Robin Scully, longtime owner of Clovelly Farms, dies

Robin Scully, whose Clovelly Farms bred recent Group 1 winner Elusive Kate, 2003 Breeders’ Cup Classic and 2004 Dubai World Cup winner Pleasantly Perfect, and numerous other high-class runners, died on July 12 in England, the Blood-Horse reported this week. Scully was 89.

He owned Clovelly Farms in Lexington, Ky., between 1959 and 2010. Scully dispersed his bloodstock at the 2010 Keeneland November sale, and in 2011 Sue and Richard Masson bought the 619-acre Kentucky property.

Scully and his family owned the Clovelly Oil Company, headquartered in New Orleans, La.

Under the longtime management of Lars la Cour, Clovelly bred such runners as group winner and sire Silver Hawk, Group 1 winner Seven Springs, and 1988 Japan Cup winner Pay the Butler. Scully also bred French champion Ancient Regime; French and Italian highweight Cricket Ball; Group 1 winners Regal State (Pleasantly Perfect’s dam), Alkaased, and Oui Mon Capitaine; and multiple stakes winner Leo’s Gypsy Dancer, among others. Arcangues, the French Group 1 winner best known for his upset 133-1 victory in the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Classic, also was raised at Clovelly for his owner and breeder, Daniel Wildenstein.

Scully resided in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, at his house, Abbotswood.