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“Actually, I’m not going to lie,” said another of those horsewomen and horsemen who go about their jobs each day out there.

That is perhaps an even more painful blow to Elizabeth, a dedicated horsewoman who has had entrants in the derby.

From her longtime estate in Upperville, she was a staple of Virginia’s hunt country social scene and a champion horsewoman until leaving the saddle at 85.

“My entire barn is devastated by the news,” Baffert said in a statement, a feeling that echoed back across the decades with other horsemen and horsewomen.

Babst is the daughter of a serious horsewoman who won prizes by demurely riding sidesaddle — and other times appearing in drag as a man.