Lou Cavalaris Jr.

Last updated
Lou Cavalaris Jr.
Occupation Racehorse trainer
Born Hamilton, Ohio, United States
Died Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
Resting place Park Lawn Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario
Career wins2004
Major racing wins
Summer Stakes (1958, 1966)

Highlander Stakes (1959, 1964, 1969, 1977)
King Edward Stakes
(1959, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1976, 1978)
Seaway Stakes (1959, 1967, 1968)
Dominion Day Stakes (1964, 1966, 1975)
Victoria Stakes (1964, 1966)
Valedictory Stakes
(1964, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1994)
Vigil Stakes
(1964, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974)
Achievement Stakes (1965, 1966, 1971)
Autumn Stakes
(1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972)
Marine Stakes (1965, 1967, 1970, 1972)
Queenston Stakes (1965, 1972)
Seagram Cup Stakes (1965, 1970)
Swynford Stakes (1965, 1966)
Toronto Cup Stakes (1965, 1966)
Connaught Cup Stakes
(1966, 1968, 1969, 1971)
Coronation Futurity Stakes (1966, 1967)
Cup and Saucer Stakes (1966, 1967)
Durham Cup Stakes (1966)
Niagara Handicap
(1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1976)
Jockey Club Cup Handicap
(1966, 1974, 1975, 1990)
Wonder Where Stakes (1966, 1970)
Jacques Cartier Stakes
(1967, 1968, 1974, 1975)
Nassau Stakes (1967, 1969)
Vandal Stakes (1967)
Whimsical Stakes (1967)
E. P. Taylor Stakes (1968, 1969, 1970)
Wood Memorial Stakes (1968)
Nearctic Stakes (1973, 1974)
La Prevoyante Stakes (1990)

Contents

Canadian Triple Crown race wins:
Breeders' Stakes (1970, 1974)
Racing awards
Canadian Champion trainer by wins:
(1966, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973)
U.S. Champion Thoroughbred Trainer by wins (1966)
Sovereign Award for Outstanding Trainer (1976)
Honours
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (1995)
Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame (2006)
Significant horses
Cool Reception, Dancer's Image, Ice Water

Louis C. "Lou" Cavalaris Jr. (January 30, 1924 - May 2, 2013) was an American-born trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and who for ten years was a highly respected racing secretary for the Ontario Jockey Club. [1]

Background

Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Cavalaris served in the US Merchant Marine in World War II. Thereafter he became a short-order cook. Following that he worked in Detroit on the backstretch. In 1960 he became a Canadian citizen. He was married to Helen and they had two sons together, Michael and Louis. At the time of his passing he was living in Etobicoke and had a granddaughter Julia.

Career highlights

In 1946, Cavalaris took out his trainer's license, working with his father, who had a couple of horses in Detroit. In the mid-1960s, he ran Canada's most powerful public stable. He led Canadian trainers in wins in 1966 (although that was a tie), 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973 (also a tie), and 1976. In 1966, Cavalaris led North American trainers with 175 winners.[ citation needed ]

Some of Cavalaris' most noteworthy clients were Allen Case, Peter D. Fuller, George R. Gardiner, Margaret Seitz, and Joan Reid. [2] Among the most famous horses he trained were Cool Reception, Henry Tudor, Ice Water, and Victorian Era. He was also the trainer of Dancer's Image, who won the 1968 Kentucky Derby on the track but was disqualified two days later due to testing positive for traces of the pain-killer phenylbutazone, a substance later made legal by the Kentucky Racing Commission. [3]

In 1969, Cavalaris became Gardiner's exclusive trainer. In 1976, he directed Gardiner to record earnings of $639,816 (over $100,000 more than the previous record in Canada that Cavalaris also set). This was one of eight money-winning titles in the space of 11 years. Other famous winners he trained were Arctic Blizzard, Carney's Point, Chatty Cavalier, Double Quill, Haymaker's Jig, James Bay, Mary of Scotland, Monte Christo II, Orbiter, Plegada, Prompt Hero, The Knack II, Two Violins, Vindent de Paul, and Yukon Eric. His last winner, in June 1996, was Major Pots, owned by Gardiner.

Cavalaris had a place on the Breeders' Cup Selection Committee, the Ontario Racing Commission's Board of Appeals, and the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award committee. [4]

Retirement

Cavalaris turned in his trainer's license in 1978. At that point he became the Ontario Jockey Club's racing secretary for a decade. Following that he went back to training. And in 1996 he retired once more.

Awards and recognition

In 1976, Cavalaris won the Sovereign Award as outstanding trainer. In 2006, he was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame and in 1995 the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was hailed as North America's leading trainer.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy Hawley</span> Canadian jockey

Desmond Sandford "Sandy" Hawley, is a Canadian Hall of Fame jockey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Longden</span> American horse trainer and jockey (1907–2003)

John Eric "Johnny" Longden was an American Hall of Fame and National Champion jockey and a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England. His father emigrated to Canada in 1909, settling in Taber, Alberta.

Ángel Tomás Cordero Jr. is one of the leading Thoroughbred horse racing jockeys of the late 20th-century and the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the United States' Racing Hall of Fame. He led all jockeys in wins at Saratoga Race Course for thirteen years. Cordero rode three Kentucky Derby winners and won over 6000 races in his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James G. Rowe Sr.</span> American jockey and horse trainer

James Gordon Rowe Sr. was an American jockey and horse trainer elected to the Hall of Fame for Thoroughbred Horse racing. He won the Belmont Stakes twice as a jockey and 8 times as a trainer. He had 34 champion horses to his credit, more than any other trainer in the Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Atkinson</span> Canadian-born American jockey

Theodore Frederick Atkinson was a Canadian-born American thoroughbred horse racing jockey, inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame</span>

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 to honour those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and Thoroughbred horse racing in Canada. It is located at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Loftus</span> American jockey (1895–1976)

John Patrick Loftus was an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey.

Braulio Baeza is an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey and one of the master Thoroughbred jockeys of our time. In 1963, he was the first Latin American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. Baeza began his racing career in 1955 in Panama at Hipodromo Juan Franco, and in March 1960, was invited to Miami, Florida to ride under contract for Owner/Trainer, Fred Hooper. He rode his first race in the US in the first race on Keeneland's opening day, 1960, and won it on Foolish Youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John R. Velazquez</span> Puerto Rican jockey

John R. Velazquez is a Puerto Rican jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He began his career in Puerto Rico and moved to New York in 1990. In 2004 and 2005 he was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings and both years was given the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. He was inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2012, rode his 5,000th winner in 2013, and became the leading money-earning jockey in the history of the sport in 2014.

Sunny's Halo was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1983 Kentucky Derby. In 1986, Sunny's Halo was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Cool Reception (1964–1967) is a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. During his two-year-old racing season, trainer Carl Chapman retired and the colt's conditioning was taken over by Lou Cavalaris, Jr.

Runaway Groom (1979–2007) was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Asmussen</span> American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer

Steven Mark Asmussen is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The leading trainer in North America by wins, he is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. His horses have won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, Breeders' Cup Distaff, Kentucky Oaks and Dubai World Cup.

Charles Thomas Fisher was an American businessman and an automotive pioneer.

Gil H. Rowntree is a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner.

Harvey Guy Bedwell was an American Hall of Fame trainer and owner of Thoroughbredracehorses who was the first trainer to win the U.S. Triple Crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Saunders (jockey)</span> Canadian jockey

William "Smokey" Saunders was a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing and won the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing on Omaha in 1935. News reports in Saunders’ lifetime used both the nicknames “Willie” and “Smokey.”

Edward C. Hayward was a Canadian-born trainer in American Thoroughbred horse racing best known for winning the 1953 Kentucky Derby in which his colt Dark Star defeated Native Dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan H. Parke</span> American horse trainer and jockey

Ivan Harris Parke was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse racing jockey and trainer who won more races than any other jockey in the United States in 1923, as an apprentice, and again in 1924 when he also was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings. Parke trained the 1945 Kentucky Derby winner, Hoop Jr. and Jewel's Reward to 1957 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark E. Casse</span> American racehorse trainer

Mark E. Casse is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer whose most notable horses include 2015 American champion turf mare Tepin and Canadian Horses of the Year Sealy Hill (2007), Uncaptured (2012), Lexie Lou (2014), Catch A Glimpse (2015) and Wonder Gadot. He has won thirteen Sovereign Awards for outstanding trainer in Canada and has been the leading trainer at Woodbine Racetrack 14 times. In 2019, he won his first American Classic with War of Will in the Preakness Stakes.

References

  1. Tallon, Bill. "Lou Cavalaris Jr., Canadian Hall of Fame trainer, dead at 89". DRF. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  2. "Lou Cavalaris Jr". Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  3. Tallon, Bill. "Lou Cavalaris Jr., Canadian Hall of Fame trainer, dead at 89". DRF. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  4. Staff, Star. "Obituary: Trainer Lou Cavalaris Jr. dominated Canadian horse racing in '60s and '70". The Star. Retrieved 20 January 2015.

Further reading