Gentry's Death Leaves Void at VanMeter-Gentry

Standing outside Barn 8 at Fasig-Tipton the morning of July 7 as buyers inspected horses consigned by VanMeter-Gentry Sales to The July Sale, Tom VanMeter reminisced about the absence of his former business partner and friend, Olin Gentry.

"It would be about this time of the day (mid-morning) when he would show up (at the sale grounds)," VanMeter, his voice tinged with emotion, said of his late partner Gentry, who died June 16 at age 51 one day after collapsing while attending a horse sale in Florida. "He'd ask, 'Whats' going on? Who's showed up? Let me look at the cards (filled out be prospective buyers)'."

The July Sale, Fasig-Tipton's annual summer selected auction July 10, will be the first sale since Gentry died.

"It's going to leave a void because he was so good at the horse-trading part of it—creating deals in both buying and selling horses," Van Meter said of Gentry, with whom he shared a friendship and business interests in horses and other investments for more than 25 years.

In addition to being a partner in VanMeter-Gentry, Gentry had extensive interests in other equine ventures, including a successful pinhooking operation with Renee Dailey, who runs the sales division at VanMeter-Gentry.

"Renee and I miss him terribly," VanMeter said.

VanMeter recalled an incident about a week prior to Gentry's death that illustrated the give-and-take in their partnership for 2 1/2 decades.

"We got into this big head-butt about where to sell a really nice yearling. He wanted to go to one sale, and I wanted to go to another. We were banging heads and cussing. So I said, 'Let's just flip a coin.' He didn't want to do that. It was down to the last day when we had to decide, and I received a daily scripture from (WinStar Farm president) Elliott Walden. It was from the Book of Proverbs and it said, basically, 'a foolish man doesn't listen to anybody, and a wise man takes advice from his friends.' I said, 'I should do what Olin wants.' Anyway, it's a really nice horse, and it's going where Olin wanted.

"We had great fun and had good chemistry," VanMeter said, adding that Gentry's influence would be felt at the Fasig-Tipton sale and others to follow. "There is a lot of stuff still in the works Olin had his fingerprints all over. He was partners on two or three here."

The Fasig-Tipton sales next week—the Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale is July 9—will also be the first since the death of Bill Graves, Fasig-Tipton's longtime senior vice president who died May 30 after a short illness.

"They were two lions of the horse business, and we miss them terribly," VanMeter said.