Maggie Bryant Passes Away

[Wandering Eyes]

Magalen Ohrstrom “Maggie” Bryant, an entrepreneur, conservationist, and racehorse owner in the U.S. and France, died overnight Sunday at her home in Virginia, according to the Jour de Galop. She was 92 years old.

Born November 18, 1928, Bryant was known for the financing of the Dulles Greenway in Virginia in 1995, which connected Loudon County to the rest of the Washington metropolitan area. It was Virginia's first private toll road in over 150 years. Bryant's father, George Ohrstrom, was a business partner of Penny Chenery's father, Christopher.

She was the owner of V. E. Day (English Channel), the winner of the 2014 Travers S., who currently stands at Buck Pond Farm. But her biggest passion in racing was for French steeplechasers.

She was the first female owner to win the Grand Steeplechase of Paris, the oldest and most prestigious jump race in Paris, which she did in 2015 with Milord Thomas. She then went on to win it in 2016 with So French, who came back to win it again in 2017.

She was also the owner of Locust Hill Farm, a 2,400-acre Angus and Hereford cattle operation in Virginia.

Jonathan Miller, the former Deputy Director of the Peace Corps in Africa, was a friend and racing advisor for over 25 years.

“We were very, very close friends,” said Miller. “I not only did things with her which revolved around horses, but she had a passion for conservation as well. She was very close to Randall Moore, who created an elephant sanctuary in Botswana. People would come up with creative ideas for her and she was always willing; for example, after the Civil War had decimated Angola, she financed the moving of the surplus of elephants from Botswana to Angola. That was the sort of creative way in which she was always helping. She was involved in a major conservation activity on  6,000 acres in Mississippi. She was very interested in everything. She burned the candle in 84 different ways simultaneously. She had a love of life that was insatiable. She was a scratch tennis player, a scratch golfer, a superb fox hunter. She was an entrepreneur. She was a real risk taker and I mean that in the most positive way.”

This story will be updated.

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