Marylou Whitney, a Saratoga Icon

Marylou Whitney died on July 19, 2019, at 93. She was a philanthropist, horse racing legend and a socialite. Whitney was the first woman in 80 years to breed and own a Kentucky Oaks winner and won the Belmont Stakes and Travers in the same year. Her husband, John Hendrickson, and she were responsible for the development of Saratoga Springs. They created the Saratsog Backstretch Appreciation program. The Northway extended into Sarotoga in 1963. Maryloulou and C.V. owned a 1,000-acre farm in Lexington, Ky., but their home was Cady Hill mansion in Sar atoga.

Marylou Whitney is a Saratoga icon. She created the Hoofprints Walk of Fame outside the clubhouse entrance and a statue of Native Dancer outside of Congress Park on Union Avenue. Whitney was elected to The Jockey Club in 2011 and named the First Lady of the Kentucky Oaks in 2015. The Whitney Viewing Stand overlooks the Oklahoma training track.  The Whitney Handicap was named in honor of C.V. and his family. It was also named after her. MarylOU wanted to be at the races after a stroke. Her husband John Hendrickson also wanted her to have a say in the naming of this race.

The Hoofprints Walk of Fame outside Saratoga’s clubhouse entrance honors some of the great champions who have raced there.

Marylou Whitney and Norman Vaughan led a six-person expedition to the South Pole in 1995. She hosted a radio show called Private Smiles during World War II. C.V. Whitney named one of his horses Pvt. Smile as a tribute to that show. PvT.Smile won just one race in 19 starts, but was second in the 1973 Jersey Derby and raced in that year’s Belmont Stakes against Secretariat.