Billionaires Behind Kentucky Derby Track Revamp Family Office
(Bloomberg) -- The Chicago-based dynasty known for its ties to the Churchill Downs racetrack and a recent $5 billion deal with Blackstone Inc. has revamped its family office’s leadership.
Craig Duchossois, 79, stepped down in recent weeks as executive chairman of the billionaire family’s namesake investment firm, with his daughter Ashley Joyce assuming the chairman role, according to the company’s website. Former Chief Operating Officer Rich Naski was named Duchossois Capital Management’s chief executive officer, replacing Michael Flannery, who spent almost a decade in the position.
A representative for the Duchossois family didn’t respond to requests for comment. The family’s wealth was previously valued at more than $2 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
150th Kentucky Derby
The changes mark a generational shift in a family known for its varied interests in business, sports, politics and philanthropy, particularly in Chicago. The Duchossois clan was formerly the largest shareholder of Churchill Downs Inc., owner of the racetrack famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby, but has been selling shares back to the company. The Duchossois Group also sold Chamberlain Group to Blackstone in a 2021 deal valuing the maker of garage-door openers at about $5 billion.
“I am thrilled about this next chapter,” Craig Duchossois, now executive chairman emeritus, said in a LinkedIn post last month. “DCM is strategically positioned.”
Joyce, 48, is a third-generation Duchossois who has been involved in executive roles overseeing her family’s fortune for more than a decade. In 2022, she became chair of the Duchossois Family Foundation, whose assets totaled about $158 million at the end of that year.
The foundation gave to a number of local schools, museums and causes including the University of Chicago, the Field Museum, a Chicago food bank and a network of Chicago-area after-school programs called After School Matters.
Craig’s father Dick Duchossois, a Republican Party donor and well-known figure in American horse racing, founded his family’s namesake business empire. The origins of their wealth stretch back to the 1950s, when Dick, a decorated World War II veteran, returned to the US. He joined his wife’s family’s rail car business, Thrall Car Manufacturing, where he became CEO and expanded the company.
On a trip to the 1983 Kentucky Derby he met two former executives from Arlington International Racecourse, who convinced him to join a syndicate to buy the racetrack, Duchossois recounted in a 2014 interview with BloodHorse. Churchill Downs went on to acquire Arlington in 2000, and Duchossois remained a major shareholder in the combined company. He died at age 100 in 2022.
Launched in 2013, Duchossois Capital Management has more than a dozen staff and invests in private equity, real estate and equities. David Jallits, a former Cambridge Associates executive, is chief investment officer, while former CEO Flannery is now serving as a senior adviser to the firm.
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