Bozzo, oldest trainer to win a race, dies at 98

Jerry Bozzo, the oldest Thoroughbred trainer to win a race in the history of the sport, died Sunday at the age of 98.

Bozzo surpassed the late Noble Threewitt as the oldest winning trainer when sending out Cotton Tooyah to win at Gulfstream Park on June 3, 2017, at the age of 96. He had already become the oldest trainer to win a stakes race when Flutterby won the Sea Lily at Gulfstream on May 30, 2015.

Cotton Tooyah also gave Bozzo the 218th and final winner of his career when capturing the fifth race at Gulfstream Park on Oct. 11. The win came just two weeks shy of Bozzo’s 98th birthday.

Bozzo, a retired aeronautical engineer, industrialist, and World War II veteran, sold his Pennsylvania bottle-manufacturing company in 1969. He had been breeding and training Thoroughbreds in South Florida since the 1970s and was a mainstay on the backstretch at the old Calder Race Course, now called Gulfstream Park West, for more than 40 years.

“He was a great guy to be around, a real gentleman, we lost another good one when he passed away this week,” said trainer Henry Collazo.

Jockey Luca Panici had considerable success with Bozzo, the pair teaming up to win three stakes with Flutterby in 2015.

“I was more happy for him than for me when we won a race,” Panici said. “Training a horse, having a winner, kept him in good shape. He was always a pleasure to be around. More than business, it was a pleasure just to talk with him and have a conversation in the mornings.”