Madeleine A. Pickens

Madeleine Pickens

Pickens (4th from left) at a ribbon-cutting for a 2008 grand opening at the Naval Medical Center San Diego
Born (1947-03-05) March 5, 1947
Kirkuk, Iraq[1][2][3]
Other names Madeleine Farris,[4] Madeleine Paulson, Madeleine Richter, Madeleine A. Baker
Occupation Racehorse owner and breeder
Spouse(s) include Allen E. Paulson (1988-2000) and T. Boone Pickens (2005-2012)
Children Dominique Richter
Honors

Madeleine A. Pickens (born March 5, 1947 in Kirkuk, Iraq)[5] is an Iraqi[1][2][3] woman best known for being the former wife of American billionaires Allen E. Paulson for two years, and later T. Boone Pickens.[6]

Pickens was married to Allen Paulson from 1988 until his death in 2000. She battled over his estate until 2007.[6]

In 2005, she married Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens. They divorced in 2012.[1]

She owns the Del Mar Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California.[6]

Biography

Earlier in her life, Pickens modeled and worked as a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines before going into business for herself, providing cabin service crews for corporate jets and special charter flights. She moved to Marina del Rey, California, United States in the 1970s.

She has a daughter, Dominique Richter, born 1980.[7]

She is also a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder. She owns the National Wild Horse Foundation.

In 1988, she married Gulfstream Aerospace founder, Allen E. Paulson. Paulson introduced her to Thoroughbred horse racing. While her husband owned several superstar horses such as U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Cigar, Pickens owned show jumping horses and thoroughbreds competing in flat racing. She notably won the 1992 Breeders' Cup Turf with Fraise, the 1997 Prix Foy with Yokohama at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, and the 2005 Santa Anita Handicap with Rock Hard Ten. A friend of Jenny Craig, the two owned Rock and Roll who won the 1998 Pennsylvania Derby and ran in the Kentucky Derby.[8] Pickens also raced Dominique's Joy, named for her daughter.

In his 2003 book, Legacies of the Turf noted race historian Edward L. Bowen wrote that it was rumored that Pickens traded Cigar to husband Allen for the filly, Eliza, the 1992 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and that year's Eclipse Award winner as American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. In a 1996 interview with the New York Times, Pickens recounted the story.[9]

In 2005, Pickens provided funding to allow Old Friends Equine to purchase Fraise and multiple Grade One winner Ogygian from their Japanese owners and bring them back to retirement at the Old Friends facility in Georgetown, Kentucky. Following her marriage to Boone Pickens, the couple led the fight to close the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States. Their work resulted in the passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act by the United States House of Representatives. In recognition of their efforts, in 2007 Madeleine and Boone Pickens received the Equine Advocates' Safe Home Equine Protection Award.[10]

After the Bureau of Land Management announced in 2008 that the United States government was considering animal euthanasia or selling more than 30,000 wild mustangs to slaughterhouses overseas, Pickens announced plans to develop a one million acre (4,000 km²) sanctuary for the horses.[11] However, it ended up being a resort called Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Resort in Wells, Nevada instead of an animal sanctuary.[12] Pickens was named Person of the Week by ABC News after her announcement that she would make a sanctuary, on September 13, 2008.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/t-boone-and-madeleine-pickens’-super-sad-true-divorce-story
  2. 1 2 http://www.cfr.org/united-states/conversation-t-boone-pickens/p18621
  3. 1 2 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB118075292694922357
  4. ↑ November 1976 feature article on Madeleine Farris in Black Belt magazine
  5. ↑ Dunham, Jillian (1 May 2009). "Former Owner of Racehorses Now Works to Save Them". The New York Times.
  6. 1 2 3 http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0512/062.html
  7. ↑ http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040902/news_7m2bell.html
  8. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jun/01/sports/sp-horse1
  9. ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E2D71738F930A35752C1A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
  10. ↑ http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/37435/t-boone-pickens-madeleine-pickens-to-receive-equine-advocates-award
  11. ↑ http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2084328,00.html
  12. ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2013/12/20/nevada-sanctuary-for-wild-mustangs-opens-to-tourists/
  13. ↑ http://abcnews.go.com/WN/PersonOfWeek/story?id=6307278
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