Mill Ridge Pays Tribute to Esteemed Breeder Otto
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Photo: Courtesy of Mill Ridge Farm
(L-R) Audrey Otto, Dr. John Chandler, and Alice Headley Chandler after Keeper Hill won the 1999 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland
The Mill Ridge family and friends celebrate the life of Audrey (Tolie) Otto, who passed away April 18, after a lengthy illness. She was 87.
The farm near Lexington sent out a tribute April 24 to their friend Otto, who was a partner in 1998 Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Keeper Hill and owned a number of successful broodmares.
A native of St. Louis, Mo., she moved to Lexington in the late 1980s. As a commercial breeder, she registered under JAMM Ltd., which stood for her four children, John, Audie, Michael, and Matthew.
Headley Bell, managing partner of Mill Ridge shared, "Tolie, Mom (Alice Chandler), and Dr. Chandler were dear friends, and shared a love of the horse, animal, and the Mill Ridge family and its employees. She was exemplary in gifting a bonus to all the employees twice a year, after sales, and at Christmas for over thirty years."
As a commercial breeder, she had intuition and good fortune as an initial purchaser, with partner Shirley Taylor, in the mare Existentialist, for $100,000. The mare yielded more than $4 million in sales, and helped establish the Keeneland September Sale when selling a Gone West colt for a record price of $1.4 million in 1996.
She also reached the pinnacle of racing as a partner in Keeper Hill, who won the 1998 Kentucky Oaks, and earned over $1.6 million. Another highlight was, as a partner with Mill Ridge in the mare Hamba, who would produce the 2008 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner Monba . On her own as a breeder, she also had terrific results with the purchase of Ruby Ransom, who produced Strut The Stage, a multiple grade 2 winner of more than $1.5 million.
In 2007 she purchased Shop Again , who became one of her foundation mares, producing grade 1 winner Power Broker . Most recently, her purchase in 2012 of Justaroundmidnight saw that mare deliver grade 1 winner Duopoly . Remarkably, Tolie rarely owned more than six mares on her own at any one time, and had tremendous results with her commercial breeding program.
Her daughter, Audie has been involved with her since early 2000, and will continue with this love of breeding and the horse that began with her mom.