The Thoroughbred industry lost one of its great horsewomen last month when Diane Perkins, a top breeder and trainer among her many accolades, died overseas Aug. 6 at 89. The news of her death was first reported by the Daily Racing Form.
"She was the ultimate horsewoman," said Perkins' longtime friend Emilie Fojan of Bona Terra Stud. "She did it the hard way, but she did it the right way. If you look in the dictionary and see 'one of a kind,' it says Diane Perkins."
Perkins hailed from a great pedigree of horse breeders as a member of the Phipps family, whose descendants carry the surnames Mills, Webber, Janna, Martin, Guest, and Perkins. Her mother, Diana Guest Manning, the Countess de la Valdene, bred or owned several major European runners like Prince Regent, Sea Hawk II, Pieces of Eight II, and Roi Dagobert. Manning's brother, Raymond Guest, was the owner and breeder of 1965 Preakness Stakes winner and champion 3-year-old Tom Rolfe and owner of dual English classic winner Sir Ivor.
Perkins was born in Great Britain but grew up in the United States between Florida and New York. She also spent time in France once her mother remarried. It was in France that she married Peter Perkins, a member of the polo Hall of Fame as an eight-goal player and survivor of the Bataan Death March, in the mid-1960s.
Perkins learned horsemanship from her mother and began competing in dressage and jumping events from an early age. A rider for the U.S. Equestrian team, she won a silver medal under the name Diane Firmin Didot in the team dressage competition in the 1967 Pan American Games held in Winnipeg, Canada.
In 1966, Diane and Peter Perkins moved to Argentina so that Peter could participate in polo matches. They fell in love with the country and eventually began the breeding operation Haras San Francisco de Pilar. She would become the first person to buy a horse in the U.S., Master Bold, to stand at stud in Argentina, which at that time was dominated by European bloodlines. She had acquired Master Bold from her uncle, Michael Phipps.
When the Argentine economy took a downturn a few years later, and thanks to the prodding of her mother, the couple purchased what would become Wimborne Farm, adjacent to Claiborne Farm near Paris, Ky. They would continue to operate both farms.
Peter Perkins took out his trainer's license in the mid-1980s, training the homebreds they kept up until his death in 1996. Soon after, Diane Perkins would take on the training duties.
In total, Wimborne Farm bred 209 winners, including 17 at the graded level. Among them were four grade 1 winners: Better Talk Now, Honey Ryder, John's Call, and La Gueriere. Additionally in Argentina, Perkins bred grade 1 winners Abloom, Al Mamoon, Lord At War, So Joyful, and Stonewall.
In 1993, Wimborne Farm was voted Breeder of the Year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association. In 2004, Perkins was awarded the Hardboot Breeders' Award by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. The merit award honors breeders who are well established but not typically acknowledged through other awards.
"I guess I was born a persistent person," Perkins wrote in her book, "On My Own." "Once I had a goal to pursue, I went for it with all my heart. Through the years I was lucky to be able to fulfill most of my dreams."
Lady Winborne and the Success of Wimborne Farm
Two of the grade 1 winners bred by Perkins, Al Mamoon and La Gueriere, were out of her star broodmare, Lady Winborne.
One of the key factors in Manning wanting Perkins to purchase a farm in Kentucky was so that she could send Priceless Gem, a descendant of La Troienne's female family that she bought for a then-record $395,000 at the dispersal of Hirsch Jacobs and Isidor Bieber's breeding stock in 1970, to Triple Crown winner Secretariat. Priceless Gem was out of Searching, who was bred by Ogden Phipps before being sold to Jacobs. Perkins wrote that it was like her mother was retrieving family Phipps bloodlines with the purchase.
The mating of Secretariat and Priceless Gem produced Lady Winborne, whose name meant to honor the farm was misspelled by the time it was registered with The Jockey Club.
Diane and Peter Perkins raised Lady Winborne, who was a half sister to 1974 French Horse of the Year and multiple champion Allez France. She raced in Europe for Manning and was group 3-placed. She was then transitioned to Perkins' care after Manning's passing and became the backbone of Wimborne Farm.
Thirteen of Lady Winborne's 15 foals were winners. Her two grade 1 winners were among five stakes-winning foals, while an additional three placed in stakes company. The foals were well traveled, winning races in the United States, Dubai, Austria, and Hong Kong.
Five of Lady Winborne's six daughters produced stakes winners, while all six saw stakes winners down the generations. La Gueriere was again a standout by producing grade 1 winner Icon Project and multiple graded stakes winner Lasting Approval, who became a successful stallion for Perkins.
Another standout broodmare out of La Gueriere for Perkins was La Comete, a daughter of Holy Bull who produced multiple graded stakes winner and successful stallion Munnings .
Lord At War was the pride of Perkins' Argentine operation, becoming a champion in his native country before joining the California barn of Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham in 1984. He would win five graded stakes in the States, including the 1985 San Antonio Handicap (G1) and Santa Anita Handicap (G1).
Retired to stand stud at Walmac International in 1986, Lord At War moved to Wimborne Farm in 1991 and continued stallion duties there until his passing in 1998. He sired 44 black-type stakes winners, including grade 1 winners Honor in War, John's Call, and La Gueriere. Lord At War's influence is also shown in the pedigree of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah as he is the damsire of Pioneerof the Nile, sire of American Pharoah. He was also the broodmare sire of 2002 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1) winner War Emblem.
Perkins bred to race, and according to Fojan, it was that love for the breeding side that kept Perkins in love with the sport.
"To her, it was all about the breeding. To breed the classic horse," Fojan said. "She bred in Europe and she bred in Argentina. She was also a cattle farmer; she did just about everything."
Another top mare for Perkins was Right Word, a blind daughter of Verbatim whom she purchased privately from Elmendorf Farm. She produced multiple stakes-winning daughters of Lord At War: Word o' Ransom and Words of War, who is the dam of stallions E Dubai and Vronsky and grade 1 winner No Matter What. Another of her Lord At War daughters bred by Perkins, Ascutney, won the 1996 Miesque Stakes (G3T) and produced 2008 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Raven's Pass.
Training with Compassion for the horse
Doing just about everything included training her own homebreds following her husband's death. After attempting to find a suitable replacement within the staff, Perkins decided to take out her own license in 1996 and reached out to Paul Meyer, whose experience included working for Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley, for assistance.
"She called me out of the blue to come have lunch with her at Keeneland," Meyer recalled. "We walked back to her barn, and she had 20 horses in the barn. She asked me to be her assistant."
Meyer was unsure at the time if he could accept the offer, but Perkins walked him around the barn, showing the pedigree power among the homebreds.
"I got to the end of the shred row after we made the circle and said, 'What time do you want me to start?'" Meyer said. "It was overwhelming the kind of horses that were there."
Based in Kentucky, Perkins got off to a fast start by winning her first two races with Cunning in an Ellis Park maiden race and Cuando Puede in a Turfway Park allowance. Her first loss came in her third start with the horse who would become the best of her training career, Lasting Approval.
Third in that debut and then a next-out winner at Keeneland, Lasting Approval would go on to win the 1997 Seattle Slew Stakes and Oak Tree Derby (G2T) and 1998 Maker's Mark Mile Stakes (G3T) for Perkins. He was also runner-up in the 1997 Hollywood Derby (G1T) and 1998 Turf Classic Stakes (G1T). The son of With Approval out of La Gueriere would join Perkins' stallion roster, standing at Walmac Farm before moving to her Argentina operation in 2003.
Fojan, who also trains horses herself, recalled spending time with Perkins at The Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington. A young woman when she first met her, Fojan took inspiration from Perkins as the two developed a close friendship.
"We used to be on the rail together in the morning, and it was just fun to watch her, how she trained," Fojan said. "She was my idol. I'm trying to be like her. I breed for racing, very few for the market. When you train, it's so different. You have to breed a different horse, not just for looks alone."
When she was in the market to purchase a good horse, Perkins valued the horse's mind more than anything.
"The way she bought horses, she never wanted to see a pedigree," Fojan said. "When we went around, it was about the eye and the look. The way the horse came out of the barn, the way the horse presented himself. I learned a lot from her."
When it came to her training, Perkins always put the needs of the horse before anything else.
"She was very good to her animals. We took care of our horses like they were ours, and they were," Meyer said. "There was none of this chasing the dollar; what was best for the horses was what we got. If there was any kind of question, we didn't. We weren't terribly conservative, because we won all the time."
Behind the training center on Paris Pike, Perkins purchased 20 acres of land where she had a full dressage ring that was also used for breaking yearlings. An advocate for turning horses out after training, she had 10 paddocks to use.
In her book, Perkins said compassion was one of the key things she learned about working with horses.
"Use it abundantly," she wrote. "Try to understand your horse and guide him where you want him to go. ... Think about your horse, not as a machine for your pleasure, but as an animal who will give you its best, but needs support, attention, and guidance."
She pointed to the need to reward horses when they do well.
"We have seen occasions where a horse wants to be photographed in the winner's circle," she wrote. "He is proud of his successes, proud of what he has done with all his heart. Please remember and reward. ... Watch the expression in their eyes—it speaks for itself."
One horse who took a little extra patience was Better Talk Now, a son of the stallion Perkins purchased part of following Lord At War's death, Talkin Man. Better Talk Now was out of the mare Bendita, whose family ran back three generations to Manning's operation.
Meyer called Better Talk Now the hardest horse he ever had to break, and after four starts, he had yet to find the winner's circle.
Those races were on dirt, so the decision was made to swap the colt to the turf. Perkins arrived home from Argentina for his turf debut, and Better Talk Now drew off to win by 9 lengths. A few days later, Perkins was given an offer she couldn't refuse and sold the horse. He would go on to be gelded and win the 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) among five grade 1 triumphs for trainer Graham Motion and Bushwood Stables.
"Even though Better Talk Now did all that for another owner, I received the enjoyment of being the breeder of a horse of such class and stamina," Perkins wrote. "It was gratifying for my belief in Talkin Man to be rewarded."
"That was just one of many," Meyer said. "We had quite a few that were of that caliber. It was just a real unique situation, it was something from the past. A person that has all their own horses and families and keeps a private training stable. Every one of them was a homebred."
Perkins had a reputation for being a tough boss, with Meyer saying there were times in which it was hard to get people to work for the operation. However, that toughness came from the expectation of providing her horses with the very best care.
"She was always very pleasant and very stern," Meyer said. "She was quite a character and demanded this to be done correctly. Something would be going on in the stable and we'd try to put our minds together to figure out a solution. She's just look at you and roll her eyes and say, 'Basic horsemanship, my dear, just basic horsemanship. Start at the beginning and work your way up. You'll figure it out.'"
Downsizing Wimborne
The loss of her husband and Lord At War weighed greatly on Perkins at the turn of the century, eventually leading to her selling Wimborne Farm and holding a dispersal sale in 2002.
"She said, 'I have to change my life,'" Meyer recalled. "'It's a wonderful life, but I have to change it.'"
A yearling daughter of Lasting Approval was sold at that dispersal sale for $70,000. Named Honey Ryder, she would go on to win two grade 1s for Glencrest Farm and future Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
Perkins trained her final starter in 2005, retiring with 56 wins, 48 seconds, and 47 thirds for earnings of $2,532,954.
Perkins continued to stay involved in the industry and continued her breeding operation in Argentina. There she bred Kasaqui, a son of Lasting Approval, who was moved to the U.S. ahead of the 2016 season. Perkins had a long-lasting relationship with trainer Ignacio Correas IV while he trained in Argentina, and Kasaqui played a big role in getting him started after moving his training operation to the U.S.
In 2016, Kasaqui won the Arlington Handicap (G3T) before finishing as runner-up in the Arlington Million XXXIV Stakes (G1T). He would add a victory in the Wise Dan Stakes (G2T) the following year.
Ahead of the 2025 season, she imported another homebred, Kansas Cat, to the U.S. The son of Hurricane Cat finished a solid second in allowance company at Del Mar Aug. 17 in his first start for trainer Dan Blacker.
Perkins had a love for traveling. She and her husband explored Argentina every summer that they lived there and set out from Lexington annually to explore North America, particularly Canada and Alaska. She was often splitting time between her two operations in the United States and Argentina.
Aside from her horsemanship, Perkins will be remembered for her kindness and unassuming personality. Known fondly as "Mrs. P" around the racetrack and at her barn, the success and wealth that came with her business pursuits, racing operation, and family lineage was never something she'd show off. Fojan said every conversation felt like talking to just any other person.
"She was so down to earth," Fojan said. "She gave so much money away in her own way, it was never even mentioned. No wasn't in her vocabulary. She knew everybody everywhere she went, every track. She never needed a paddock pass, wherever she went it was like, 'Oh, Diane, come on in.'"
"She was from a completely different world than I was, but we would come in on race days at Keeneland or Churchill and roll our sleeves up and march over there and beat them every time," Meyer said. "If there was ever an issue, whether there was success or there was failure or tragedy, she handled with the utmost amount of class, dignity and horsemanship. Everything was always so matter-of-fact, pleasant, and appropriate. She was just a first-class person."
