Owner-trainer Cappuccitti dies at age 66

Keith McCalmont

Trainer Audre Cappuccitti poses with stakes winner Joey's Best.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Audre Cappuccitti, a prominent trainer, owner, and breeder in Ontario, died in Mississauga’s Trillium Health Centre on Monday at age 75.

Cappuccitti had been battling health problems of undetermined origin for more than a month.

After racing horses with other trainers, including Bronze Basque in 1993 with Vito Armata, Cappuccitti took out her own license in 1996 and saddled 26 winners that year.

Her winners included the 5-year-old Deputy Inxs, who had been trained previously by Gail Cheyne and the late Glen Buttigieg.

Deputy Inxs, owned by Cappuccitti in partnership with her husband, Gordon, would go on to become the trainer’s first stakes winner in the 1997 Steady Growth and added 10 more stakes victories before retiring in 2001.

Canada’s champion sprinter in 1998, Deputy Inxs followed up with titles in both the sprinter and older horse divisions following a campaign in which he won both the Grade 3 Vigil at seven furlongs and the Grade 3 Durham Cup at 1 1/8 miles.

Deputy Inxs retired in 2001 with a record of 17 wins, including 10 stakes, 11 seconds, and 14 thirds for earnings of $790,559.

More recently, Cappuccitti had campaigned Essence Hit Man, who has won seven stakes and more than $1.1 million and was Canada’s champion sprinter of 2011.

Essence Hit Man is scheduled to run as the favorite in Sunday’s Kennedy Road Stakes.

Bred and owned by Audre and Gordon Cappuccitti, Essence Hit Man is a homebred out of El Prado Essence, who won six stakes and 10 races during a career in which she earned $890,261.

Audre Cappuccitti had a soft spot for grey and roan horses, and her stakes winners of those colors included Danzigs Silver, Euro Platinum, and one of her personal favorites, Woofy.

She also recorded stakes victories with American in Paris, Dalavin, Dream Launcher, Joey’s Best, Ocean Front, and Ocean Squall.

During her career, Cappuccitti conditioned the winners of 35 stakes and 537 races. Her charges also ran second 552 times and third 592 times for earnings of $19 million from 5,006 starts.

Visitation will be at Lynett’s Funeral Home, 3299 Dundas St. West, from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday.

The funeral will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 72 Mansfield Ave., Toronto.

Cappuccitti’s survivors include her husband and sons, Vincent and Larry.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly had Audre Cappuccitti's age as 66. She was 75.