Fair Grounds
Tom Benson, owner of major league teams and racehorses, dies at 90
Churchill Downs/Coady Photography Tom Benson
Tom Benson, a businessman who owned the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans, died Thursday at age 90.
Benson’s wife, Gayle Benson, is the principal in GMB Racing, which began buying yearlings in 2014 and managed to get two of their first purchases, Mo Tom and Tom’s Ready, into the 2016 Kentucky Derby.
Benson, a native New Orleanian, contracted the flu in February and never recovered.
GMB Racing has continued buying yearlings since their initial investment. One of their horses, Lone Sailor, is expected to be entered Saturday in the Louisiana Derby, though he will be a longshot in the race.