Masters week: 5 golfers with a connection to horse racing

It might be a quiet week for horse racing with the Breeders' Cup over. But in the world of golf things are heating up with The Masters starting Thursday at Augusta National.

Several current participants and a few historic entrants have had a connection to horse racing.

Phil Mickelson

A man who had a Bob Baffert-trained horse named after him, the racing connection actually comes from Mickelson’s brother and caddy.

Tim Mickelson has owned horses both on his own and as a partner. In 2020, as part of a partnership with DA Meah Racing, Mickelson has sent out Vallestina, who most recently won an allowance race at Will Rogers on April 22.

Trained by Anna Meah, Vallestina is a daughter of Leroidesanimaux out of the Tale of the Cat mare Darling Kitty. She has one additional win in 2020, a claiming race at Santa Anita on March 1.

According to Golfweek, Tim Mickelson became a Thoroughbred owner in 2003 after attending races at Del Mar as a teenager.

Justin Rose

The runner-up in the 2017 Masters, Rose has a connection to the sport that came through his wife. Kate Rose is a owner of Master Merion, who last raced at Belmont Park in the 2019 Poker Stakes (G3), finishing sixth.

Justin Rose won his first major title at Merion Golf Club in 2013, but he and his wife said that the name of the horse is unrelated. Master Merion is trained by Wesley Ward.

A gelded son of Quality Road out of High Maintenance, Master Marion’s most successful year came in 2017, when he won two stakes races - the Let it Ride at Del Mar and the Franklin-Simpson at Kentucky Downs.

Lee Westwood

The runner-up in the 2010 Masters who is competing in 2020, Rose is a well-known horseplayer and owner. In 2019 he won $61,000 on a $300 bet by picking six of seven winners on the second day of the Cheltonham Festival.

As an owner Westwood is best known for owning Hoof It in partnership with his former agent Chubby Chandler. The gelding made a long career of it in England, most notably winning the 2011 Heritage Handicap at Goodwood.

Hoof It most recently won a Handicap at Goodwood in 2016. He last raced in 2018.

Gary Player

Now retired, Player, 85, won the 1961, 1974 and 1978 Masters, accounting for three of his nine major championships that tie him for fourth all-time.

In the world of horse racing, he is best known for founding Gary Player Stud in South Africa, a farm he purchased in 1974 at the peak of his golf career. He became the first South African breeder to have a international Group 1 winner out of one of his mares.

Player sold the farm in 2016, although it still bears his name.

Dan Forsman

Forsman, who competed in several Masters throughout his career, most recently in 1997, got his connection to racing through his longtime caddie Greg “Piddler” Martin.

Martin and his wife, Kathleen, have owned shares in Thoroughbreds since 2007. Most recently, Kathleen Martin bought into Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law for $10,000 through Sackatoga Stables.

The couple was also part of the ownership group for Commanding Curve, the second-place finisher in the 2014 Kentucky Derby.