Dogwood Stable founder and President Cot Campbell, a thoroughbred racing industry legend and one of Aiken’s leading citizens, died Saturday at his home.
He was 91.
In August, Campbell was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in the Pillars of the Turf category.
He called the honor “the thrill of a lifetime” and received a standing ovation from the crowd of nearly 500 at the beginning and end of his 5½-minute acceptance speech in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Cot Campbell celebrates his Belmont Stakes victory in 2013 when his horse, Palace Malice won the race.
Pillars of the Turf are “individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to thoroughbred racing in a leadership or pioneering capacity at the highest national level,” according to the National Museum of Racing’s website.
Other Pillars of the Turf include Col. Matt Winn of Churchill Downs fame, E.P. Taylor of Windfields Farm, John R. Gaines of Gainesway Farm and Penny Chenery, who raced 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat.
“I can’t imagine a nicer honor, so I’m very pumped,” said Campbell before the induction ceremony. "It’s certainly something I never expected, so it’s a gigantic kick for me.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Before an on-site crowd of nearly 500 with more streaming the cerem…
Campbell's climb to the pinnacle of success and acclaim in the Sport of Kings was a long one. It followed an introduction to racing that would have discouraged many people.
“My father sold a Coca-Cola bottling franchise in 1940 to go into the racehorse business and within two years, he was broke,” Campbell said. “I didn’t inherit any racehorse head start from him. In fact, it was quite the opposite.”
Where the father failed, the son found a rewarding career by taking an innovative approach to the sport.
Campbell became a pioneer in the development of racing partnerships, and groups put together by him campaigned many talented horses. Among the best were Palace Malice, Summer Squall and Storm Song.
An earner of more than $2.6 million, Palace Malice won the Belmont Stakes in 2013. Summer Squall captured the Preakness Stakes in 1990, and his daughter, Storm Song, received an Eclipse Award as the champion filly of 1996 after her triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Another Dogwood horse, Inlander, won an Eclipse Award as 1987’s champion steeplechaser.
Leighton McLendon, right, smiles after winning a photo of Palace Malice in a drawing at the Breakfast at the Gallops at the Aiken Training Track on Friday morning. Cot Campbell, left, founder of Dogwood Stable, which raced Palace Malice, signed the photo for McLendon.
“I went into racing because I loved horses,” Campbell said. “At first, it was a way to have some fun, but then it evolved into a way of life and a business. I never started out to cut a wide swath. It just gradually happened.”
A member of The Jockey Club, Campbell was the Thoroughbred Club of America’s honor guest in 2004, and he received an Eclipse Award of Merit in 2012.
The National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, the University of Louisville’s Equine Industry Program, the University of Arizona’s Racetrack Industry Program and others also have recognized Campbell for his contributions to racing.
Campbell was the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year in 2006 and the Aiken Standard’s Person of the Year in 2013.
In 2007, Campbell was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.
“I’ve had an absolutely wonderful life,” he said. “A hell of a lot of it is due to the lady I married (Anne Campbell). And a hell of a lot of it is due to the horses. My career in racing has taken me to Japan and Dubai and all over Europe. I’ve done business with the Aga Khan and Queen Elizabeth and Sheikh Mohammed (the ruler of Dubai). My life has been adventurous, glamorous, exciting and tumultuous. And no one could be more aware of it and more appreciative of it.”
It’s too early to tell whether or not Palace Malice will be a successful stallion, but the m…
Campbell started Dogwood Stable in Georgia in 1969. It has been based in Aiken since the mid-1980s.
“Aiken has been wonderfully supportive of Dogwood Stable, and I’m grateful for the day we decided to leave Atlanta and come over here and live in this great horse community,” Campbell said. “They’ve pulled for us when we’ve gone to the Kentucky Derby with horses, and they’ve come out to see our big horses when we’ve had them here in the wintertime. It’s been a great place to headquarter my life.”
In a deal finalized in 2013, Campbell sold his Dogwood Stable client list to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and agreed not to compete with that group by forming new racing partnerships.
On his own, however, he continued to campaign horses.
"He was a gracious and kind man; that's what I will remember about him," said Aiken Training Track President Cary Frommer of Campbell on Saturday night.
Said Aiken Horse Park Foundation Vice President and Treasurer Tara Bostwick: “He transcended the horse disciplines here in Aiken. He was always a statesman for the community. I feel sad for Cot and his family.”
New York-based trainer Gary Contessa wrote the following about Campbell on Twitter: “Thirty years ago I was both honored and scared when I boarded a private plane and the other passenger was Cot Campbell. He told me he was impressed with me as a trainer. I read his books and was equally impressed. It was such an honor to become his trainer. I will miss him so.”
Also on Twitter, Daily Racing Form Chief Photographer Barbara Livingston wrote that Campbell was “a wonderful man, and one who forever changed our sport.”
When we heard the news that Aiken resident Cothran "Cot" Campbell will be inducted into the …
In addition, Boyd Browning, president and chief executive officer of the Fasig-Tipton thoroughbred auction company in Kentucky, described Campbell on Twitter as “a titan of the Thoroughbred industry” and “a great innovator.”
Browning also wrote that Campbell was “a man of great integrity.”
A Twitter message from Centennial Farms stated that “the racing community owes endless gratitude to the father of racing partnerships.”
Shellhouse Funeral Home at 924 Hayne Ave. in Aiken is in charge of Campbell's funeral arrangements.
