William S. Farish
Owner of Lane’s End Farm, Will Farish was a founding member of the Breeders’ Cup; served as chairman of Churchill Downs; was a steward and vice chairman of The Jockey Club; and is a trustee at Keeneland. He received the Eclipse Award of Merit in 2009. Former ambassador to Great Britain, Farish has generously contributed to PDJF’s general operations and endowment fund and has been a board member since 2009.
Awards & Accomplishments
- University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, 2010-2016, Chair, Investment Committee; Member, Nominating Committee; Member, University Health Care Committee; Member, Finance Committee.
- He was voted Eclipse Awards as outstanding breeder in 1992 and 1999
- Eclipse Award of Merit in 2009
- Won the 1972 Preakness Stakes – Bee Bee Bee
- From 1192-2001, Chairman of Churchill Downs,
- Top Three Board of Trustee of the Keeneland Association for 13 years
- Chairman of the American Horse Council
- Vice-Chairman of The Jockey Club
- Chariman of the Breeders’ Cup executive committee
- Founder of the family-managed The William Stamps Farish Fund, a Houston-based private foundation, was formed in 1951 and has over $270M in assets under management.
Career Highlights
Mr. William S. Farish, Jr. is involved in all aspects of operations at Lane’s End Farm and is active in promoting the Thoroughbred industry as a whole. Bill is currently Chairman of the Board of the Breeders’ Cup, a post that he previously held for five years (2006-2011). He is also Chairman of the Horse Political Action Committee (PAC) and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Keeneland Association, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Foundation.
He is a founding member of K.E.E.P., the Kentucky Equine Education Project, and is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, The Jockey Club, The Blood-Horse, Saratoga Reading Rooms, Markey Cancer Foundation, Transylvania University and Shakertown. Farish is a former UK Board of Trustees member (2010-2016) and served on the Finance, Investment, Nominating and University Health Care Committees. He also served as a member of The Lexington School’s Board of Trustees and past President of the Thoroughbred Club of America.
Farish holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and spent two years as the personal aide to President George H. W. Bush, after working in banking at Texas Commerce and Merrill Lynch. He and his wife Kelley reside at Lane’s End with their eight children. He currently serves as a Community Advisory Member on the University Health Care Committee.
Testimonial