Bill Landes
Bill Landes fell in love with horse racing as a teenager and purchased his first racehorse, Hey Maggie, shortly after graduating from college. Though it was law school that brought Landes to Louisville, he says he chose it because Kentucky is the “horse capital of the world.” He tried on a non-equine life for a while, practicing law for several years, but having caught the horse bug early, it was an interest he couldn’t shake.
Landes, who first met Warner Jones in 1975 while boarding his mare at Hermitage Farm, began working for the farm in 1977 and never looked back. When he first started, Landes served under Jones, acting as his “right-hand man” but never held an official title. Landes recalls an early conversation with Jones, “I said, ‘Mr. Jones, what do you want me to do?’ ‘Bill, I want you to do whatever I want you to do,’” Landes recalled Jones saying. “Let me tell you, there was nothing ever written. I was his right-hand man. I described myself as a fly on the wall — and boy, did I ever learn.” Under Jones Landes played crucial roles in the sale and preparation of the world record yearling Seattle Dancer ($13.1 million), managed the career of leading sire Raja Baba, and aided in the 1987 dispersal of Jones’ stock that sold at Keeneland for $32.6 million.
In his 42-year tenure at Hermitage, Landes has seen the farm through three owners. When Carl Pollard purchased the farm after Jones’ death in 1994, Landes officially became general manager. Today, Landes serves as farm manager under the ownership of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson.
In 2017 Landes received the Ted Bates Farm Manager of the Year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers’ Club and in 2018 was awarded the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners’ Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award.
Landes is chair of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund advisory committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, serves on Churchill Downs’ horsemen’s racing committee, is a past president of both the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association/Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, as well as the LaGrange Rotary Club.
Landes and his wife Sally own Greystone Farm, a breeding and racing operation, which produced a graded-stakes winner, Roxelana. The couple has two daughters.
Resources:
Denk, Pete. "Pollard sells historic Hermitage Farm." Thorughbred Times, May 8, 2010.
Haukebo, Kirsten. "New owner upholds the well-bred ways of Hermitage Farm." Courier-Journal, July 9, 1996, C1-C3.
"Landes Named Kentucky Farm Manager of the Year." The Blood-Horse, 2017.