R.S.V.P. : Mother-Daughter Team Hosts Horsy Set

When Irvine fortune heiress Joan Irvine Smith and her mother, Athalie Clarke, stumbled upon an impressive oak meadow and tin barns near San Juan Capistrano six years ago, Joan says she told her mother, “I’d like to get my hands on this property.” She reflected, “I had some nice Grand Prix horses, and I thought it might be something someone could have some enjoyment out of.”

She bought the property, established a horse facility for hunters and jumpers, and inaugurated the Oaks Classic Grand Prix. The Oaks is relaxing, says Joan, who turned 56 this week with a birthday party at Five Crowns Restaurant in Corona del Mar.

There are two major upcoming events on the Smith-Clarke agenda this month--one involving horses, the other involving $500 million.

Saturday and Sunday the mother-daughter duo stage their fourth annual Oaks Classic, a bit like Ascot. On Sunday ladies in big garden hats and flowered prints and gents in navy blazers and white ducks will be there from Orange County and up and down the coast, Virginia, Tennessee, Palm Springs and Honolulu to watch the House of Hermes $10,000 Acorn Junior-Amateur Grand Prix and the $50,000 Oaks Grand Prix.

Their Way to Entertain

Joan and Athalie have invited 600 personal guests to lunch on Rococo-catered cuisine and watch the panoramic jumps from a white tented area. More than 1,000 are expected to pay $8 each for bleacher seats across the way--with equally fine views of the action. “Some people have black-tie dinners. This is our way to entertain,” said Athalie.

Adds the 86-year-old Athalie, who lives in nearby Newport Beach: “These have been some of the happiest days of my life, visiting here with Joan in this pretty setting.”

The second event on the Smith-Clarke calendar: On June 12, 13 and 14, in Detroit, a federal judge is scheduled to hear final arguments on the Irvine Co. suit in which Joan and Athalie contend that the Irvine Co. is offering too little money for their stake in the company. They object to the company’s 1983 offer to pay $114 million for their 11% interest in the company, and rather ask about $300 million and an additional $200 million in accrued interest.

Joan says she yearns to become involved in environmental issues.

“I think environmental legislation will be the most important legislation of our time. I think everyone must get interested, because we are going to destroy our climate.”

Will she put her money there? “We’ll get into that later--when I get the money--absolutely!”