Martin Wygod, former health care executive turned successful horse breeder and owner, dies at 84
LA JOLLA, Calif. (AP) — Martin Wygod, who parlayed his financial success as an executive in the healthcare industry into becoming a prominent owner and breeder in thoroughbred racing, has died. He was 84.
He died in his sleep Thursday at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, near his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar racetrack said Friday after being informed by his wife, Pam.
Wygod’s racing career figures to have at least one more chapter.
He gave his 3-year-old colt, Resilience, whom he and his wife had bred, to his daughter, Emily Bushnell, and longtime bloodstock consultant Ric Waldman. Last week, the horse won the Wood Memorial in New York to earn a berth in the 150th Kentucky Derby on May 4.
None of Wygod’s horses ever competed in the Kentucky Derby.
As a teenager in his native New York City, Wygod worked on the back stretches of Belmont Park and Aqueduct walking horses after their morning workouts. That’s when he met and befriended another young New Yorker named Bobby Frankel, who would go on to become a Hall of Fame trainer.