G. Watts Humphrey, Jr.

Biography

G. Watts Humphrey, Jr.’s roots in thoroughbred racing run deep: his grandfather, George Magoffin Humphrey, bred racehorses on his Whileaway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, while his aunt, Elisabeth “Miss Pansy” Ireland Poe, bred and raced horses both in Ireland and the United States. It was her Shawnee Farm that Watts Humphrey purchased and on which he built a breeding and racing enterprise with classic connections.

Born on June 12, 1944, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Gilbert Watts Humphrey, Jr., was born to parents Gilbert and Louise, their family involved in multiple equine pursuits, including polo and fox hunting. His grandfather, George, joined President Dwight Eisenhower's Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury in 1953, after a career which included the restructuring of M. A. Hanna Co., formulation of National Steel Company, and development of iron ore deposits in Canada. He stepped away from political life at the beginning of Eisenhower’s second term and went back to private life, which included Whileaway Farm. There, the elder Humphrey had harness and saddle horses and a broodmare band that included Dinner Partner, a stakes winner who produced multiple foals of note; Nalee, another Reine-de-Course; and Nalees Flying Flag, dam of Sachuista, 1987 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) champion.

The elder Humphrey willed his grandson his first broodmare upon his death in 1970, as Watts Humphrey went to work for his aunt on her Shawnee Farm after his education at Yale and Harvard and a turn in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam era, where he was a decorated 1^st Lieutenant-Infantry Company Commander. He also started racing in partnership with William S. Farish of Lane’s End Farm, and when his aunt passed away in 1978, Humphrey bought Shawnee from her estate and began developing his own stock, in partnership with his mother, Louise; another aunt, Pamela Firman; Farish; and Brereton Jones of Airdrie Stud.

Located about 30 miles southwest of Lexington, Shawnee has a storied place within the history of the sport. The farm itself is older than the state of Kentucky and was once the Leonatus Stock Farm, owned by Col. John “Jack” Pendleton Chinn, who owned 1883 Kentucky Derby winner Leonatus. Pansy Poe bought Shawnee in 1938, and continued the tradition of breeding thoroughbreds, which her nephew and his wife, Sally, maintain to this day. Their focus on racing their fillies and selling their colts has helped them develop a series of families that have produced stakes winners, classic victors, and champions.

The Humphreys maintain a broodmare band that includes multiple generations of the same family while also making the occasional purchase that brings unexpected opportunities. When Sally Humphrey wanted a mare of her own, she went to the 1975 Keeneland Fall Breeding Stock Sale and picked out Virtuous, a daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Gallant Man. The following year, they sent the bay mare to Exclusive Native, whose son Affirmed would win the Triple Crown the same year that the Humphreys sent the Virtuous filly through the sales ring. The gavel fell at $32,000 for the chestnut filly; two years later, Genuine Risk would win the 1980 Kentucky Derby for Bert and Diana Firestone and then finished second in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the best Triple Crown record for any filly in history.

The same month that Genuine Risk make her first start, the Humphreys celebrated a win in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap with the Terrible Tiger mare Likely Exchange. A great-granddaughter of Strange Device, a mare that his grandfather had purchased in the 1950s, she won 23 of her 72 starts in the colors of Humphrey and his aunt Pamela Firman and then returned to Shawnee for her broodmare career.

When Likely Exchange crossed the finish line in her final race in April 1981, she was already in foal to Rich Cream, a co-holder of the world-record time of 1:19.40 for seven furlongs on dirt, which he set in the 1980 Triple Bend Handicap. The following April, she foaled a plain bay colt that Humphrey would send to the 1983 Keeneland July yearling sale, where he sold for $160,000 to Elizabeth Moran's Brushwood Stable. His unruly disposition meant that Crème Fraiche had to be gelded before his racing career started, but it turned the son of Likely Exchange into a route-running star. His victory in the 1985 Belmont Stakes gave Humphrey his second classic victory as a breeder; the gelding also notched consecutive victories in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 1986 and 1987.

Success in breeding and racing continued throughout the next two decades with homebreds like Dream Deal, winner of the Grade 1 Monmouth Oaks; her daughter Clear Mandate, a multiple Grade 1 stakes victor; and graded stakes winners Personal Diary, Centre Court, and Morticia. Humphrey has also invested in new stock through sales, including an A.P. Indy filly he bought in partnership with Ian Banwell’s St. George Farm in 2010, Rare Event. Fond of A.P. Indy mares, he kept her after her racing career was done and paired her with City Zip to produce Improbable, who won an Eclipse for Champion Older Male Horse in 2020.

In addition to his status as breeder and owner, Humphrey has held a number of important positions within the sport. He was elected to The Jockey Club in 1976 and served multiple terms as a steward in addition to his time on the boards of the American Horse Council, Breeders’ Cup, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Humphrey served on the board of directors for Churchill Downs, Inc., for more than 20 years, and then as Chairman of the Board from 2016 to 2018, and also is part of the Board of Directors for Keeneland Association, Inc.

His work in racing comes alongside his business dealings, which include his position as chairman of GWH Holdings, Inc., a private investment company; International Plastics Equipment Group, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company that manages plastics equipment manufacturers, including Conair and Thermal Care; and as a partner in the St. Louis Cardinals. Humphrey also has held the positions of Chairman, Deputy Chairman, and Director for the Federal Reserve Bank-Fourth District in Cleveland, Ohio.

Humphrey married Sally Hastings Schriber in July 1966 after his graduation from Yale and hers from Briarcliffe College. They have three children: Susan H. Keller, Victoria H. Oliver, and G. Watts Humphrey III. Daughter Victoria, or Vicki, is a graded stakes-winning trainer and has conditioned several horses for her father and his partners, including homebreds Frivolous, Direct Line, and Personal Diary; and stakes winner She’s Not Here.

G. Watts Humphrey, Jr. has remained a steadfast champion of the classic American owner/breeder tradition. By pairing a deep respect for pedigree history with an unwavering commitment to the welfare of the horse, his operations have served as a model of consistency and excellence at the sport’s highest levels. As the next generation carries his green and white silks forward, Humphrey’s impact remains a guiding force for the future of American racing.