I just have to give a cheers to my dear Dad up there on Derby Day, who’s probably so thankful he’s exactly where he is today, knowing him and considering all things as they have been lately! Dogwood stable had a whopping eight horses in the Derby from 1991 - 2013. Second, third, fourth and beyond. My father never got that ultimate gold ring of horseracing. But he got closer than most in the history of the sport. We won the Preakness (Summer Squall), and we won the Belmont (Palace Malice), and a gazillion other important races with a continuous string of some of the top horses in the world along the way. Not only did he enter the game at a time when the old guard of American society and finance was well-ensconsed and befittingly claimed the Sport of Kings as their own. But Cot Campbell found an incredibly innovative way to break his way into the old game, initially much to the dismay of these old American families – the Vanderbilts Whitneys, Phipps, etc..- but that didn’t slow him down. He was a believer…. in his own dream. Not long after his idea was conceived and implemented and the green and gold silks were becoming a more familiar sight at the top racetracks around the country, the reality hit that he had actually changed the name of the game, and I dare say allowed for racing to continue as a modern sport that it is today. As he always said, necessity is the mother of invention! Cot Campbell therefore became known, for the span of his long prosperous career and for eternity in the horse racing world, as the “Pioneer of Thoroughbred Racehorse Syndication.” He always said to the press: I was the lucky one who stumbled into it! If I hadn’t, someone else surely would have. Second part may be truth, first part not so true. It was what he was built for. What he was made for - his destiny. His dad, another hero of mine for reasons I’ll go into another day, and his grandfather exposed him to horseracing back in the days of the great Kelso. Dad found his hero in the way of this big hearted, hard-trying beauty of a horse (look him up if you’re interested). With more exposure throughout his childhood, he fell in love with horses, and the risk and energy and every aspect of the classic romantic sport of horseracing that came with those powerful majestic animals barrelling down the racetrack. My beloved grandfather, Wild Bill Campbell, (Who I miss at times almost as much as my dad) had a horseracing stable for a brief stint called Shoestring Stable in historic Franklin, TN. When World War II broke out, there was a ban on unnecessary travel (um, how we all get that now in 2020 :-&!). He had just gotten his stable working on all cylinders and in full blown Go-mode - ready to ship these primed young racehorses off to the racetrack to do what they were born to do. Due to this poorly-timed government ban, Shoestring Stable went bankrupt before they ever broke out of the gate. But after experiencing days at the track with his grandfather and seeing his own father build and labor over his stable of racehorses (whether they raced or not), the love and passion for the sport was stamped in Cot Campbell’s blood from that time forward. A lot of history dots to be filled in after that in my father’s quite unorthodox life and early career, but one commonality for these two Campbell men was work in the fields of sportswriting, novel and guidebook and memoir writing, PR, and advertising. Believe me, there are endless (now funny)lesson-loaded stories between the two of them and their respective careers full of stunts and stints working in every possible kind of position and situation but I’ll continue on for now and revisit those on another interesting day. I was fortunate enough to work for my dad for seven years in the Dogwood Stable office (a beautiful white Victorian house with a wrap-around porch) in Aiken, SC as PR Director. My dad did not believe in nepotism. I had to deserve the job and got no special treatment or pay. And it was a highly sought-after job whenever it happened to open up. I called him 'Cot' when I was on duty, like the rest of his employees. This job was one of the most rewarding and most challenging experiences of my life. A lot was demanded and especially when we had an entry in a Triple Crown race, and even more especially when we had a favorite. Crazy, energetic bustling times. A bonus was getting to know so many members of the national sports press personally who have since become lifelong friends. That position as one of the Top 10 Horseracing stables in the country for a long time required it. EightDerby horses required it! My dad was a very smart businessman in everything that he touched....once he stopped drinking. At age 31. That decision changed his life. As it can sure do. That's another accomplishment of his I am inordinately proud of. He went on to help endless friends and strangers make that same decision for themselves. He only attended AA in the beginning of his sobriety but was a strong believer in and advocate for the program until he died, even saying he thought the best 'church' out there was AA. My dad was a sought out speaker at AA meetings his whole life, and I think he would say that stopping drinking for him was the thing in his life he was the most proud of. I've always said I wouldn't be here if he hadn't made it AA that dark night in mid-town Atlanta in 1957. He wrote about his drinking life (and all the rest of it) in his third published book called Memoirs of A Longshot - subtitled 'A Riproarious Life'. It's a highly entertaining read. Anyway, my job as PR Director in the 90's was selling Dogwood (although it was really selling itself at that point) to the assorted colorful lot of top-of-their-game Sportswriters. . I have never learned as much in the business world as I did as PR Director of Dogwood stable, and I’ve done a lot of things in a lot of varied and significant positions (In the worlds of writing, editing, photography, PR, journalism, and nonprofit management and fundraising). And I”ve never been exposed to a classier, more colorful interesting world than that of horseracing. The final truth of the story is that horseracing would not be what it is today if my father had not done what he did when he did it and how he did it. Yes, maybe/probably someone else would’ve come up with it eventually and run with it, but they didn’t. He did ...early on. And he knew what to do with it. And made the very bold risky decision to sell out of his thriving Atlanta ad agency - Burton-Campbell (googleable if you care) to start forming racehorse partnerships, when everyone in Atlanta thought he were crazy. Except for mom, as Dad was always quick to point out. He bought some horses at auction, bought some land in southern Georgia, built a race track on it, a southern black woman stewing up the absolute best of dishes, and houses for trainers and staff and their families, etc. etc.. Then he bought some high-pedigreed horses at auction and brought them back to Dogwood Farm in Greenville, Georgia. And then he bought another farm one a mile away to entertain guests after they’ve seen the horses breeze (85+% of their full-out ability) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Cars and busloads from Atlanta would flock to the farm on fall and spring weekends. They would tour the farm, get to know the horses and then come out to the race track watching area with their cocktails where my dynamic dad would get on the megaphone to explain what was happening with each horse. Everyone was mesmerized. Groups of horses one set at a time flying by the crowd in all their majesty, hooves pounding, athleticism-at-its-best personified. How can you, If you were a guest for the day at the old Dogwood Farm in Greenville Georgia, not see these flashy powerful animals creating beauty in motion on the race track and not want in on that scene!! You start to picture your future: those well-recognized yellow and gold polka dot Dogwood silks worn by maybe Steve Cauthen.....or in more current days Irad Ortiz. You, with your Owner credentials, get to show up in the paddock, watch your horse get saddled, shake the jockey's hand and listen to the trainer give race instructions. Then you go to the Clubhouse to your front and center box seat, drinking a Mint Julep or a Belmont Breeze or Saratoga Sunrise and watch YOUR horse win their race, at Saratoga or Keeneland or Belmont or Churchill Downs that YOU were there and present for. And after the race, you run down to the track, congrats and high-fives along the route, to get your picture taken in the winners' circle. “Count me in!!! I’ll take two or three shares!” My father brought more than 1500 new people into racing, that (in most cases) couldn't have been in the game otherwise, through their being able to buy a share in a horse (or a group of horses in the beginning days). Dad was a straight shooter too. He was always known by his clients and people he worked with, the media and everyone in the industry as dealing with total honesty and integrity. It’s a reputation he died with. And deserved to, wholeheartedly. My dad was a man of truth. Whether raw and brutal or warm and fuzzy. He delivered it as it was. And I did and do respect the hell out of that and learned a lot of good things from it that continue to serve me well. In business, yes he was a salesman. He was selling a fun experience (albeit an expensive one), but there were no hidden costs in any Dogwood syndicate. Our clients were treated like gold. They were what made the Dogwood engines keep running, as any clients in any business can take credit for, so they were treated as they should be and most became dear family lifetime friends. These were investors who, win or lose at the end of the day, were in it for the experience. Period. Cot Campbell rubbed people’s noses in the fact that they very well WON’T make money! “Don’t get into it if you’re looking to make money” he was known to say. He sold the experience as Crepes Suzette. It’s decadent, it’s extra, it’s rich, you may lose something in the taking (or gain - weight!), but you’ll have a hell of a fun time in the interim! So every time Triple Crown season rolls around on this first Saturday in May, the memories come flooding back of our Derby experiences as a family, and the pride wells up in me to see these owners there (MOST of whom these days are part of a partnership) celebrating and cheering on their horse, and to know that the whole game was changed back in the early ‘70’s by one man – my Dad, Cot Campbell, allowing fans to own a piece of a racehorse and that has therefore allowed the great sport of horseracing to continue to thrive on the level it does. So, I’m raising my Mint Julep to you, Dad. (You always made me a good strong drink....vicarious pouring, i always suspected ;-)). He wasn't perfect, but he did life right in my book. And left an undeniable unusual legacy that stands forever. And provided his family with a fun, interesting as heck life, and I’m one grateful daughter. CHEERS, WCC!! On Coronavirus Derby Day and every other day..... Liloo -- www.lilacampbellphotography.com
