Domineering horse owner Calabrese dies; bred and owned champion Dreaming of Anna
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Longtime and prolific horse owner and breeder Frank Calabrese died Monday, Nov. 4 – his birthday – at age 96 in Park Ridge, Ill.
Colorful and bombastic, Calabrese was best known as a perennial leading owner at Arlington Park, but also found success at racing’s highest level. His homebred Dreaming of Anna won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2006, earning championship honors that year, while Calabrese’s Silver Maiden captured the Grade 1 Frizette in 1997. In 1994, Calabrese won the Ohio Derby with Exclusive Praline.
Calabrese, though, just wanted to win races at any level. He landed his first Arlington owners’ title in 2000, starting a streak as leading owner at the late racetrack that lasted through 2010. Calabrese notched an Arlington record 74 winners in 2007, topping 60 at a meet several other years. His win percentages on volume – 38 percent in 2007, as high as 40 percent in other years – were staggering, the result of aggressively spotting horses.
The mercurial Calabrese cycled through more than 15 trainers after getting into the Thoroughbred side of racing in the early 1990s, but Wayne Catalano was his main man. Catalano steered the ship at Arlington, developing talented young horses like Dreaming of Anna while also claiming furiously, working closely with racing manager and bloodstock agent Steve Leving to dominate Arlington racing for more a decade.
Calabrese, who grew up in Chicago, started the highly successful printing company FCL Graphics, opening the doors to horse ownership, which began for Calabrese with Standardbreds before his switch to Thoroughbreds.
After winning 65 Arlington races in 2010, Calabrese decided he’d had enough of Chicago. He had no starters during 2011 at Arlington while shifting his operation mainly to South Florida, where he lived part of the year. Calabrese won five races over the last two calendar years.
He’s survived by his three children - Frank, Carmen, and Lewis - and several grandchildren.
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