zito.

Brophy owned Strike the Gold in partnership with William Condren and Joseph Cornacchia. The partnership was dissolved acrimoniously in 1992, although Brophy continued to own and breed racehorses.

Strike the Gold went on to win $3.4 million in a career that included the Derby win, a victory in the Blue Grass Stakes, and a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes. Strike the Gold also won the Pimlico Special as a 4-year-old.

Zito said Tuesday that Brophy's involvement in the Thoroughbred industry gave a significant boost to his career, mainly because of Strike the Gold's achievements. Zito and Brophy picked out Thirty Six Red at auction.

Brophy is survived by his wife, Patricia, and five sons - Bernard, Eric, Stephen, Andrew, and Christopher - and a daughter, Moira.