The field of this year’s Kentucky Derby reminds me of “James Burke’s Connections,” a brilliant BBC series from the late 1970s that looks at modern life through the prism of historical connections.
For instance, Union Rags, a top contender at 9-2 on the morning line, is connected to:
- A preeminent family of American artists
- Who connect to Crystal Bridges Museum
- Which connects to Alice Walton
- Who connects to cutting horse champions
- Which connects to Helen Groves
- Who connects to Michael Matz, and Middleburg, Va.,
- Which connects to Phyllis du Pont Mills,
- Who connects to Brandywine Valley, Pa.
- Which connects to Chadds Ford, the home of N.C. Wyeth
- Who connects to Peter Hurd,
- Who connects to Sentinel Ranch, near Ruidoso, NM,
- Which connects to Bob Baffert, trainer of morning line favorite Bodemeister (4-1)
Here is  how it plays out:
Union Rags was bred and is owned by Phyllis Mills Wyeth, whose husband Jamie Wyeth is a celebrated American artist, as was his father, Andrew Wyeth, and his grandfather, Newell Convers (N.C.) Wyeth.
Works of both Jamie and Andrew Wyeth hang in the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark., funded by the Walton Family Foundation, and conceived and created by Alice Walton, daughter of the late, Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Alice Walton, 62, is the breeder of National Cutting Horse Association Horse of the Year Boon San Kitty, as well as NCHA Futurity champion Rockin W, named in honor of her Texas home, Rocking W Ranch.
Alice Walton and Helen Groves are friends who share a passion for cutting horses. Helen, an accomplished competitor and breeder of cutting champions, is great-granddaughter of famed King Ranch founder Richard King, and daughter of Richard Kleberg, breeder of American Quarter Horse Association foundation sire Wimpy, as well as 1946 Triple Crown champion Assault and 1950 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Middleground.
Helen Groves’ daughter, Dorothy “D. D.” Alexander Matz, is a noted horsewoman and wife of Michael Matz, trainer of Union Rags, as well as ill-fated Barbaro, winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby.
Michael Matz trains Union Rags for Phyllis Wyeth, whose late parents, James P. Mills and Alice du Pont Mills, raced such horses as champion Devil’s Bag and top sire Gone West, who is the dam’s sire of Union Rags.
James and Alice du Pont Mills owned Hickory Tree Farm near Middlesburg, Va., where Helen Groves operated Silverbrook Farm, which hosted a popular cutting event and sale during the 1980s. But Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth own Chadds Ford Stable, in the Brandywine Valley of southeastern Pennsylvania.
It was in the Brandywine Valley that Alice du Pont’s forebearer, E.I. du Pont, founded a gunpowder works in 1802 that became the formidable DuPont Company. And it was the Brandywine Valley School of American Illustration, founded by Howard Pyle, that brought a young N.C. Wyeth to the area in 1902.
Wyeth, one of America’s foremost illustrators in the first half of the 20th century, sold his first cover to the Saturday Evening Post in 1902. During his lifetime (he died in 1945), Wyeth created over 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books, including Treasure Island; The Yearling; Kidnapped; Robin Hood; and a host of other beloved classics still in print today and treasured for Wyeth’s illustrations.
Four of Wyeth’s children became artists, including Andrew, the most famous of the clan, and father of Jamie. Andrew’s sister, Henriette, who painted the official portrait of First Lady Pat Nixon, married one of N.C.’s students, Peter Hurd, who became a renowned western artist and painted the official portrait of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Peter and Henriette Hurd made their home on Sentinel Ranch, in San Patricio, N. Mex. San Patricio is just 20 miles from Ruidoso, home of Ruidoso Downs, which is famous for the $2 million All American Futurity, Quarter Horse racing’s equivalent to the Kentucky Derby.
Bob Baffert, Bodemeister’s trainer, began his career with Quarter Horses, many of which he raced at Ruidoso Downs.