Owner-breeder Gary Wolfson dead at 73

Gary Wolfson, a part-time Thoroughbred owner who came from a family with deep ties in the game, died on Wednesday in a Brooklyn, N.Y., palliative-care center following a recent diagnosis of cancer, according to family members. Wolfson was 73.

One of three sons of Louis and Patrice Wolfson, who campaigned 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed, Wolfson and his brother Steve started Happy Valley Farm in 1974 to breed and race horses. The operation leaned heavily on a mare, Minnetonka, the two bought for $17,000. Minnetonka, unraced, produced Katonka, a hardy stakes winner who won $212,211 while racing from 1974-1977.

Steve and Gary Wolfson operated Happy Valley from 1974 until the early 1990s. The farm’s physical location was 80 acres of farmland adjacent to their parents’ Harbor View Farm in Florida, Steve Wolfson said.

“It was just great,” Steve Wolfson said. “We were 1 and 1A. We did everything together.”

One of the partnership’s most exciting horses was Give Me Strength, Katonka’s first foal, Steve said. After breaking his maiden in his sixth try, Give Me Strength went on to win five of his next eight races, including four graded stakes, before being injured in the Rutgers Handicap and retiring.

Happy Valley Farm also raced Prismatical, who won the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes, Grade 2 Monmouth Oaks, and Grade 2 Long Look Stakes in 1981. Other stakes winners campaigned under the Happy Valley name included Fara’s Team, Pair of Deuces, and Talakeno.

After dissolving the partnership and moving to California to be closer to his grandchildren, Gary Wolfson did work for a Chinese company setting up business deals, while still dabbling in racing, Steve said. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer in late April, when the disease was already at an advanced stage.

“It happened very quickly,” Steve said.