Shirley Taylor, a former president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, died Feb. 27 at age 83 at a Billings, Mont., health care center. She had suffered a stroke in November.
During two terms as president of TOBA, Taylor was instrumental in the development of the organization's annual state breeders' awards program. She also moved the outfit's offices from New York to Lexington.
Taylor was a part-owner of Alleged, a two-time winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) in the 1970s. Alleged developed into a leading sire at John T.L. Jones Jr.'s Walmac International near Lexington.
Taylor bred many of her runners in the name W Lazy T, a Montana cattle ranch that she and her husband, Walter, started in the 1940s. Walter Taylor died in 2004. Stakes winners bred under the W Lazy T name include grade I winners Scorpion and Honor in War (in partnership) and grade III winner Slew the Red. Shirley Taylor raced grade I winner Chain Bracelet and grade III winner Baroness Direct.
Taylor, who was elected to The Jockey Club in 1989, was a trustee emeritus of TOBA.
