Letter to the Editor: Thoughts on a Great Friend and a Great Man

[Wandering Eyes]

The TDN European division produced a wonderful article about our recently deceased friend Clem Murphy last Saturday. I wanted to offer a few observations from an American who respected and loved Clem for all the things he did not just in Europe, and the list is long, but for what he did here in America.

As background, I met Clem about 40 years ago, just as the Coolmore empire was exploding under John Magnier, with the help of a quiet young genius named Clem Murphy. Clem was part of the evolution of arguably the greatest Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation in history and he pulled the strings quietly and in the background throughout. Over time I realized Clem was involved in everything.

Clem was not somebody who criticized without solutions, or proposed solutions without rolling up his sleeves and making them happen. Clem identified problems, proposed solutions and fixed them. As an example, I was part of the Breeders' Cup to witness Clem do as much or more than anybody to improve the Breeders' Cup and American racing over the past 25 years; always quietly and effectively. His contributions to American racing make for way too long a list for this small letter, but suffice it to say he was involved in many of the improvements to racing internationally and the United States over the past 30 years; and this was not even his day job!

A few of my thoughts on Clem: He was highly intelligent, very determined, innovative, funny, always with the wry grin of one who loved humor, loved a Heineken every now and then, and he firmly and rightly chastised me on a couple of occasions to my benefit.

This great guy went too early, but he accomplished more in our business during his short time than most could in a number of lifetimes. My heart goes out to his wife Barbara and his whole family, as well to John, Susan and the Magniers who considered Clem to be very much a part of their family. Anybody and everybody who knew Clem respected him and will miss him. I will very much.

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