Harold Francis Washburn

Online Obituaries for Lexington, Frankfort, and Versailles KY Lexington - Harold Francis Washburn, 93, passed away Saturday, December 7th, 2013. He was beloved by his family and many friends. He was well respected in the horse business and consulted on the movie Seabiscuit. Harold was, you might say, born into the thoroughbred industry. His father, Ira (Buck) Washburn was adopted by a family in 1904, working for John E. Madden, and grew up on Madden's Hamburg Place as did Harold. Five Kentucky Derby winners were bred and raised on the Hamburg Place. Harold left Hamburg Place in 1937, to work and become a jockey for (Derby Dick) Thompson, trainer for E.R. Bradley, who had already by then won four Kentucky Derbys. Harold grew fast in those years and got too heavy to ride but a very few races. He then turned to exercising horses in the mornings and worked for numerous racing stables, including Calumet, Dixiana, Louie B. Mayer and many others. He soon earned a reputation of being able to handle horses with bad reputations and received top pay wherever he worked. In the mid 40's, he went to work for Tom Smith, who had just taken over the Ada L. Rice Stable. He worked as Tom's assistant for a few years, and then when to manage Ada L. Rice's Danada Farm in Wheaton, Illinois. Harold left the horse business in 1950 and went to work for a large food manufacturing Co. He worked his way up to Maintenance Supervisor of the plant. He retired after 25 years and moved back to Kentucky and could not resist getting involved with horses. In 1983, he met Peter Kules and they formed a partnership, doing seminars about horseracing for racing fans (hired by the racetracks). Some of the tracks they did seminars for are...D. R. C. in Detroit, Thistlesowns in Cleveland, Finger Lake in N.Y., Lationa in Kentucky, Aksarben in Omaha, and Birmingham Turf Club in Alabama. Then Harold and Pete put together a radio talk show on Horseracing and got it on WLXG AM. Harold stayed with it for 8 years and then retired. Peter is still doing the show on Saturdays. He was also retired from General Mills with many honors. He was a beloved husband to Irene Lloyd Washburn and is survived by four children, Judy Lynn English, Jack Edward Washburn, Sheryl Kay Washburn and Daryl Wayne Washburn, ten grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Funeral Information Memorial service 4pm Tuesday. Clark Legacy Center, Brannon Crossing. A gathering of family and friends will be Tuesday from 5:30 - 7:30 at O'Neill's Pub.