A funeral was held on Sunday for Herb Moelis, who has bred, raced and sold horses for five decades at the CandyLand Ranch he founded in Middletown, Delaware. He is 91 years old and recently suffered a bout of pneumonia as a complication of his years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Known for his passion for sports, fervent nature, and quiet, steadfast generosity, Moelis helped found the Thoroughbred Charity of America (TCA), which since 1997 has raised nearly 10 million dollars to more than 125 racehorse-related charities.
Mike Palmer, who for over 30 years worked his way from farm worker to CandyLand general manager to being Moelis’ business partner in various blood donation efforts, confirmed his details. died on October 6 in a phone interview on Monday, noting that Moelis passed away “Extremely peacefully” at his home on the farm grounds.
“He was a friend and a mentor. I wanted to call him my ‘master’, but what I did for Mr. Moelis didn’t work out,” Palmer said. he wouldn’t want me to call him ‘Mr. Moelis.’ He always wanted me to call him Herb. He never thought he was better than anyone else. He was just a man’s man. A real gentleman, just what he was.
“He walked to the barn with his dogs, half a mile every day for 30 years, just to check in,” Palmer said. “And me and him will talk. Mainly the horses, mating, work needs to be done. But a lot of times, we just talk about life, for hours. He’s one of those people where the horse can win 17 lengths or lose 17 lengths and he will feel the same way. He just plays very low and nothing gets him excited. “
Hailing from New York, Herbert Irwin Moelis graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1953, then earned a law degree and diploma in taxation from New York University Law School in 1956. According to his TCA biography, Moelis established Worked as a certified public accountant and tax attorney for 30 years, quit and moved to Delaware in 1986.
Fulfilling a longtime dream of horse racing, Moelis and his wife, Ellen, began breeding Thoroughbred stallions from a group of about 20, racing some and auctioning others.
According to a TCA biography, in 1988, Moelises asked a chubby 2-year-old girl named Redeemer for $20,000 because she was a descendant of her influential father La Troienne. Redeemer injured herself in a boating accident soon after and was retired, but she produced a Houston pony, who was the best-selling pony in the 1993 Saratoga sale. CandyLand was also a pony. element that has regularly topped the list of top sellers at Timonium for the past few decades.
Racing under the name Candy Stable and in various partnerships, Moelises has lobbied for equity winners such as Cat Be Nimble, Does Six, Shapely Scrapper, Dr. Unright, Time To Dream, Five Star Vice and Scary Bob.
In addition to TCA, Herb and Ellen founded the Moelis Family Foundation, which is involved in funding charities related to medical research, animal welfare, and children’s causes.
Palmer details to TDN how his relationship with Moelis almost became a kind of “father-son” attachment.
After Palmer worked for Moelis for about 10 years, the founder of CandyLand emphasized to Palmer how important it was for him to leave Palmer with the horses on his 160-acre estate 24/7. To do that, Moelis gave Palmer a piece of land on the farm to build a house for his family, Moelis paid to design and build the house.
“I mean, who does that, right?” Palmer said. “I had to pinch myself when he suggested it to me.”
Palmer would then run his own Thoroughbred venture, DreamTime Stables, on that very land, always adding “at CandyLand” on his sign when selling out of respect for Moelis and the ranch’s good reputation.
“Sundays are tough,” Palmer said of Moelis services. “His death was not a surprise, but I don’t know if I agree with it. But I see that Herb is no longer tired. He fought for as long as he could, and I think he may have fought a little too hard in my personal opinion – but that’s just me knowing him. “
