East Coast trainer Edwin Broome dead at 71

Edwin Broome, who trained in the mid-Atlantic and Florida for nearly four decades, died on Monday at his home in Hallandale Beach, Fla., according to a family member. Broome was 71.

Though Broome only trained a handful of stakes winners, he consistently posted strong winning percentages, especially in a 20-year run from the early 1990s through the first decade of the new millennium. He topped the $1 million mark in annual earnings 10 times in that span, while hovering around a 20 percent win rate.

Broome typically kept a small stable, around 20-30 horses at a time, and often laid his horses up if they were dealing with physical issues. He often held on to good fillies and mares to breed them after their racing careers were over.

Broome started out on the backstretch working for his godfather, the trainer Carl Auwarter, but left racing for a decade in order to earn enough money to play at the claiming game. He took out his trainer’s license in 1985.

For his entire career, Broome won 1,242 races from 7,137 starts, a lifetime 17 percent win rate. His total purse earnings were just shy of $25 million.