Marjorie Cowan, owner, dead at 68

Marjorie Cowan, who with her husband, Irv Cowan, raced such outstanding runners as Hollywood Wildcat and War Chant, died earlier this week in Miami Beach after a lengthy illness. She was 68.

The Cowans have been prominent in Florida social circles for years, and their runners, most of them homebreds, have raced at the highest levels on both the East and West coasts.

Hollywood Wildcat won the Breeders' Cup Distaff in 1993 at Santa Anita, and her son War Chant won the Breeders' Cup Mile in 2000 at Churchill Downs. Both those horses were trained by Neil Drysdale.

Other top horses owned by the Cowans have been French Deputy, Love That Jazz, Sea of Secrets, Society Selection, and the European colt Ivan Denisovich, whom they owned in partnership with Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor.

They also owned the Diplomat Hotel in Hallandale Beach, Fla., not far from Gulfstream Park.

Cowan is survived by her husband and three children.