TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/920057
has carefully chosen her advisors through such filters and understands that while suc- cess in racing is elusive, a wise executive mind in the industry examines as much as they execute, if not more. With her Ocala, Florida-based operation competing at the highest level, despite sporting numbers dwarfed by the powerhouses of global rac- ing, Weber is a 50-year force in thorough- bred world, if not an icon. "I was raised outside Philadelphia and in the late 1960s I bought my first horse," Weber, 74, said. "I really wanted something to do that would be fun and a way to meet people. Some of my family was into stee- plechase horses and I thought that was way too complicated. I figured, let's take the obstacle out of the equation and that's how it started long ago. Of course, without having the wonderful legacy of Campbell's Soup, there would be no horses. What they do have in common, though, is that you have to mind your business and keep your integrity. "When I was in my 20s, my ex-husband and I were looking for a place to raise a family and he also wanted to raise some cattle, so we went to Virginia, Maryland, Pennsyl- vania, Kentucky and California before we decided on Ocala," Weber continued. "Joe O'Farrell originally asked me if I would be interested in Florida and the more time we spent in Ocala, the more we just fell in love with it. The thing that really got us was the weather. It is just a beautiful place to raise horses and has these big, beautiful Live Oak trees." A 4,500-acre commercial thoroughbred