REMEMBERING TRACY JOHNSON MULROY: A Life of Courage, Compassion and Family Legacy

The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association joins the Johnson family and the racing community in mourning Tracy Johnson Mulroy, who died peacefully in early November, surrounded by family and close friends. She was 58.

Tracy was the daughter of the late R. Larry Johnson, MTHA’s former vice president and a longtime leading Maryland owner and breeder whose influence on the state’s Thoroughbred industry was enormous. Alongside her sister, Kelly Caraballo, Tracy helped carry that legacy forward, continuing the family’s Legacy Farm in Bluemont, Virginia, and its racing and breeding operation following their father’s death in 2025.

For Tracy, racing was much more than a family business. It was a connection across generations, beginning with her great-grandfather and shared by her grandfather, father and sister. Among the sisters’ treasured childhood memories were Saturday nights at Charles Town, watching the final race in their pajamas from the roof of the family car. Continuing their father’s operation gave them a way to honor those memories while creating new ones with the horses and the sport he loved.

“Tracy was a special person, and it has meant so much to work with the Johnson family over the years,” said longtime family trainer Mike Trombetta. “She and Kelly brought so much heart to carrying on what Larry built. Their love for their father and their horses was always at the center of it. Tracy will be deeply missed, and our hearts are with Kelly and the entire family.”

Born October 9, 1968, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Tracy grew up in Montgomery County. She graduated from Holy Child in 1986 and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Franklin & Marshall College in 1990. She began her career as an economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, working on the Consumer Price Index, while pursuing her legal education through Georgetown University Law Center’s evening program. She graduated magna cum laude.

Tracy brought the same intelligence and determination to her advocacy that she had brought to her education and career. Born with osteogenesis imperfecta, she challenged assumptions about what people with disabilities could accomplish and devoted herself to improving opportunities and care for others.

She served on the board of the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation and helped establish the Jamie Kendall Fund for OI Adult Health in 2016 in memory of a close friend. She chaired the fund, served as the Foundation’s Adult Health Initiative Community Chair, and helped develop its Adult Health Toolkit. In 2018, she received the Foundation’s President’s Award for her work establishing the fund. She also helped organize its Fine Wines Strong Bones gala for many years.

Her commitment to helping others extended to mindfulness meditation. Tracy became a certified mindfulness meditation teacher in 2023 and taught within the disability community, emphasizing kindness, gentle attention and acceptance.

Through her advocacy, teaching and devotion to her family, Tracy leaves a legacy of her own, one rooted in compassion, perseverance and a desire to make life better for others.

She is survived by her children, Reece and Laura Mulroy; her mother, Nita Johnson; her sister, Kelly Caraballo, and brother-in-law, Arturo Caraballo; her nieces, Isabella and Olivia Caraballo, and nephew, Alex Caraballo; and extended family, friends, students and fellow advocates.

The MTHA extends its heartfelt condolences to the Johnson and Mulroy families and all who knew and loved Tracy.

Memorial service and reception arrangements will be shared when available. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Tracy’s memory to the Jamie Kendall Fund for OI Adult Health.