John A. Bell III, 88; breeder helped form national horse council

John A. Bell III, 88, a prominent horse owner and breeder for more than 50 years, died of pulmonary fibrosis Wednesday at a hospice in Lexington, Ky.

Bell was involved in the formation of the American Horse Council and was active in creating the Interstate Horseracing Act, which governs simulcasting and wagering at off-track betting facilities in the United States.

He also served as a former president of the Thoroughbred Club of America, a director of Breeders’ Cup Ltd. and on the Kentucky Racing Commission.

Born and raised on a farm near Pittsburgh, Bell used the money he received from selling a litter of pigs to buy his first mare in 1946 and founded Jonabell Farm in Lexington in 1954. The farm was the final home of Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown winner, who is buried there.

One of the best horses Bell owned was Epitome, who won the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race at Hollywood Park and was later named champion 2-year-old filly for that year. She was bred by Bell’s daughters, Jessica Bell Nicholson and H. Bennett Bell.

A Princeton graduate who also attended Harvard Business School, Bell sold Jonabell Farm to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum of Dubai in 2001.