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| Bob Holthus |
Stats Updated Through: 11/19/2009
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| 2009 Stats: | | Starts | | 104 | | 1st-2nd-3rd | | 18-16-15 | | Earnings (Rank) | | $1,472,736 (131) | | Win % (In-The-Money %) | | 17% (47%) |
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Biography and Highlights:
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- Born: June 24, 1934, Table Rock, Neb.
- Residence: Maintains homes in Royal, Ark., and Louisville, Ky.
- Family: wife, Bonnie; sons, David and Paul; daughter, Debbie
- Racing Background: Bob Holthus learned the art and science of training from his father, Paul, who bought his first horse the year Bob was born and raced on the Nebraska and other Midwest circuits ... Also credits Bryan Wise, with whom he spent time in the early 1960s, and C.O. Viar, who offered Holthus his first real opportunity to build a public stable with claiming horses
- Racing Career: Bob Holthus is based at Churchill Downs and has about 36 horses in training; assistant is Elizabeth Couch; his daughter, Debbie, is his bookkeeper ... Races primarily at Oaklawn in the winter, in Kentucky and Chicago the remainder of the year ... Saddled his first winner in 1952 at Columbus Racetrack in Columbus, Nebraska ... Built a solid reputation as a successful claiming trainer and in recent decades gained national prominence ... First "big horse" was multiple Grade 1 winner Proper Reality, bred and raced in the late 1980s by longtime client James Winn Jr., now deceased, in the name of his wife, Juanita ... Proper Reality was fourth in the 1988 Kentucky Derby at odds of 27-1 … All-time leading trainer at Oaklawn Park, where he has raced every season since 1953 and holds the record for most training titles with nine … Also has won titles at Arlington Park, Detroit Race Course, Ellis Park, Hawthorne Race Course, Louisiana Downs, and Turfway Park … Calls Proper Reality and Lawyer Ron his favorite horses because "they both won the Arkansas Derby and made over $1 million." Also trained several sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters of Proper Reality, including stakes winners Mama's Pro, Pro Prado, Proper Prado, Proper Banner, and Proper Performer, all bred and some raced by the Winns ... Lawyer Ron was one of his five Kentucky Derby starters to date, finishing 12th in 2006 ... Other recent stable stars include graded stakes winners Officer Rocket, Level Playingfield, Greater Good, and Pure Clan ... Multiple graded stakes winner Pure Clan, whom the trainer calls the best filly he's ever trained, joined the Holthus millionaire ranks in 2008 with her win in the G1 American Oaks ... Following a win in the G3 Modesty Handicap, a third in the G1 Bevery D. Stakes, and a victory in the G1 Flower Bowl Invitational, she will try to improve on her 10th place finish in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf ... Pure Clan is Holthus's second Breeders' Cup starter; Potentiality finished off the board in the 1990 Sprint. (Lawyer Ron was transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher a month before the colt's seventh-place finish in the 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic) ... Through Oct. 1, 2009, had won more than 2,800 races and purse earnings of nearly $45 million ... Equineline.com records 143 blacktype wins from 1976 through Oct. 1, 2009. Holthus was inducted into the Arkansas Walk of Fame in Hot Springs National Park in 2000 … When asked if he ever has thoughts about retiring Holthus said, "Not really. I have had health issues in recent years but I am healthy and will stay around as long as people keep hiring me."
- Breeding/Racing Operation: Holthus owns Kilkerry Farm in Royal, Ark. where he stands Skeet, whose first crop are 2-year-olds; Sea Prince, who will began his stud career this year, A. V. Eight, Explosive Truth, Proudest Romeo, and Stark Ridge. Proper Reality, now 24 years old, retired to Old Friends Farm in Georgetown, Ky. in Aug. 2009.
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NOTE: Stats include North American and selected international races. Click here to view selected international race list.
Biographies on jockeys, trainers and owners are from the Breeders' Cup World Championships events from 2001 through 2009, and are intended as informational resources. Biographies will be updated if an individual is again a participant in the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
Biographies are available for most horses appearing in the top 100 money earnings list, and/or for those who are frequently making headlines in the news starting with the 2006 Triple Crown season.
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