Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel Dead

Anne — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:15:10 +0000

I heard this morning that one of the great trainers – Bobby Frankel died peacefully early this morning at his Pacific Palisades, California home. Bobby had been battling leukemia for some time. Our condolences go out to the family he has left behind.

He had been a top trainer for more than 40 years, beginning as an assistant to the then prominent New York trainer, Buddy Jacobson. He then began in his own right by claiming horses in New York, before moving to California. In 1972, Bobby Frankel became the talk of the horse racing world, by winning a record 60 races at Hollywood Park

Over the years he built up a barn with the emphasis very much on quality over quantity, succeeding in winning at least one Grade 1 race every year from 1988 through present time. He was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame In 1995 and was a five-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer. He was an avid follower of the training techniques of the late and great Charlie Whittingham.

Some of his best horses include Squirtle Squirt, his first Breeders’ Cup winner; Skimming 2-Time Winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic; Sightseek, winner of the Humana Distaff (gr. I) and Ogden Phipps Handicap (gr. I); triple grade I winner; Empire Maker, victor of the Belmont Stakes (gr. I); multiple Grade I winning Peace Rules; two-time Santa Anita H. (gr. I) winner Milwaukee Brew; and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. I) winner Starine, whom he also owned; and Ghostzapper, the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) winner who was voted the 2004 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.

He has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Old Friends Retirement Home, the Grayson Foundation, and CANTER, an organization established to find homes for retired racehorses.

Partners In Thoroughbreds » Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel Dead

Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel Dead