Longtime Florida Horsewoman Mansfield Dies at 74

The hard work, dedication, and care from Thoroughbred professionals like Sherry Rose Mansfield is what drives the breeding and racing industries. The Florida horse community lost one of its brightest sparks in early July when Mansfield died at the age of 74. Mansfield, a native of White Salmon, Wash., owned and operated Remedy Farm with her husband of 14 years, veteran trainer Kenny Davis, who gave Mansfield her first job working with horses in 1972. After attending college for two years in Hawaii, Mansfield transferred to Western Kentucky University. She attended her first Kentucky Derby (G1) in 1971 and the experience forever changed the course of her life. Growing up, she had a fondness for horses and agreed to help her father clear land in exchange for getting her first pony. But then watching Canonero II win the Derby stirred in her a passion to work with horses that never faded. Mansfield showed up at Davis' barn at Keeneland after she graduated from college and asked him for a job. Davis had three horses at the time but agreed to hire her for $35 per week walking hots. "I told her, 'Well, let's see what you know,' " Davis recalled. "She said, 'I don't know much.' " What Mansfield lacked in experience, she made up for in curiosity, hard work, and persistence. "The more she did, the more she wanted to do. She really wanted to learn the game," said Davis. Together Davis and Mansfield trained horses for Mary Anne Hockensmith, the owner of Woodlake Farm near Frankfort, Ky. They worked for 27 years for Hockensmith, with Mansfield grooming the horses and Davis handling the training. Mansfield had a special connection with the horses in her care, keeping them happy and calm while they were in training. Hockensmith had two particularly nervous fillies named Crown Menow and Mirrored Beauty. Crown Menow became a stakes winner at Latonia Park (now Turfway Park) and Mirrored Beauty placed in two stakes at Latonia and River Downs (now Belterra Park). The best horse Mansfield ever worked with was Mr. Redoy, a son of Grey Dawn II, owned by Felty Yoder. Mr. Redoy won the 1978 Charles H. Strub Stakes (G1) and was second in the 1978 Santa Anita Handicap (G1). Mansfield and Davis broke and trained him before sending to trainer Andrew Thomas "Tommy" Doyle. Mansfield and Davis raced primarily at Kentucky tracks and in the winter would stable at Tampa Bay Downs. Wherever they were, the condition of the horses in their stable got noticed. So did Mansfield's work ethic. She was at the barn promptly every morning before 6 a.m., made sure the horses had fresh water throughout the day, and every night at 7:30-8 o'clock she picked stalls and refilled water buckets. Ray Tamargo Jr., who also stabled at Tampa Bay Downs, was quite particular and demanding about the care of his horses. He became close friends with Mansfield, who by 1995 had started running the training stable. The horse business had gotten light at that time, so Davis started a horse transport business that he ran for five years. Tamargo had a talented homebred son of Strike the Anvil who had placed in the Pelican Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. He sent the horse with Mansfield when she and Davis returned to their base at Keeneland in the spring of 1995. "Ray knew Sherry did things the way he liked to have things done, so he trusted her with Oh So Striking," said Davis. Racing in Mansfield's name, Oh So Striking set a Churchill Downs track record in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race that he won in 1:15.74. "She went from watching Canonero win the Kentucky Derby to setting a track record at Churchill Downs. That shows you what hard work can do," said Davis. Renowned racetrack veterinarian Dr. Alex Harthill would send two horses with Mansfield to race at Tampa Bay Downs because she was one of the best caretakers of a horse he'd ever seen, according to Davis. Mansfield and Davis relocated in 2000 to Florida, where they started out managing Green River Farm. A couple of years later, they bought 30 acres of open land down the road from Green River and built a farm they called Remedy Farm, named after their first broodmare, Sweet Remedy. Mansfield jumped into the breeding game with the same enthusiasm she embraced training. An avid reader, she quickly absorbed all the information she could and got her early schooling on pedigrees from Florida breeder and trainer Elliott Fuentes, who raised and handled the early training for 1985 Horse of the Year Spend a Buck. From a broodmare band that hovered around five to eight mares, Mansfield and Davis were extraordinarily successful with breeding and raising horses they would eventually sell at auction. Davis said Mansfield was the "backbone" of the farm, buying the mares, choosing the matings, and managing all the paperwork. From 155 foals of racing age born through 2022, the couple bred and raised 59% winners and 10% stakes horses. Their top runners included Deland, champion older horse in Puerto Rico in 2016-17 and the winner of a locally recognized grade 1 stakes; and grade 3 winner Yes I Am Free, who won the 2019 Texas Glitter Stakes for trainer Mark Casse and owner Gary Barber and went on to win consecutive runnings of the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes (G3T) in 2022-23 for owner Golden Kernel Racing Stable and trainer Laura Cazares. Bloodstock agent Justin Casse bought Yes I Am Free for $135,000 out of Mansfield and Davis' Hawk's Nest consignment at the 2018 Ocala Breeders' June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale. "I've known Sherry and Kenny forever. They always have had a small broodmare band but their horses have always exceeded their pedigrees," said Mark Casse, who got to know the couple during his tenure as manager of Harry Mangurian Jr.'s Mockingbird Farm. "They were a great team. I always felt safe buying horses from them because I knew they had been well cared for." Davis said Remedy Farm has its best crop of foals yet on the ground this year. "We have nine foals and eight of them are as good as you could ever want. They were all bred at Ocala Stud because Sherry loved that they treated us like family," he said. "She was the most comfortable person I have ever seen around a horse, and anyone who talked with her for more than five minutes became a friend. She could make a bad horse eat. She could make a nervous horse quiet. If you had a bad actor, just give it to Sherry and it would be a different horse in two weeks. She just had the touch."