Ogden Phipps was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stockbroker,
court tennisReal tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...
champion and Hall of Fame member,
thoroughbredThe Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
executive and owner/breeder, and an art collector and
philanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. In 2001, he was inducted into the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame.
Biography
Born in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Phipps was the son of
Henry Carnegie PhippsHenry Carnegie Phipps was a sportsman and financier, and the owner of Wheatley Stables.-References:...
and
Gladys Livingston Mills Gladys Livingston Mills Phipps was an United States socialite, sportsperson, and a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder who began the Phipps family dynasty in American horse racing...
. His grandfather
Henry PhippsHenry Phipps, Jr. was an American entrepreneur and major philanthropist.-Biography:He was the son of an English shoemaker who emigrated in the early part of the 19th century to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before settling in Pittsburgh. When a child, he was a friend and neighbor to Andrew Carnegie...
was a major
philanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
who had amassed a fortune as the second largest shareholder in the
Carnegie Steel CompanyCarnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century.-Creation:...
. Educated at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Ogden Phipps became a champion court tennis player, capturing the U.S. championship seven times and the British championship once.
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Ogden Phipps served with the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. After the war he became a partner in the prominent brokerage firm,
Smith Barney & Co.Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is a retail brokerage joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup announced that Citigroup would sell 51% of Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley, creating Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which was formerly a division of...
then used his training to head up
Bessemer Securities CorporationBessemer Trust is a wealth management and investment advisory firm established in 1907 by Henry Phipps, a partner of Andrew Carnegie in the Carnegie Steel Company. From 1907 to 1974 the private company managed the substantial assets of the Phipps family and was headed by a family member...
, a private holding company that managed the fortune left to
Phipps familyThe Henry Phipps family of the United States was founded by Henry Phipps, Jr., the son of an English shoemaker who emigrated in the early part of the 19th century to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before settling in Pittsburgh. When a child, Henry Phipps was a friend and neighbor to Andrew Carnegie...
members by their grandfather.
In 1962 his son, Henry Ogden Phipps took his own life.
He died on April 21, 2002.
Thoroughbred racing
Ogden Phipps was named for his mother's brother,
Ogden L. MillsOgden Livingston Mills was an American businessman and politician.-Biography:The son of Ogden Mills and Ruth T. Livingston, he had twin sisters Beatrice Mills and Gladys Livingston Mills. Odgen L. Mills was the grandson of Darius O...
. His mother and uncle loved Thoroughbred horses and formed
Wheatley StableWheatley Stable was the nom de course for the thoroughbred horse racing partnership formed by Gladys Mills Phipps and her brother, Ogden L. Mills. The horses were raised at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky.-History:...
in 1926 as a partnership that successfully raced and
bredHorse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
Thoroughbreds. Influenced by his mother, Ogden Phipps first registered his own black with cherry cap racing silks in 1932. In November 1937, he married wealthy New York
socialiteA socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
Lillian BostwickLillian Stokes Bostwick Phipps was an American socialite and owner of Thoroughbred steeplechase racehorses.-Biography:...
, the sister of Hall of Fame
steeplechaseThe steeplechase is a form of horse racing and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside...
jockeyA jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
, George Herbert Bostwick. Lillian Bostwick Phipps would become a major figure in American steeplechase racing who owned two U.S. Racing Hall of Fame horses and won the American Grand National eight times.
After World War II, Ogden Phipps bought a group of horses from the estate of
Colonel Edward R. BradleyColonel Edward Riley Bradley was an American steel mill laborer, gold miner, businessman and philanthropist. As well as a race track proprietor, he was the preeminent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses in the Southern United States during the first three decades of the 20th Century...
that formed the basis for what would become his major horse racing operation. Like his family's Wheatley Stable, Phipps too would use
Claiborne FarmClaiborne Farm is a thoroughbred Horse breeding operation in near Paris, Kentucky. It was established in 1910, by Arthur B. Hancock, owner of Ellerslie Farm in Albemarle County, Virginia, and has been operated by members of his family ever since.-Owners:...
in
Paris, KentuckyAs of the census of 2000, there were 9,183 people, 3,857 households, and 2,487 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,222 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 84.23% White, 12.71% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.16%...
for breeding and developing of his horses. In 1959 he became a founding member of the
New York Racing AssociationThe New York Racing Association, Inc. is the not-for-profit corporation that operates the three largest thoroughbred horse-racing tracks in the state of New York. It runs Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Queens, Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island , and Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga...
and a member of its board of trustees. Approaching his 80th birthday, he resigned in 1988 and was named a director emeritus. He also served as a Chairman of the
The Jockey ClubThe Jockey Club, formed on February 9, 1894, is the keeper of The American Stud Book. It came into existence after James R. Keene spearheaded a drive in support of racehorse trainers who had complained about the Board of Control that governed racing in New York State.-History:On its formation, The...
for twenty years and at the time of his death was the Club's longest reigning member.
Ogden Phipps owned and bred Reviewer who sired
RuffianRuffian was an American champion thoroughbred racehorse. Ruffian is considered by many to be the greatest female racehorse in history. Ruffian is among the greatest U.S. racehorses of all time. Her story was told in 2007 film Ruffian.- Career :An almost coal black filly of 16 and a half hands,...
for his sister, Barbara Phipps Janney. He inherited the
stallionA stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded .Stallions will follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck, as well as a somewhat more muscular physique as compared to...
Bold RulerBold Ruler was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse.Bred by the Wheatley Stable of Gladys Mills Phipps, Bold Ruler was foaled on April 6, 1954 at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky to Nasrullah and Miss Disco by Discovery...
from his mother's estate who was mated with the mare
SomethingroyalSomethingroyal was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She was the dam of U.S. Triple Crown champion and Hall of Fame inductee, Secretariat ....
in 1969. Through the toss of a coin,
Christopher CheneryChristopher Tompkins Chenery was an American engineer, businessman, and owner/breeder of Thoroughbred horse racing's U.S. Triple Crown champion Secretariat....
got Somethingroyal's 1970 colt,
SecretariatSecretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting new race records in two of the three events in the Series—the Kentucky Derby , and the Belmont Stakes —records that still stand today.Secretariat was sired by Bold...
.
Ogden Phipps bred nine Champions of his own, winning
Eclipse AwardThe Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
s for both leading owner and leading breeder in 1988. His most famous horses include
BuckpasserBuckpasser was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won he won nine of his eleven race starts for international record winnings for a two-year-old of $586,090. Buckpasser was leading broodmare sire in 1983, 1984 and 1989....
,
Personal EnsignPersonal Ensign was an American champion Thoroughbred racehorse.A bay filly by Private Account out of Grecian Banner , she was the undefeated winner of 13 races and won $1,679,880 in the United States from 1986 to 1988...
, and
Easy GoerEasy Goer was an American Champion Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse, famous for earning American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors in 1988, and defeating 1989 American Horse of the Year Sunday Silence in the Belmont Stakes by 8 lengths. The victory deprived Sunday Silence of the Triple Crown...
, all of whom are in the
United States Racing Hall of FameThe National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
. He never won the
Kentucky DerbyThe Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
but came close twice, finishing 2nd with Dapper Dan in 1965 and 2nd again with Easy Goer in 1989 who went on to win the
Belmont StakesThe Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
. In 1980, his horse Quick as Lightning won the prestigious 1,000 Guineas at
Newmarket RacecourseThe town of Newmarket, in Suffolk, England, is the headquarters of British horseracing, home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country and many key horse racing organisations. Newmarket Racecourse has two courses - the Rowley Mile Course and the July Course. Both are wide, galloping...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He won four
Breeders' CupThe Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Thoroughbred horse races, most but not all Grade I, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. The location...
races. First with the undefeated Personal Ensign in 1988, then Dancing Spree in 1989,
Inside InformationInside Information is the sixth studio album by American rock band Foreigner, released in 1987. The album hit #15 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and was certified Platinum in the U.S. for sales exceeding one million copies....
and
My FlagMy Flag is an American Thoroughbred Filly Racehorse. She was bred and owned by Ogden Phipps and trained by National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Trainer Claude R. McGaughey III...
in 1995.
Four Hall of Fame trainers conditioned Phipps' horses, beginning with the renowned Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, who also trained for his mother's Wheatley Stable. After Fitzsimmons' retirement,
Bill WinfreyWilliam C. "Bill" Winfrey was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Bill Winfrey was born Colin Dickard but after the passing of his father was adopted by Hall of Fame trainer, G. Carey Winfrey...
came out of retirement to train for him in 1963 then
Eddie NeloyEdward Albert "Eddie" Neloy was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. At age fourteen, he began working at a racetrack then joined the United States Army during World War II...
took over in 1966, followed by Angel Penna, Sr. in 1977 and Shug McGaughey in 1985.
In 2003, Ogden Phipps was voted the
Eclipse Award of MeritThe Eclipse Award of Merit is part of the American Eclipse Awards in Thoroughbred horse racing. The industry's highest honor, it is presented to an individual or entity displaying outstanding lifetime achievement in, and service to, the Thoroughbred industry....
, the American Thoroughbred horse racing industry's highest honor.
Other interests
On June 14, 1930, Ogden Phipps married Ruth Pruyn (1907–1994) of
Glen Cove, New YorkGlen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 26,964....
. They had two children, Henry Ogden and Robert Lansing, before divorcing in 1935. She remarried in 1936 to
Marshall Field IIIMarshall Field III was an American investment banker, publisher, racehorse owner/breeder, philanthropist, heir to the Marshall Field department store fortune and a leading financial supporter and founding board member of Saul Alinsky's community organizing network Industrial Areas Foundation.Born...
. Ogden Phipps remarried on November 4, 1937 to divorcee
Lillian Stokes Bostwick McKimLillian Stokes Bostwick Phipps was an American socialite and owner of Thoroughbred steeplechase racehorses.-Biography:...
. A mother of three daughters from her first marriage to Robert McKim, Lillian had two more children with Ogden.
In 1969,
Phipps PlazaPhipps Plaza, owned by Simon Property Group, is an upscale regional mall in Atlanta, Georgia anchored by Belk, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. Located adjacent to its sister-mall Lenox Square, in the Buckhead district, Phipps has more than 100 specialty shops, five full-service restaurants, a food...
opened as the first multi-level mall in Atlanta, aiming to become the South's leading luxury shopping destination. The mall originally opened with two levels. Purchased by financier Ogden Phipps in 1966 for less than $600,000, the development was sold in 1992 to Simon Properties Group for $488 million.
Ogden and Lillian acquired 18th century French and English furniture and were early clients of
Denning & FourcadeRobert Denning & Vincent Fourcade, Inc. was an interior design firm which for over forty years was a leader in opulent interiors with offices in New York City and Paris...
, who decorated fifteen homes for them, and they made many acquisitions through them. Ogden Phipps had an
artArt is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
collection that included works by
Claude MonetClaude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
and
John Singer SargentJohn Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
. He also maintained a
greenhouseA greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
collection of orchid varieties from around the world.
An honorary governor of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Phipps continued the family's
philanthropicPhilanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
work.
Ogden Phipps was 93 when he died in 2002 at Good Samaritan Medical Center in
West Palm Beach, FloridaWest Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
. Friend and fellow Thoroughbred owner
Marylou WhitneyMarylou Whitney is a noted philanthropist and a prominent socialite...
called Phipps's death "the end of an era in racing". The
Ogden Phipps HandicapThe Ogden Phipps Handicap is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for run annually in mid June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Contested on dirt at a distance of 11/16 miles , the race is open to fillies and mares, three years of age and up. Inaugurated in 1961 as the Hempstead...
at
Belmont ParkBelmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...
is named in his honor. His daughter Cynthia and sons
OgdenOgden Mills "Dinny" Phipps is a retired American financier and prominent Thoroughbred racehorse industry executive and a Thoroughbred owner/breeder...
(known as "Dinny") and Robert have been involved in Thoroughbred racing.
In the film
SecretariatSecretariat is a 2010 biographical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mayhem Pictures, and directed by Randall Wallace. The film chronicles the life of thoroughbred race horse Secretariat, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973...
, released in 2010, Ogden Phipps was portrayed by actor
James CromwellJames Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...
.
External links