Owner Joseph V. Shields Jr. dies at 80

ELMONT, N.Y. – Joseph V. Shields Jr., a horse owner for more than three decades, died Oct. 10 in his sleep at his home in Thomasville, Ga., according to his family. He was 80.

Shields owned horses for 36 years during which he campaigned 14 stakes winners. His most notable victory came with Wagon Limit, who at odds of 34-1 beat Skip Away in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 10, 1998.

Shields also campaigned stakes winners Any Limit, Foil, Garnered, House Party, Limit Out, Passing Shot, and Puzzlement.

Shields had his horses with the Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens, whom he met playing polo in the early 1980s. When Jerkens died in 2015, Shields employed Allen’s son Jimmy, as well as Bill Mott. According to Guinness McFadden, Shields's nephew, the family will continue to campaign those horses.

Shields and his brother David founded Shields & Co., a Wall Street investment firm that in 2009 merged with another firm to become Wellington Shields, of which Joseph was a long-time chairman.

Shields was a past member of the New York Racing Association board of directors, a trustee of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, and a trustee of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, as well as a member of the Jockey Club.

Shields is survived by his wife of 30 years Maury, his brother David, his sister Helen Guest, as well as 12 nieces and nephews and 11 great nieces and nephews.