Texas horseman, rancher, and real estate developer Preston M. Carter, Jr. died June 21, 2010, following a long battle with cancer.

Carter, who owned a cutting horse ranch in Weatherford, TX, helped implement passage of pari-mutuel legislation in Texas in the 1980’s, then formed the Lone Star Jockey Club, Ltd. partnership  to develop a $100-million facility in the Dallas-Forth Worth area that would become Lone Star Park.

Carter, the son of a Houston business owner, grew up with horses, and in the the late 1970s became interested in racehorses through his friendship with B.F. Phillips, Jr., breeder and owner of the great Quarter racing champion Dash For Cash.

On A High, winner of the 1983 All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs and later a leading Quarter Horse sire, was owned jointly by Carter, B.F. Phillips, and the horse’s breeder, Dr. Jerry Rheudasil. Carter also later owned the Quarter race champion Sixarun, earner of $291,000.

A former polo player, who won the US Polo Open in 1985, Carter turned to cutting as a safer alternative in 1993.

“I love the horses and the people in cutting,” said Carter, a partner in the development of Silverado on the Brazos, an upscale community of horse properties near Weatherford, TX, where he built his own home.

Formerly president and chairman of the board of the Texas Horse Racing Association, Carter was inducted into the Texas Racing Hall of Fame in 2007 and was an honorary vice president of the Texas Quarter Horse Association.

There will be a memorial service for Carter on Sunday, June 27 at 4:00 p.m. at Carter Ranch, Silverado on the Brazos, Weatherford, TX.