Former trainer Ralph Biszantz succumbs to cancer at age 78

Former trainer Ralph Biszantz, the younger brother of prominent owner and breeder Gary Biszantz, died Tuesday in Ocala, Fla., after a brief bout with cancer. He was 78.

Biszantz was largely based in California during his training career. His last starter was in 2012 in Florida, where he lived for most of the past decade.

His stakes winners included French import Le Silencieux, owned in partnership with his brother, who won the restricted Don’t Alibi Stakes at Santa Anita in his United States debut in 1996, and the filly Mayflower Lass, who won Misshigh Andmighty Handicap at Golden Gate in 1991.

In 1990, his Courtesy Title finished second in the Grade 3 Bay Meadows Derby to Sekondi, who was owned by his brother.

“He was a good guy,” said Gary Biszantz, 86, a former chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association who lives in Lexington, Ky., at his Cobra Farm. “Never smoked, drank, or did drugs.”

Ralph Biszantz was divorced after a brief marriage decades ago and never re-married. His brother is his only survivor.

Gary Biszantz said donations in Ralph’s name can be made to Tranquility Farm, a retirement sanctuary in California for ex-racehorses that is named in honor of Harry Biszantz, Ralph and Gary’s father.