Owner/Breeder Josephine Gleis Dies at Age 105
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Owner and breeder Josephine Gleis died Jan. 14 at the age of 105 surrounded by her family at her home in Newport Beach, Calif., according to her grandson, Rick Hausman.
Gleis owned and bred a number of Thoroughbreds, but had her most exciting journey with Fly Till Dawn, who won four grade 1 races from 1990-92 for trainer Darrell Vienna.
"She was just a really fine lady," Vienna said. "She was an interesting woman—had a foot in two worlds. She was classical, refined old wealth, and very forward thinking as well.
"Even when I trained for her, she was at an advanced age, and she was unperturbed by all of the massive changes our society and technology was throwing at her. She was modern."
Hausman, a horseplayer who bonded with his grandmother through the game they both loved, recalled the moment of Fly Till Dawn's victory in the 1990 Eddie Read Handicap (G1T) at Del Mar as "the most beautiful moment in all of our lives." Fly Till Dawn won three more top-level events—the 1990 Budweiser International Handicap (G1T) and the San Luis Rey Stakes (G1T) and the San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap (G1T) in 1992—but none lived up to that first grade 1.
"We went from an allowance to the Eddie Read and she was so nervous, because she didn't want to let the public down," Hausman said. "When he won, it was so shocking. She was unbelievably shocked."
Hausman also detailed Gleis' love of studying bloodlines and breeding horses, and said she "had more money than God, but she would only bet $2 across the board."
He also told the story of the first horse she bought, a yearling filly named Venetian Dancer. After sending her friend, Joan Hadley, to buy a horse out of a sale, Hadley returned with Venetian Dancer. Unfortunately the first trainer to get his hands on the Norcliffe filly said she could never race because of a club foot and a missing eye.
Venetian Dancer produced 11 foals as a broodmare, however. Ten of them won and one went unraced. One foal out of Venetian Dancer named Bali Dancer (by Fly Till Dawn) won two races at Hollywood Park under the silks of Gleis.