W-L Ranch Co. was an American Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding partnership between Hollywood film studio executive Harry M. Warner and film director Mervyn LeRoy. Warner's daughter, Doris, was married to Mervyn LeRoy.
In 1938, Harry Warner, along with his brother Jack, and Mervyn LeRoy were founding investors in Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. [1] LeRoy was a member of the track's board of directors from 1941 until his death in 1987.
In addition to competing at their own racetrack, W-L Ranch Co. raced horses at Santa Anita Park and Del Mar Racetrack in California as well as at other racetracks throughout the United States until 1958 when Harry Warner died. They had two starters in the 1947 Kentucky Derby and another in 1955. Among their graded stakes race wins, the stable won the 1944 Narragansett Special, the 1948 Top Flight Handicap, the 1949 and 1957 editions of the Santa Catalina Handicap, and the 1955 Malibu Stakes, 1955 Bing Crosby Handicap, and 1956 San Diego Handicap. [2]
One of their most famous thoroughbreds was Paperboy.
Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.
Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races including both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap as well as hosting the Breeders' Cup in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2023. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics. Since 2011, the Stronach Group are the current owners.
Citation was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the eighth winner of the American Triple Crown. He won 16 consecutive stakes races and was the first horse in history to win US$1 million.
Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to the racetrack complex. Horse racing and training were shut down in December 2013 though the casino operations continued until a new state of the art casino building, the new Hollywood Park Casino, opened in October 2016.
Buzzards Bay is an American Thoroughbred racehorse.
Charles Edward Whittingham was an American Thoroughbred race horse trainer who is one of the most acclaimed trainers in U.S. racing history.
The Hollywood Derby is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December. Now held at Del Mar racetrack in San Diego, California, until 2014 it was held at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. The race is open to horses aged three and contested at a mile and an eighth on turf. It currently offers a purse of $300,000.
The Precisionist Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. A Grade III event open to horses, age three and up, it was contested over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on Cushion Track synthetic dirt. The race was named for the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame horse, Precisionist who won this race in 1985 in which he set a Hollywood Park track record for the then one mile distance.
Swaps was a California bred American thoroughbred racehorse. He won the Kentucky Derby in 1955 and was named United States Horse of the Year in the following year. He was known as the "California Comet," and occasionally with affection, due to his wins despite numerous injuries and treatments, the "California Cripple."
Noble Winfield Threewitt was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who conditioned horses for seventy-five years before retiring on his ninety-sixth birthday. The city of Arcadia, California, home to Santa Anita Racetrack, declared February 24, 2007, to be "Noble Threewitt Day."
Ovie Scurlock was an American jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing.
Snow Chief was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.
Gordon P. Glisson was an American Champion Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.
Alberta Ranches, Ltd. was a Thoroughbred horse racing partnership between U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey and Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Johnny Longden, his son Vance, and businessmen and Frank McMahon, Wilder H. Ripley, and Max Bell. The three men were all longtime friends from the Province of Alberta in Canada. The partnership was formed in 1952 and was dissolved in 1962 following a dispute between McMahon and Bell.
Gregory Duncan "Don" Cameron was an American Thoroughbred horse trainer who trained Count Fleet, who won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1943.
Juan Paco Gonzalez is an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.
Andrew Joseph Crevolin was an American businessman and Thoroughbred racehorse owner in California whose horse won the 1954 Santa Anita and Kentucky Derbys.
William B. Finnegan was an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.
Honeymoon was an American Thoroughbred race horse who was the first California-bred filly to surpass the $100,000 mark in earnings and who retired with earnings of $387,760. The June 22, 1946 issue of the Los Angeles Times called Honeymoon the "best filly ever bred in California."
Art Sherman is a former American horse trainer and jockey. At the age of 77 he became the oldest trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. He began his career as a stable hand for Rex Ellsworth and Mesh Tenney. While working in Ellsworth's barn, he was the exercise rider for the 1955 Kentucky Derby winner Swaps and 1956 Kentucky Derby entrant Terrang.