Longtime California trainer Robert Hess Sr. dies of COVID issues
Robert Hess Sr., a fixture among Northern California trainers for decades, died early Saturday of complications resulting from the COVID-19 virus, according to his son, trainer Bob Hess Jr.
Hess was 86. He was recently hospitalized after contracting the virus. Hess tested positive in November and was hospitalized for a few days before he was released. Hess was readmitted to the hospital days later and was hospitalized at the time of his passing.
“We felt he could get the best care there,” Bob Hess Jr. said Saturday afternoon. “I talked to him two days ago.
“I think it’s a terrible disease that we need to respect and be careful of.”
A native of Lancaster County, Pa., Hess trained in Washington state at the start of his career in the 1960s, and later at Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico. Hess was most active in California, particularly at the Bay Area tracks beginning in 1970. His final stakes winner was Intimidate in the King Glorious Stakes for California-bred 2-year-olds at Los Alamitos in 2017.
His death comes at a time in which racing has been canceled at Golden Gate Fields because of a coronavirus outbreak in the stable-area community. The track ceased racing on Nov. 13 and is not scheduled to resume until Dec. 26 at the earliest.
Earlier this century, Hess trained such stakes winners as My Creed, who won the Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap at Golden Gate Fields in 2007; and Penny Marie, the winner of the Miss America Handicap at Golden Gate Fields in 2000.
In the 1990s, the stable was led by runners such as Caliche’s Secret, who won the $100,000 Gold Rush Handicap at Golden Gate Fields in 1991; and Cimply a Lady, a stakes winner at Golden Gate Fields and the Alameda County Fair at Pleasanton in 1994.
Hess won 1,592 races in his career and had his best year in terms of earnings in 1998, a season in which the barn won 40 races and earned $713,819. Hess won a personal-best 66 races in 1984. This year, Hess had 11 wins from 80 runners.
“I think the love of his life was his wife, his family, horses and great food,” Bob Hess Jr. said.
Hess is survived by his wife, Maria Elena, and four adult children – Bob, Howie, Anna, and Erica.
Fellow trainer Andy Mathis called Hess “irreplaceable.”
“He was just a one-of-a-kind guy,” Mathis said. “He loved to play cards so if you wanted to find a good card game, or a restaurant to go to, you went to him. He'd talk to the head of a big corporation the same way he'd talk to a hot walker. You had to respect that. When you lose a guy like that, you don't have people who can replace him. He gave people chances, and he stuck with guys.”
- additional reporting by Chuck Dybdal