Nancy Carroll Marr Mitchell, who alongside together with her husband, Fred Mitchell, personal and function Clarkland Farm north of Lexington, died peacefully on the farm with relations Nov. 3. The longtime horsewoman was 83.
Mitchell was born June 3, 1938, the daughter of John Wesley Marr and Mary Dillard Hazelrigg Marr.
Whereas the Mitchells hit the large time because of the exploits of the foals from 2016 Kentucky Broodmare of the Yr Leslie’s Woman , they have produced top runners for decades off the farm. Established in the 1700s, Clarkland Farm has been in Nancy’s family since 1774. She grew up on the farm where 1931 Preakness Stakes winner Mate was also raised.
“I would get out of school every day at noon so I could come home and clean stalls and break yearlings,” Nancy Mitchell told BloodHorse in 2013. “My father always said, ‘Don’t let your studies interfere with your education.’
“I’d take pedigree books to school and kids would come up and ask, ‘Is that a good book you are reading?’
“I labored at The Blood-Horse doing analysis and cataloging for 5 years earlier than I left to begin a household.”
The Mitchells have been married in 1978. With Nancy’s bloodstock background and Fred’s information of conformation, they made a potent pair in Central Kentucky.
“I’ve left pedigrees as much as her, and she or he leaves the conformation as much as me,” Fred Mitchell stated in 2013. “We’ll provide you with two or three stallions for the mares, after which I will look them over for conformation to see which we might choose to breed to, and we have had good success doing that.”
For greater than 40 years, Nancy and Fred labored onerous on the 400-acre farm, having a knack for locating worth in broodmares and promoting their offspring that will go on to show to be hard-knocking, hard-running racehorses.
Nancy, together with M. Mooney and D. Johnson, bred Wind and Wuthering (No Theft—J. A’s Pleasure, by Johns Pleasure), winner of the 1981 William Hill Dewhurst Stakes (G1) and runner-up within the following yr’s Two Thousand Guineas (G1).
The Mitchells additionally raised Housebuster for Robert Levy, one of their early clients. Housebuster won three grade 1s and was named champion sprinter of 1990 and 1991.
At the 2003 Keeneland November sale, Clarkland paid $47,000 for Comfort Zone. Four years later the Rubiano mare would produce The Pamplemousse , a son of Kafwain who won the 2009 San Rafael Stakes (G3) and Sham Stakes (G3). Comfort Zone would also produce the stakes-winning American Lady and grade 2 stakes-placed Emmzy.
The farm would turn the breeding/racing world on its ear with the purchase of Leslie’s Lady (Tricky Creek —Crystal Lady, by Stop the Music ) for $100,000 at the 2006 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Her 2005 foal, Into Mischief (by Harlan’s Holiday), was a yearling at time, but he would go on become a grade 1 winner and later be a breed-shaping stallion. Into Mischief has led the North American general leading sires list the last two years and is the runaway leader for 2021.
For Clarkland, Leslie’s Lady produced Beholder (by Henny Hughes ), a champion at 2, 3, 4, and 5 and a three-time Breeders’ Cup winner for Spendthrift Farm.
After Beholder’s second World Championships score, in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita, trainer Richard Mandella quipped: “I’d like for them to raise my grandchildren.”
Nancy, Fred, and Nancy’s daughter Marty, recognized the nick of Leslie’s Lady with sons of Storm Cat , and later bred to Scat Daddy , producing grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn . Mendelssohn was a $3 million Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase by M.V. Magnier.
Leslie’s Lady’s 2018 foal, a daughter of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah , would rock the auction market bringing a record $8.2 million at the 2019 September sale. Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm purchased America’s Joy, who tragically died earlier this year in a training accident at Saratoga while prepping for her debut.
Other yearlings out of Leslie’s Lady were sold by Clarkland for $1.1 million and $300,000.
Leslie’s Lady’s Marr Time , a 2-year-old by Not This Time , broke her maiden for Clarkland last month at Keeneland.
Whereas Clarkland was a homebred operation, they did have one main consumer, boarding the mares for the late Bertram and Elaine Klein. Their son, Richard, nonetheless has a number of mares boarded on the farm and depends on Clarkland for breeding perception.
“Clarkland is like household to me,” Richard Klein stated. “We have been with them for 30 years and by no means had a cross phrase. It has been an awesome relationship.
“Nancy’s passing is like shedding a member of the family. She all the time had a smile on her face and was completely happy to have individuals out to the farm. She was sort and soft-spoken and she or he was a girl; a high quality, high quality girl. She was very quiet and stored to herself, however had an awesome eye for a horse and was a real horsewoman. It is a massive loss to the household, however her reminiscence will keep on.”
Nancy is survived by her husband, Fred; daughters Jane Marr Buckner and Marty Buckner Ernst; sisters, Martha Marr Mooney and Mary Dillard Marr Johnson; and stepdaughters Robin Mitchell Arroyare and Tammy Mitchell Vansteenbergh. She was preceded in demise by stepdaughter Regina Mitchell McDaniel.
A non-public service will held at a later date on the farm. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Affiliation or the Central Kentucky Using for Hope.
