Obituary: Peel Brought Loyalty to Claiborne Farm Role

In a social media post Nov. 8, Claiborne Farm announced that longtime stallion manager Joe Peel (1962-2023) had died.

Hired in August 1985, Peel worked in the yearling division for 15 years before joining the stallion division in 2000. For the past 20-plus years, Peel was responsible for the livelihood of stallions such as Arch, Blame  , Danzig, Flatter , Pulpit, Seeking the Gold, Unbridled, War Front  , and many others.

The farm noted that Peel had battled cancer for the past 10 years. Claiborne will honor Peel by naming the breeding shed after him.

"Joe will be remembered for his unwavering loyalty and toughness," the farm said in the social media post. "We grieve this loss with his wife, Sheena, and his daughter, Crystal, who continues Joe's legacy in her role as our assistant broodmare manager. 

"To honor Joe and his tremendous impact on the farm, we now breed mares at the 'Joe Peel Breeding Shed.'"

In nominating Peel for a Thoroughbred Industry Employee Award in 2019, Claiborne's Seth Hancock noted Peel's quiet leadership.

"There's two kinds of leaders to me," Hancock said. "There's those that that talk a lot and they lead by their words and that's OK. But Joe is a man that leads by his actions, and the actions that he takes, and the dedication to his job. These other guys feed off that—the guys that work under him. They actually worship the ground that Joe walks on and rightfully so."

In a 2014 column by Steve Haskin for BloodHorse, his connection to the Claiborne stallions shined through as he described Blame.

"I love, love, love Blame," Peel told Haskin. "When he arrived here he settled in really quick. If he could have spoke to you, he would have said, 'OK, what do you want me to do next?' He was just great to be around right from the beginning."

In a video for his TIEA nomination, Peel talked about his love for working with those horses and for Claiborne Farm.

"I love everything about it. I mean, there's not one certain thing that I love about working with the stallions," Peel said. "It's very rewarding to see the stallions' offspring win big races like graded stakes races. It is overwhelming. 

"I never would have thought in 100 years that I would work my way up to work with the stallions."

BloodHorse plans to update this obituary with further detail as it becomes available.