Gladys Weisbord, the mother of former Thoroughbred Daily News publisher Barry Weisbord and grandmother of BSW Bloodstock and Elite Sales founder Brad Weisbord, passed away Monday evening. She was 94.
Barry Weisbord, who founded Matchmaker Breeders Exchange in the 1980's and started the American Racing Championship Series in the 1990's, credited his mother's early support of his love of racing with launching, not just his career as an innovator in the sport, but also that of his son.
“Unlike a lot of people in our industry, I was not introduced to the racetrack by my family,” Weisbord recalled. “It's a place that I found on my own. But, from the day that my parents got the phone call from Al Goldberg and me that we were at Walter Kelley's barn at Aqueduct in 1972 and he informed them that we had asked for jobs to learn and didn't care if we got paid, my parents were supportive and accepting. And that turned to enthusiasm about our time there and then my time with Allen Jerkens.”
Gladys Weisbord and her husband Norman, who passed away in 2019, became active particpants in the sport when their son launched Matchmaker.
“My parents helped us get started with a few friends buying our first few horses,” Weisbord said. “And they became regular visitors on the backside for training and on the front side for racing. And of course, later on they helped actively working in the offices at Matchmaker in Lexington in the '80s. They helped us with our auctions and building our business.”
He continued, “And then of course, they got to enjoy my son Brad's involvement and participate and enjoy his successes. The racing industry really became part of their lives. Racing really delivered a lot of gifts to our family.”
A funeral will be held graveside at Roosevelt Cemetery in northern Philadelphia Wednesday at 1 p.m.
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