Marylou Whitney

Marylou Whitney (née Mary Louise Schroeder; December 24, 1925 – July 19, 2019) was an American socialite and philanthropist. A prominent owner and breeder of thoroughbred racehorses, Whitney was notable for "reigning for decades as the social queen of the Saratoga and Lexington racing seasons".

Mary Louise Schroeder was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the youngest of four children of Marie Jean (Carr) and Harry Robert Schroeder, a bank officer and accountant.

In 1948, she married Frank Hosford, the heir to the John Deere fortune. They had four children together: Marion Louise "M'Lou", Frank "Hobbs", Henry "Hank", and Heather. After they divorced, Marylou married C.V. Whitney in 1958. They had one daughter, Cornelia. C.V. Whitney died in 1992, leaving Marylou with an estate estimated at $100 million.

In October 1997, Marylou married John Francis Hendrickson (born 1965), a (then) 32-year-old tennis champion and former aide to Governor Wally Hickel of Alaska, who was nearly 40 years her junior. Hendrickson proposed at Buckingham Palace.

C.V. Whitney and his family were a major force in thoroughbred horse racing and have had more stakes winners than any other family in the history of racing in the United States. Whitney dispersed his stock in the 1980s, not wanting to burden his wife with the business. After being widowed, Marylou spent a substantial amount of time and money trying to buy back "Whitney Mares". She purchased Dear Birdie, who proved to be the foundation for "Marylou Whitney Stables". Dear Birdie was named Broodmare of the Year in 2004. She is the dam of Birdstone and champion Bird Town. Marylou Whitney Stables bred, raced and stands Birdstone, the 2004 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes winner. Birdstone produced two classic winners in his first crop: 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and eventual 2009 Three Year Old Champion Summer Bird. No other stallion has sired two classic winners in his first crop since the late 19th century. Whitney also bred and raced champion filly Bird Town, who holds the record for the fastest Kentucky Oaks in history. Whitney is the only woman to breed and race a Kentucky Oaks winner. In 2003, she was honored by the New York Turf Writers with the Ogden Phipps Award (Top Breeder).

Whitney was one of the founding members of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and was the major contributor to the Secretariat Center at the Kentucky Horse Park, where the Marylou Whitney Barn is stationed. She believed in finding retired racehorses new careers and loving homes once their racing careers ended. Attached to each Jockey Club registration paper of every horse she bred was a message indicating how to contact her if one of her horses was in need of a home.

When her colt Birdstone beat Smarty Jones in the 2004 Belmont Stakes, denying Smarty Jones the Triple Crown, she was apologetic. In 2009, when there was a suggestion that an owner could enter another horse to block the filly Rachel Alexandra from running in the Preakness Stakes, Whitney said that if needed, she would withdraw her own horse to make room for the filly.

Whitney was awarded the Eclipse Award of Merit in 2010, one of the thoroughbred industry's highest honors.