LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Charlotte Weber was at Churchill Downs 39 years ago when her Live Oak Plantation silks made their Kentucky Derby debut atop a late-running colt named Laser Light. Only the winner, Gato Del Sol, was ahead of Laser Light at the end of the 1982 Derby. “It was the happiest second of my life,” Weber recalled recently from her home near Ocala, Fla. “I remember it well. It was an exhilarating race. We were kind of lugging behind and I thought, ‘Oh well, we don’t stand a snowball’s chance.’ And here he came, a-loping along. And it was thrilling.” After three more Derby starters that didn’t fare as well in the intervening years, Weber, now 78, will be back Saturday at Churchill for a fifth try at the roses. Soup and Sandwich, a speedy homebred, will carry the familiar red, white, and black of Live Oak in the 147th Derby. With just three prior starts, the Florida-bred colt will be one of the longer shots in the field, but Weber is undeterred. “We think he’s legitimate,” said Weber, a longtime member of The Jockey Club widely known for her philanthropy and patronage of the arts. “The fact he’s so lightly raced does concern me, and this will be the most courageous race he will have to run. But we didn’t enter thinking we don’t have a good shot.” Weber is an heiress to the Campbell’s Soup fortune, so Soup and Sandwich comes by his curious name naturally. The gray colt is by the red-hot sire, Into Mischief, out of Souper Scoop, by Tapit. “We’ve been on a bit of a ‘Souper’ kick in naming some of our horses the last few years,” Weber said. “This one, a little bit of ‘Mischief,’ you know, we were just playing around, thinking the name was cute and catchy and fun.” Weber’s grandfather, John T. Dorrance, invented condensed soup in the late 19th century before building Campbell’s into one of the world’s foremost food brands. Weber, born and raised in the Philadelphia area, was a director of the company from 1990 to 2014, all the while spending much of her time building her own iconic brand in Thoroughbred racing and breeding while living primarily on the 4,500-acre Live Oak property she and her former husband, Dr. John Weber, purchased from Peter Widener III in 1968. The Webers, divorced in 1996, had four children and now have 10 grandchildren. :: Get DRF Clocker Reports for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks cards to access exclusive insights from morning training Prior to 1996, the Live Oak horses won Grade 1 races with standouts such as Sultry Song and Solar Splendor, but the stable was not as nationally prominent and ubiquitous as it has become over the past quarter-century, when homebreds such as Miesque’s Approval (2006) and World Approval (2017) both captured the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Since 1996, Live Oak has won more than 1,000 races, having passed that milestone sometime earlier this year; some of the other more accomplished runners include My Typhoon, To Honor and Serve, Awesome Slew, and Win Win Win. Employing nearly a dozen trainers during that span, Weber began using Mark Casse about eight years ago. Casse is the trainer of Soup and Sandwich, whose racing record consists of a January maiden win, a February allowance win, and a runner-up finish in the March 27 Florida Derby. “My dad [Norm Casse, who died in 2016] was a very dear friend of Mrs. Weber’s,” said Casse, “so it probably was a good idea that I not train for her, in case something went wrong. But it’s been wonderful to work for her. There aren’t many people in the game like Mrs. Weber.” “She loves her horses, absolutely,” said Casse assistant David Carroll. “She’ll text or call me quite a bit asking for details. She knows the ins and outs of the game and takes bad news as good as anybody. The most important thing is she always does what’s best for her horses.” :: DRF's Kenucky Derby Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, past performances, analysis, and more “I’m a realist,” Weber said. “I know things can happen. I try to be as grown up as I can be, not emotional,” adding quickly with a chuckle: “Then after it’s all over I probably have my emotional tantrum.” Weber intends to fly privately from Florida with family and friends on Derby morning before enjoying what she hopes will be the pinnacle of a lifetime in racing. “It’d be so special to win the Kentucky Derby with a homebred,” she said. “Probably my greatest thrill in racing was when Miesque’s Approval won the Breeders’ Cup there at Churchill. This would top that, I’m sure.”