Early life

He was born in 1901.^[1] His father Daniel committed suicide ^{[citation needed]} when he was only fourteen years old.^[1] He attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he roomed with George Swinebroad.^[1]

He spent a year in Guatemala working for Herbert F. Schlubach at the South American Plantation Company and contracted malaria there.^[1] Mr. Schlubach was married to his aunt ^{[citation needed]}, Annette Combs Schlubach. He returned to Kentucky and worked for the American Rolling Mill Company in Ashland.^[1] He moved to Huntington, West Virginia and started his own business, the Combs-Ritter Insurance Company.

Horsebreeding

In 1937, he bought 127 acres in Lexington from Daniel Swigert and called it Spendthrift Farm in honor of Spendthift.^[1] Together with his uncle Brownwell Combs, he owned Myrtle Charm and Myrtlewood.^[1] He was also the breeder of Majestic Prince, later owned by Frank M. McMahon.^[2] Later, he advised Elizabeth Arden (1884–1966) of Maine Chance Farm about which horses to purchase, including Star Pilot, Beaugay, Jet Pilot, etc.^[1] He also revitalized the syndication of racehorses, buying Nashua through a syndication for US$1.25 million.^[3]

Personal life

He married Dorothy Enslow, daughter of the founder of the Columbia Gas and Electric Company, in 1924.^[1] He died in 1990.^[4]

Secondary sources

• Mary Marshall, Great Breeders and Their Methods: Leslie Combs II and Spendthrift Farm (Neenah, Wisconsin: Russell Meerdink Co., 2008, 178 pages).^[5]