Peggy Augustus, as well-known in the world of horse showing as she was in thoroughbred racing, died Sunday at her Old Keswick Farm in Charlottesville, Va. She was 90.
A member of the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame and the Virginia Horse Show Hall of Fame, she was named a Living Legend of the National Horse Show in 1996.
Born in Cleveland, she moved to Virginia in 1950. She was an active owner, trainer and show hunter
rider who competed against professionals and won major championships throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden, the Devon Horse Show, the Royal Winter Fair, the Pennsylvania National and Virginia’s top four horse shows of her day: Hot Springs, Keswick, Deep Run, and
Warrenton.
Although her Sutton Place and Little Sailor, who she called “the best jumper I ever rode” were well-known stars of her string, her most famous mount was Waiting Home, a thoroughbred by Wait-A-Bit out of Marching Home, by John P. Grier.
Because it started to rain when Ms. Augustus went to try Waiting Home, she bought the blaze-faced chestnut without ever riding him.
Peggy Augustus and Waiting Home at the 1952 National Horse Show. (Photo by Freudy)
When she finally did get on him, he started bucking, but she stuck to him and they reached rapprochement. In 1952, he was conformation champion at North Shore, Piping Rock and the National at Madison Square Garden. He did have a stop in him, however, and he either won or he refused.
After the 1957 season, at the age of 10, Waiting Home was informally retired to Old Keswick. The Model championship trophy at the Keswick Horse Show is a statue of Ms. Augustus in her shadbelly jumping Waiting Home.
Jimmy Lee, president of the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame, called Ms. Augustus “a brilliant rider,” noting she was ” a wonderful horsewoman, a pillar of our sport,” who rode against such famous male riders of her day as Cappy Smith and Raymond Burke.
“She beat them at the biggest shows,” he recalled, noting her barn was run by Kenny Wheeler, who went on to be a top trainer and rider. Jimmy worked for Ms. Augustus and her ex-husband, Tom Lavery, at the farm that is now his home base.
On the racing scene, Ms. Augustus bred Eclipse Award winners Stellar Wind (Curlin) and Johnny D. (Stage
Door Johnny).
One of her former trainers, Bill Hirsch Jr., called her “a great lady, just one of the best. The thing I remember most about her was that, unlike most owners, she knew how to win and she knew how to lose. A lot of them
don’t know how to lose. She never skimped on anything.
“Whatever her horses needed, no matter the cost or the effort it took to get something to me, she got it done. Her number one priority was always her horses. She was just a fabulous lady.”
In 2008, she told the website virginialiving.com, that she had been interested in racing since she was 10 years old and started compiling statistics on horses running at the Chicago tracks.Before she was old enough to attend a day at the track, her mother, Elizabeth, would sneak her into the races. If she picked less than four winners, she confided, it was a bad day.
When her father died in 1963, Ms. Augustus moved to Old Keswick and carried on the breeding business with her mother under the name Keswick Stables. According to Virginia Living, Ms. Augustus bred 48 stakes winners. Stellar Wind, who she bred along with Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, was somewhat of a last hurrah.
Sold for just $40,000 at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, the mare went on to win six Grade I races and was named champion 3-year-old filly in 2015. Stellar Wind was the last offspring of the last mare bred by Keswick Stables.
Ms. Augustus also enjoyed great success at the sales. In 1984, she sold a yearling colt by Roberto at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga to Hugh de Burgh, representing Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum, for $4 million. It was the second highest price for a horse sold at that sale.
According to her profile on the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame website, Ms. Augustus also sold a filly at Saratoga for $2.1 million. She is the only person in the history of the Saratoga sales to have bred and sold five yearlings who went on to win more than a million dollars.