Ask Karen Mort about her life with horses, and she might demur, saying that she’s not really involved in the equine industry. Don’t let her get away with that, though: for decades, her life has been enriched by horses, and it takes only a few sentences for her to reveal her deep love for the animals around which she’s been for pretty much her whole life.

Her husband Mallory is the farm manager at Gallagher’s Stud, one of New York’s oldest and most storied breeding and racing operations. Located in Ghent and established in 1978, the farm has produced a host of graded stakes winners, including Allez Milord, a grade/group I winner in both England and the U.S.; Rahy’s Appeal, winner of the Grade II Top Flight; and Straight Story, winner of the Grade III Fort Marcy Stakes. More recently, Gallagher’s Stud bred and raced the stakes winner Maximova.

Jerome and Marlene Brody bought the land on which the farm sits in 1976, at first for a Black Angus breeding operation. The Thoroughbreds followed two years later, and the Morts arrived in 1979.

Continue reading at The Daily Gazette