David P. Reynolds, who bred and raced 1994 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) and Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Tabasco Cat with W.T. Young, died Monday at the VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Va., after a period of declining health. He was 96.
Tabasco Cat was bred in a foal-share arrangement between the two close friends. Young provided the services of his stallion Storm Cat, and Reynolds provided the mare, Barbicue Sauce.
Tabasco Cat’s two classic scores came after the colt had finished sixth to Go for Gin as the third-betting choice in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I). Tabasco Cat avenged that loss when he beat Go for Gin in both the Preakness and Belmont. He later placed in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) and the Travers Stakes (gr. I) but lost out to Holy Bull in voting for Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male.
Reynolds, who lost an eye during a polo accident, bred and/or raced numerous other stakes winners alone and in partnership including such graded winners as Good and Tough, Lady Dean, Lord Carson, and Small Raja. The last named won the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (gr. II) at Pimlico the day before the 1977 Preakness and captured the Monmouth Oaks (gr. I) that summer.
Good and Tough and Lady Dean were multiple graded stakes winners.
All of Reynolds' runners wore his distinctive purple silks. A good friend, Lexingtonian Alex Campbell Jr., named a homebred son of Deputy Minister "Mr Purple." Trained in California by Hall of Famer Ron McAnally, Mr Purple won five stakes including the 1996 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I).
Reynolds also was a long-time friend of Kentucky breeder/owner Warner L. Jones Jr., who owned Hermitage Farm near Goshen. Reynolds boarded some of his horses at Hermitage.
Reynolds, a former chairman of Reynolds Metal Co., was a son of company founder Richard S. Reynolds. A Princeton graduate who began working for the company in 1937, Reynolds served as chairman and CEO from 1976-86 and retired from the firm’s board in 1995. The company was sold to Alcoa Inc. in 2000.
Reynolds’ survivors include daughters Dorothy Brotherton and Margaret Mackell, both of Richmond, and Julie Swords of Lexington, Ky.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.