Donna Herrick, beloved Del Mar patron and Herrick Racing matriarch, dies at 97

Donna Herrick, who helped make Herrick Racing a familiar name across Southern California, died April 15 at 97, ending a long run of ownership that left its clearest mark in the horses fans still remember at Del Mar, Santa Anita and beyond.

Herrick and her late husband, Bill, were devoted to Thoroughbred racing for more than four decades and became among Del Mar's most loyal patrons, often watching from a fifth-floor box at the track. That perch was more than a seat. It reflected how closely the Herricks were tied to the circuit they helped shape, season after season, through horses that carried their colors into graded company and into the local memory of the sport.

The stable's best-known runners spanned dirt and turf and traveled well beyond California. Magnum was the headliner, first finishing second in the 2006 Santa Anita Handicap and then delivering one of the family's biggest moments when the 8-year-old gelding won the 2009 Grade 2 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita by a length over Well Armed. Medici Code added another Del Mar signature, winning the 2007 Grade 2 Del Mar Derby and giving the Herricks a high-profile turf success at the seaside meeting where they were fixtures.

Nuclear Debate took the family name north of the border with a win in the 2002 Grade 2 Nearctic Handicap at Woodbine, while Robyn Dancer added another stakes result by finishing third in the BC Sprint at Churchill Downs in 1991. Taken together, those horses tell the story of a stable that was not built on one brief surge, but on sustained participation in serious races at major tracks.

The family line did not stop with Donna and Bill. Joe Herrick became a trainer in Southern California, while Susie Galland remained actively involved as an owner. Joan Scott and George Scott also carried forward the family's racing interests, extending a presence that had already outlasted Bill Herrick's death on Dec. 29, 2015, in Rancho Santa Fe. Donna Herrick remained the family's public face until this spring, remembered for her warmth, generosity and the relationships she built around the backstretch and the grandstand.

Her death matters because Herrick Racing was never just a name in old result books. It was part of the living architecture of Southern California racing, tied to Del Mar's social rhythm, Santa Anita's graded stakes stage and a family network that kept the sport close for generations.