Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Cot Campbell dies at 91
Cothran W. “Cot” Campbell, the South Carolina horseman whose racing partnerships brought racehorse ownership to the masses, died Saturday in Aiken, S.C., according to his church. Campbell, who announced his retirement in 2011 but remained a fixture at racetracks throughout the last seven years, was 91.
Campbell founded Dogwood Stable, his first formal racing partnership, in 1969, allowing shareholders to buy equity in a horse at a time when Thoroughbred racing was dominated by the runners and silks of famous and established families. Although the compositions of Campbell’s initial partnerships were stacked with the relatively wealthy and well connected, the concept of fractional ownership in racehorses would become one of the most influential developments in Thoroughbred racing over the next four decades, ushering in an era in which the game was no longer accessible only to the rich and well bred.
Dogwood Stable was poohpoohed in the racing industry for a number of years, in large part because the ownership and breeding of quality racehorses was assumed to be the domain of those whose heritage reached back into the early 20th century. Although Dogwood had minimal success throughout its early years, Campbell’s stable of fractional owners scored a prestigious win when Summer Squall won the Preakness Stakes in 1990, two weeks after running second in the Kentucky Derby to his rival Unbridled, an impeccably bred Thoroughbred owned by the Genter family of Tartan Stable.
“Originally, my concept of forming a partnership to own racehorses did not meet with wild enthusiasm within our industry,” Campbell said during his induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as a Pillar of the Turf in August of this year. “Early on, some very astute racing people advised me to abandon the partnership idea, but my blood was up. I pushed on. And you see before you today the poster boy for the slogan ‘Energy and enthusiasm can overcome stupidity and bad judgment.’ ”
Dogwood Stable eventually campaigned a champion, Storm Song, winner of the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and that year’s champion 2-year-old filly. But its influence stretched well beyond the results on the track.
Forty years after Dogwood was formed, racing partnerships now dominate the ranks of Thoroughbred racing’s top stables. From low-priced syndicates that allow individuals to contribute as little as $100 a month to the ownership and care of a high-priced racehorse to the innumerable partnerships now formed among well-heeled owners seeking at least a tiny fraction of an eventual Derby winner, Campbell’s influence left an indelible and irreversible mark on Thoroughbred racing.
In 2003, Campbell’s concept of fractional ownership resulted in the taking of the ultimate prize in Thoroughbred racing when Sackatoga Stable, a partnership of friends from upstate New York, won the Kentucky Derby with New York-bred Funny Cide. A slew of racing partnerships were formed in Funny Cide’s wake, uniting racing fans from all walks of life into a sport that had seemed far too expensive for anyone without lines of credit at a major international bank.
Despite the immense competition for partners in the late 1990s, Dogwood remained a force in the racing industry throughout Campbell’s life, and it campaigned 2013 Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice. More importantly, Campbell was continually sought as a spokesman for the concept he had pioneered, and he remained a resolute proponent of racing partnerships throughout his life, speaking frequently at seminars designed to encourage ownership of racehorses at any price.
In 1993, Dogwood established the Dogwood Dominion Award, which sought to honor “unsung heroes” in Thoroughbred racing. The award typically was bestowed on grooms or other backstretch individuals who were known for their kindness within the often insular racing industry but anonymous to the world at large.
Campbell retired in 2011, and in 2012 he was honored with the Eclipse Award of Merit, considered the racing industry’s highest honor. Despite his retirement, he could often be found in the paddocks of major racetracks, talking up the sport’s horses and humans. He often said that he had “created” at least 1,200 new Thoroughbred owners, but that figure only encompassed Dogwood’s database, not those who bought into a racehorses through the partnerships that he made possible.
A lifelong resident of South Carolina, Campbell was named the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year in 2006. He was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.
Campbell is survived by his wife, Anne.