Allen Paulson 1922-2000

Horse Racing

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Allen Paulson (center) with his wife Madeleine and regular jockey Jerry Bailey after winning the Manhattan Handicap on Belmont day 1999

Champions Owned by Allen Paulson

Estrapade (grass female, 1986)
Theatrical (grass male, 1987)
Blushing John (older male, 1989)
Arazi (juvenile male, 1991)
Eliza (juvenile female, 1992)
Cigar (older horse, Horse of the Year, 1995 and 1996)
Ajina (3-year-old filly, 1997)
Escena (older female, 1998)

He won the Eclipse Award as champion breeder in 1993, champion owner in 1995 & 1996, and an Eclipse Award of Merit in 1996.

Breeders' Cup record as an owner (either alone or in partnership):

Starts   1st  2nd  3rd
  39      8    4    9

Escena winner of the 1998 Breeders' Cup Distaff, his last winner in a Breeders' Cup race.

Allen Paulson
4/22/22 - 7/19/00

Dateline: 07/20/00

Allen Paulson, one of racing's most successful owners and breeders of the last two decades, died Wednesday in California after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 78 years old. In addition to his success at the track he was also well known in the aviation world as the founder of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. His love of flying showed in the names of many of his horses who were frequently named for aviation checkpoints including Arazi and Cigar.

His career as an owner and breeder began in 1980 and he quickly rose to the top of the ranks. His first champion was the great grass mare Estrapade in 1986 and his last was the classy mare Escena in 1998. He bred at least 85 stakes winners and owned, alone or in partnership, over 100 stakes winners. He is ranked as the number one owner of Breeders' Cup starters with 33 and had at least one starter in each of the last 16 runnings. His best known horse was no doubt the great Cigar who in 1995-96 tied the modern record for consecutive wins and set a record for lifetime earnings at $9,999,815.

Although it had been kept quiet, Paulson had been in ill health for some time and as part of his estate planning sold his Brookside Farm in Kentucky and his Florida farm. Many of his horses were dispersed at auction as well and only kept his stallions Theatrical and Jade Hunter along with the 76 mares they bred this year and 45 young horses in Florida. His wife, Madeleine, was frequently a co-owner of his horses and plans to continue in the horse business.

Paulson was born in Iowa and was in the Army Air Corps in World War II. After that he was a test pilot and commercial pilot for TWA. In 1951 he started his first of a series of aviation companies and in 1978 he founded Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. which manufactures small private jets. From June 1987 to February 1988, Paulson and a crew established 35 international speed records during two around-the-world flights in Gulfstream IVs. His aviation accomplishments also made him the winner of the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in 1987 and the Howard Hughes Award for Aviation in 1988 along with many others.

Paulson is survived by his wife (Madeleine), three sons (Richard, Jim, and Mike), and stepdaughter (Dominique). A private family funeral was planned with a memorial service also scheduled in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

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