Grade 1-winning trainer Richard DeStasio dead at 94

Richard T. DeStasio, who trained multiple Grade 1 winners during his career, died Thursday at his home in Coconut Creek, Fla., at the age of 94, after a battle with dementia.

Among the top horses DeStasio trained were Silver Supreme, who, in 1982, won the Grade 1 Brooklyn and Grade 2 Massachusetts Handicap; Tina Tina Too, the Grade 1 Ladies Handicap winner, and Irish Martini, the 1981 Belmont Futurity winner.

He also trained Sten, who won the Assault, Fort Marcy, and Bowling Green handicaps in New York in 1980. Other stakes winners trained by DeStasio included Jet Diplomacy, Nafees, Rash But Royal, and Richmond Greys.

DeStasio was the leading trainer at Narrangansett Park in Rhode Island in 1965 and 1967.

Before becoming a trainer, DeStasio was a jockey, winning his first race in September 1948 aboard a horse named Listing. DeStasio had to give up riding two years later due to weight problems.

After retiring from training in 1989, DeStasio worked as a steward in New England and then a clocker at the New York Racing Association.

DeStasio is survived by four children, son Richard A. DeStasio, and daughters Barbara Dagley, Susan Douglas, and Paula Stone-Gallien, and eight grandchildren.

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