Belmont Stakes winning trainer Joseph Cantey passes at 82

Joseph B. Cantey, who trained champion and Belmont Stakes winner Temperence Hill before abruptly retiring and returning to his native Camden, S.C., to excel at other pursuits, died on Jan. 5 of mouth and lung cancer, according to obituaries. Cantey was 82.

Cantey grew up in the horse country of South Carolina, and at the age of 29, in 1970, he took out his trainer’s license. He quickly established himself as a respected horseman, attracting the attention of John Ed Anthony, an Arkansas owner who raced under the name Loblolly Stables.

Spending winters in Hot Springs, Ark., and the remainder of the year in New York, Cantey trained Loblolly’s Cox’s Ridge to wins in the 1978 Metropolitan Mile and seven other graded stakes during a four-year career. Temperence Hill was the next Loblolly star to make his mark under Cantey’s guidance, winning the 1980 Arkansas Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes to be named champion 3-year-old that year.

For owner-breeder John D. March, Cantey also trained Majesty’s Prince, who won five Grade 1s on the New York circuit during a four-year racing career from 1981 to 1984. Majesty’s Prince also won four other graded stakes, for a career record of 12 wins from 42 starts.

According to Equibase records, which began compiling trainer’s statistics in 1976, Cantey had 444 winners from 2,761 starts from 1976-1987, with total purse earnings of $11.8 million.

After winning six races from 60 starts in 1987, Cantey left training and returned to Camden. He soon developed a passion for shooting, and opened a shooting range in 1995. He became a four-time World Champion and two-time National Champion in Sporting Clays, and he was inducted into the National Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame in 2008.

A family obituary noted that his “first and foremost” passion was music, and that he was a “talented trumpeter in addition to the piano, guitar, drums, and other instruments.”

Cantey is survived by his wife, Amy, a daughter, Ashley Anne, and a son Joseph. He was previously married to Charlsie Cantey, the trainer and television broadcaster.

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