Breeder Mary 'Bay' Schiffer Dies at 102
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Photo: BloodHorse Library
Double Discount, bred and raced by the Schiffers
Mary "Bay" Schiffer, who with her late husband, Ken, founded Hat Ranch in Wyoming and Hat Ranch West in California, died Feb. 28 in Buffalo, Wyo. She was 102.
The Schiffers bred and raced Double Discount, the California-bred gelding who set a world record for 1 1/4 miles of 1:57 2/5 in the 1977 Carleton F. Burke Handicap (G2T) during the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park.
They also raced 1970 Vanity Handicap (G1) winner Commissary and multiple graded winner Gum.
Schiffer grew up in New York, where she taught riding, showed horses, and fox hunted. She and her husband raised cattle and horses at Hat Ranch and Schiffer rode until she was 90. In the 1960s, they founded the Hat Ranch West in Temecula, Calif., a Thoroughbred breeding and training facility. They also raised five sons and a daughter.
Both Ken Schiffer and son Dan Schiffer are former presidents of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association. Bay Schiffer served on the board of the California Thoroughbred Foundation and the Southern California Equine Foundation. By Schiffer was director emeritus of the California Thoroughbred Foundation at the time of her death.
Funeral services are scheduled for March 7 in Buffalo. Bay Schiffer is survived by sons Ken Jr., Tony, Dan, and Tim; daughter Amanda Kaufmann; 13 grandchildren; 10 great grandchildren; and one great-great granddaughter.