Lifelong horse enthusiast, philanthropist and Thoroughbred owner/breeder Phyllis Mills Wyeth died Monday at the age of 78, according to a statement released by the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art, of which Wyeth was a long-time supporter. Wyeth, who achieved her greatest success in racing as the owner/breeder of 2012 GI Belmont S. hero Union Rags (Dixie Union), passed away with her husband, acclaimed painter Jamie Wyeth, by her side.
Born in New York City to the late James and Alice du Pont Mills and raised near her family's Hickory Tree Farm in Middleburg, Virginia, Wyeth became involved in racing through her family, who counted Devil's Bag and Gone West among the success stories of their breeding/racing operation. Wyeth maintained a love for horses throughout her life and, although an automobile accident left her disabled at age 20, she became a carriage driver and continued to be active as a breeder and owner of racehorses. In Union Rags, a fourth-generation homebred out of the Gone West mare Tempo, Wyeth reached the Grade I winner's circle twice in the GI Champagne S. and the Belmont.
Wyeth initially parted ways with Union Rags for $145,000 at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale, but later returned to the auction ring to buy back the striking son of Dixie Union for $390,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Florida 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale the following February. The investment proved more than worth it, as Union Rags was placed under the care of trainer Michael Matz and quickly reeled off three eye-catching victories to begin his career, including romps in the GII Saratoga Special S. and Champagne. The colt nearly overcame a wide trip when runner-up by a head behind Hansen in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and subsequently traveled south to begin the Triple Crown trail in Florida.
A win in the GII Fountain of Youth S. and a late-running third in the GI Florida Derby landed him in the starting gate for the GI Kentucky Derby, but the bay could do no better than seventh after enduring a troubled trip. Union Rags bounced back five weeks later in the Belmont, skimming the rail to notch a courageous neck victory over Paynter (Awesome Again).
“I had a dream–I knew he would make it,” said Wyeth in the aftermath of the Belmont win. “I only have that racehorse and half of another, a claimer. And I knew Michael [Matz] could do it with him. It was my dream and he made it come true today. He and Johnny [Velazquez].”
Although Union Rags never raced again after the Belmont, he proved to be a gift that kept on giving for Wyeth, later giving her another Grade I win as an owner as the sire of Dancing Rags, who captured the 2016 Darley Alcibiades S. for her Chadds Ford Stable and trainer Graham Motion.
Wyeth majored in political science at Finch College and later attended the Columbia School of Social Work, eventually working for U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy and later in the Kennedy White House. In 1968 she married Jamie Wyeth and the couple took up residence on her family's 240-acre Point Lookout Farm on the Pennsylvania-Delaware border.
Away from the racetrack, Wyeth dedicated her time to environmental conservancy in addition to serving as an advocate for the arts and the rights of the disabled. A resident of Maine in the summer months, she became active in the field of marine conservation in an effort to help preserve Maine's traditional fishing culture while remaining active in land preservation efforts back home in Pennsylvania.
Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations in Phyllis' memory are suggested to the Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum.
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