Frank Stella was an artist of the postwar era whose seminal talent encompassed multiple genres. It propelled him to worldwide prominence for more than six decades, and it was abetted by a passion for Thoroughbred racing and breeding. He died at his home in the West Village of Manhattan May 4. He was 87.
Stella's modest racing and breeding operation at his 120-acre Delehanty Stock Farm, located in Dutchess County near Amenia, N.Y., produced a slew of accomplished New York-breds over several decades. His finest was multiple graded stakes winner Perfect Arc, a daughter of Brown Arc, by Alleged who captured the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) in 1977 and 1978.
Stella bred, raced, and co-owned the filly with the late Paul K. Sorren (Brazil Stable). Out of the Argentinian mare Podeica (Petronisi-Indian Order, by Ovid), who won the 1987 Polla de Potrancas (Argentine One Thousand Guineas), defeating 1998 Racing Hall of Fame inductee Bayakoa, Podeica won at the allowance level in the United States before retiring due to injury.
Conceived and foaled at Delehanty March 7, 1992, Perfect Arc was trained by Angel Penna Jr. Perfect Arc competed from age 2-4, and as a 3-year-old in 1995 she was a perfect 7-for-7, all on turf. With Hall of Fame rider John Velasquez, Perfect Arc won the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland. At season's end, she was named 1995 New York-bred Horse of the Year, New York champion 3-year-old filly, and New York champion turf female. Her perfect turf season included triumphs in the grade 2 Rare Perfume Handicap at Belmont Park and grade 3 Diana Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.
In an abbreviated 1996 campaign, Perfect Arc added two wins in four starts, all on grass. She won the grade 3 Noble Damsel Handicap at Belmont Park and finished second to champion Possibly Perfect in the Beverly D. Stakes (G1) at Arlington International Race Course. At year's end, Perfect Arc was named 1996 New York champion female. She finished her career with 10 victories in 13 starts (six stakes wins) and earnings of $668,230.
Retired to Delehanty, Perfect Arc's broodmare career produced three winners from seven runners, though nothing remotely approaching her class. She is the granddam of Starship Jubilee, a grade 1 winner with purse earnings topping $1.6 million. Starship Jubilee was named Canada's 2019 Horse of the Year and three-time champion turf female from 2017-2019.
Other homebreds raced by Stella, each of whom was retired to his broodmare band, were Southern Tradition ($379,125), Very True ($329,452), and Fortunate Faith ($251,635).
Stella was breeder of record for Fortunate Faith's 2005 foal, Z Fortune, by Siphon (BRZ), who captured the 2008 Lecomte Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Sold to Big Apple Racing for $80,000 out of the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July Yearling Sale, Z Fortune was trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen for Zayat Stable. Z Fortune raced from ages 2-5 and earned $432,942. He finished 10th in the 2008 Kentucky Derby (G1).
Smitten by the racing bug in the early 1970s during a visit with Sorren to Hollywood Park, fully in keeping with the history of the turf, Stella was resolutely dedicated to breeding and racing on that surface. For that reason, his association with trainer Christophe Clement over the past dozen or so years proved ideal for both.
"Mr. Stella was a great owner and a very simple man. You would never have known that he was this great artist," Clement said. "In fact, he and my wife shared the same birthday [May 12]. He never put any pressure on his trainer and always put the horse first."
Delehanty's newest foal, a colt by Maxfield out of Tent City, by Desert Party, was foaled on Kentucky Derby eve, according to farm manager Jim Cassidy, who worked for Stella for nearly 50 years.
In 2009, Stella was among 10 recipients of the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. His renown through the decades and work exhibited in galleries and museums around the globe as well as in private collections aside, however, Stella relished the inherent challenge of studying pedigrees, planning matings for his mares, and naming foals. As he noted in a 1999 interview, despite the vagaries of commercial success and "fashionable opinions" about what constitutes art, he never wearied of the adrenaline-fueled rush unique to the Sport of Kings. He also appreciated that racing's finish line provides the ultimate arbiter of success.
After saying there is "no level of success in the art world that can compare with success in racing," Stella added, "There's a kind of refreshing directness to the finish line, which I like. You don't have that in the art world."
Survivors include his wife, Dr. Harriet McGurk, their sons, Patrick and Peter, three children from prior relationships, and five grandchildren. As of press time, funeral arrangements had not been announced.
