ARCADIA, Calif. (Feb. 28, 2017) — Funeral services for Mary “Bay” Schiffer, will be held Tuesday, March 7, at 2 p.m. at St. Luke’s Church in Buffalo, Wy. Donations in Mrs. Schiffer’s memory may be made to the Bread of Life Pantry in care of the Harness Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made at www.harnessfuneralhome.com.
Bay Schiffer, matriarch of the family-run The Hat Ranch West in Temecula, passed away on Tuesday, according to her son, California Thoroughbred Breeders Association former president Dan Schiffer. She was 102.
Bay Schiffer, with her husband, Ken, who also was a CTBA president, moved from Wyoming to California in 1967 and established The Hat Ranch West on 23,000 acres, specializing in breaking yearlings.
Among their top horses were Commissary, who won the 1970 Vanity Handicap and 1969 Del Mar Oaks; California-bred multiple stakes winner Double Discount, who held the Santa Anita course record for 1 ¼ miles on turf; and multiple stakes winner Gum, winner of the inaugural California Cup Mile.
Ken Schiffer died of cancer in 1990, but Bay Schiffer continued to breed and race horses and served on the Board of Directors of the California Thoroughbred Foundation and was its Board emeritus. She rode horses until the age of 90.
Ken and Bay Schiffer had five sons and a daughter.