Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of former VTA member Hugh Motley. Motley a highly-regarded horseman from Keswick, Va., who started his own bloodstock agency and sold Thoroughbreds at many of America’s top sales, died in Wellington, Fla., on Jan. 9 of complications from pneumonia. He was 60.
Motley began riding as a child when his family moved from Virginia Beach to Keswick when he was 10. For more than 25 years he also had his own business breaking and training yearlings on his family’s Highground Farm near Keswick.
Motley began his Thoroughbred career working for his cousin, L. Clay Camp, who had his own bloodstock agency. Motley and many other young Virginia riders, including horse show legend Rodney Jenkins, also would help Camp show his yearlings at venues up and down the East Coast including the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale.
“Hugh could do pretty much anything when it came to horses,” said lifelong friend John Coles of Middleburg, Va. “We started fox hunting together when we were 10. He was a wonderful horseman, a guy with a great sense of humor, and everybody just loved him.”
Motley served as Master of Fox Hounds for the Keswick Hunt from 2000-05. He also played polo for many years as a member of the Charlottesville Polo Club.
“He was a great rider with a natural seat,” said friend Tommy Lee Jones. “He did a great job as Master at Keswick. People just enjoyed riding with him. He knew how to have a good time, and he was always harder on himself than he was with anybody else.”
Hugh Douglas Camp Motley was born Jan. 30, 1955 in Virginia Beach, the son of Frank Robertson Motley and Caroline Camp Sherman who preceded him in death. He attended the Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va., and graduated from Christ Church School in Richmond before starting his career in the horse business.
Motley was an avid golfer and a voracious reader. He was a member of the Keswick Hunt Club, and a past member of the Keswick Club and Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville. In addition to his farm in Keswick, Motley also spent part of the year living with his family in Wellington.
Motley is survived by his wife of 40 years, Kathleen Buchanan “Winkie” Motley; a daughter, Sheila Camp Motley of Wellingon, (married to Mathew Allen); a sister, Mary Motley Kalergis of Charlottesville; a brother, James Coleman Motley of Salt Lake City, Utah; and a grandson, Collins Camp Allen.
The family requests donations be made in memory of Hugh Motley to two charities: the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation (821 Corporate Drive, Lexington, KY 40503) and the Little Keswick School, P.O. Box 24, Keswick, VA 22947.
Reprinted courtesy of the Bloodhorse.com