Funeral for Hall of Famer Van Berg on Jan. 8

Services for Jack Van Berg, the Hall of Fame trainer who died Wednesday, will be held Jan. 8 in Hot Springs, Ark., according to his son, Tom Van Berg.

The service will be at 2 p.m. Central at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Jack Van Berg died in a Little Rock, Ark., hospital. He had his stable set up at Oaklawn Park, the Hot Springs track that starts its meet Jan. 12.

There will be a visitation at the Caruth-Hale Funeral Home in Hot Springs from 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 8.

Van Berg trained 1988 Horse of the Year Alysheba and won nine national training titles from 1968 to 1986.

“When you go back to the ’70s and ’80s, he was the guy,” said Bill Mott, a Hall of Fame trainer and former assistant to Van Berg. “He was the man, particularly around the Midwest. He was always a force to be reckoned with.”

Van Berg had been battling cancer and congestive heart failure, according to Tom Van Berg. He was 81.

– additional reporting by Marty McGee