After 16 years as Audley Farm’s general manager, Jens Von Lepel will retire at the end of this year.
Von Lepel told Middleburg Life (here) that he plans to leave Virginia to return to his native Germany to spend more time with his grandchildren and his adult children.
Audley, a farm which first stamped its name in the racing world’s consciousness in the 1920s when Sir Barton stood sire there, has continued under Von Lepel’s direction to produce top-class horses. Recently, Audley-bred Bodemeister, the 2012 Arkansas Derby winner, finished second in that year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
Von Lepel served as a member of the board of directors of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association until earlier this year, when he and two other members of that board resigned abruptly to protest what they considered an unfair process that led to the firing of longtime executive director Glenn Petty.
Patrick Lawley-Wakin, a former VTA board member, told Middleburg Life, “He is a gentleman of the first order and Virginia will sadly miss him, as will I.”
Also, Virginia Horseracing News has more.
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