Owner of Carry Back Jack Price Dies at 87

Jack Price, who parlayed a $150 boarding bill into the breeding of 1961 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Carry Back, died Wednesday night in a suburban Miami, Fla., hospital.

Price, 87, had congestive heart failure and had been hospitalized since May 15. He had attended every Kentucky Derby since 1961 before missing this year’s race May 6.

A native of Cleveland, Price obtained the mare Joppy for the equivalent of $300--the write-off of the $150 boarding bill and $150 that he paid the horse’s cash-strapped owner. For $200, Price bred Joppy to Saggy, an undistinguished stallion who was standing at Country Life Farm in Bel Air, Md.

The result of that mating was Carry Back, who was trained by Price and won 21 of 61 starts during a four-year career, earning $1.2 million. Carry Back’s bid for a Triple Crown sweep was thwarted when he finished seventh as Sherluck won the Belmont Stakes at 65-1.

In 1962, Price shipped Carry Back to Paris for the Arc de Triomphe. The colt finished 10th, beaten by 5 3/4 lengths, in a 24-horse field.

“I was never sorry that we went,” Price said last year. “We were out to prove that an American horse could compete favorably with the best in Europe on their own grounds and on their own terms. We didn’t get the money, but Carry Back ran well and was not disgraced.”

Price, a widower, is survived by two daughters and three grandchildren.