A Couple of Obits to Note

 I missed this one from February.  Owner and breeder of 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed, Patrice Jacobs Wolfson, 87, died on February 25 of this year.  I knew she had passed away, but I forgot to note it here on the blog.

With her late husband,  Louis Wolfson, she bred and owned Affirmed, who was foaled in Florida in 1975 and will always be remembered for his series of duels with the equally great Alydar.  The 1978 Belmont Stakes is, in my view, the greatest contested horse race of all time.  Patrice was as highly regarded as fellow thoroughbred owner and breeder Penny Chenery.

She was the daughter of famed trainer Hirsch Jacobs of Stymie fame.

Snip:

Born in Miami, Wolfson came from a prominent racing family and was the only daughter of Hall of Fame trainer Hirsch Jacobs. She owned horses on her own, including 1960 2-year-old male champion Hail to Reason, before marrying Wolfson in 1972. Louis Wolfson died in 2007.

There were other top horses, like Affirmed's Hall of Fame daughter Flawlessly, but to Wolfson, Affirmed stood well above the rest. After three scintillating duels with arch rival Alydar, he emerged after an unforgettable GI Belmont Stakes as the sport's 11th Triple Crown winner.

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Owning Hail to Reason was a big deal.  He was one of the top sires of the 20th century.

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Actress Polly Holliday, 88, best known for her role in the 1970s sitcom Alice, died yesterday.

Snip:

Born July 2, 1937 in Jasper, Ala., Holliday ventured into theater productions while majoring in piano at Alabama College for Women. She joined the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota in 1962, while she was attending Florida Sate University for music education. After nearly 10 years with the company, she moved to New York, making her Broadway debut in 1974 in the Murray Schisgal comedy “All Over Town,” directed by Dustin Hoffman. Years later, Hoffman would seek Holliday’s consultation in developing his performance for Sydney Pollack’s “Tootsie,” in which he plays a washed-up actor that saves his career by posing under the alter ego of Dorothy Michaels, a feisty but fair Southern soap opera star.

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