By Bloodhorse.com
PALM DESERT, Calif. (Apr. 30, 2020) — Influential racetrack owner and successful owner/breeder Randall Dee “R.D.” Hubbard died April 29 at 84, according to the American Quarter Horse Association.
Born in Smith Center, Kan., in 1935, Hubbard was the youngest of eight children. He worked in his family’s icehouse and attended Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan. He became a teacher after college but soon moved on to become a glass salesman in 1959. Nine years later, he became president of Safelite Auto Glass and by 1978 had formed his company, AFG Industries, which he helped grow into the second-largest glass manufacturer in North America and took private in a $1.1 billion buyout in 1988.
During his first years in the glass business in Kansas, Hubbard and his boss, Art Lankin, became interested in Quarter Horses. They started with show horses but quickly realized racing was a more lucrative venture.
In his own name, he has bred the earners of more than $4.7 million, and owned, bred and raced many more in partnerships. Among the many horses he was involved with are champions Brenda Beautiful, Denim N Diamonds, Feature Mr Bojangles, Ketel Won, My Dashing Lady, Noconi, Stoli and Super Sound Charge.
Hubbard became a prominent Thoroughbred owner/breeder. His top horses included multiple grade 1 winner Gentlemen, who won the Pimlico Special Handicap (G1), Hollywood Gold Cup (G1), and Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) in 1997. He also campaigned alone and with partners the graded stakes winners Puerto Madero, Spring House, Fire the Groom, Fit to Lead, and Leger Cat, among others.
As a breeder, he produced 31 black-type winners, including multiple group 1 winner Stravinsky, grade 1 winner Timely Assertion, six-time graded stakes winner Spring House, and grade 2 winner Cool Conductor. He owned Crystal Springs Farm in Central Kentucky, which is now located in New Mexico.
Hubbard got into racetrack ownership when he bought into Ruidoso Downs in 1988 with partner Dr. Ed Allred, which they immediately reconfigured from five-eighths of a mile to the current seven-eighths-mile configuration. A separate 550-yard chute was added for Quarter Horse racing. Hubbard eventually became the sole owner of Ruidoso until he sold it in 2017. Financial problems at the former Hollywood Park opened the door for Hubbard to take control of the Southern California track in February 1991 and become its president and CEO until 1999, when he sold the track to Churchill Downs. Hubbard also bought Turf Paradise in 1994, built and operated The Woodlands, a dual greyhound and racehorse facility in Kansas City, and headed a group that was awarded the license to build Zia Park in 2003.
Hubbard helped create the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and as a member of NTRA’s board of directors, he co-founded its Racing Integrity and Drug Testing Task Force.
Hubbard and his wife, Joan Dale, founded the R. D. and Joan Dale Hubbard Foundation in 1986; The Shoemaker Foundation, formed in 1991; and the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico.
The R.D. and Joan Dale Hubbard Foundation supports charitable causes for which the two have special regard. To date, the foundation has given more than $25 million to educational scholarships to Hubbard’s alma mater, Butler County Community College; the Shoemaker Foundation; the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America; American Quarter Horse Foundation; projects in poor communities in southeastern New Mexico; medical research; and additional causes.
Hubbard continued to be involved in Quarter Horse racing as well. He served for many years on the AQHA Racing Committee and a term on the AQHA Racing Council.
He was awarded the AQHA Racing Council Lifetime Achievement Award, the AQHA Gordon Crone Special Achievement Award, the Jockey Guild Merit Award, the Horatio Alger Award, the California Equine Retirement Foundation Award of Merit, Galbreath Award by the University of Louisville, and was honored as Man of the Year by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association in 2000.
For his achievements and impact on the industry, Hubbard was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2009.