California breeder-owner Cecilia Straub-Rubens, whose colt Tiznow took a major step toward Horse of the Year honors with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), died the night of Nov. 7 at a Newport Beach hospital. Straub-Rubens, who was battling inoperable cancer, was admitted to the hospital the previous day. Straub-Rubens witnessed the Nov. 4 Classic with her partner in Tiznow, Michael Cooper, who managed her bloodstock affairs and served as family trustee. She would have been 84 in December.
"I'm so happy for Cecilia Straub-Rubens," Cooper told The Blood-Horse after the Classic about the woman who liked to be called Cee. "We've been doing this for 20 years."
Tiznow, whose sire and dam, Cee's Tizzy's and Cee's Song, were bought by Straub-Rubens as yearlings, bred Tiznow's full brother, Budroyale, in a trust. Claimed in his first start, Budroyale finished second in the 1999 Classic, and has career earnings of $2.8 million. Straub-Rubens was voted California Breeder of the Year for 1999.
Straub-Rubens and Cooper paid $360,000 to supplement Tiznow to the Classic, and collected first-place earnings of $2,438,800. Unraced as 2-year-old, Tiznow has won four stakes and earned $3,404,350.
