Longtime Kentucky trainer Angel Montano dies at 80

Angel Montano, a former leading trainer on the Kentucky circuit who was the longest-tenured trainer at Churchill Downs, died Thursday in a Louisville hospital from numerous health complications, including COVID-19. He was 80.

At his career peak, Montano was the leading trainer at Churchill for three straight spring meets (1976-78) while also win-ning titles during the same time frame at Ellis Park and Latonia.

According to his son Joey, Montano had struggled, both physically and emotionally, since the death of his wife of 58 years, Pat, on Sept. 30, 2018, almost exactly two years prior to the date of his own death. Montano died alone after being isolated from his family for much of the last six months since initially being hospitalized for a non-COVID issue.

“He lived a great life,” Joey Montano said. “Such a character. He loved telling jokes but wasn’t very good at it, and that was funny in itself. He loved the horses and all the people at the track and was incredibly loyal to his employees. Think about it – more than 60 years on the track.”

Born in Mexico in 1940, Montano came to the United States as an apprentice rider in 1956 before being injured, ultimately taking out his trainer’s license in 1961 and establishing a foothold in Kentucky. He won at least 1,413 races when dealing mostly with claiming horses, although he did win about a dozen stakes, the latest in 2001. His biggest win came with Gold-seeker Bud in the Churchill Downs Handicap, then a Grade 3, on the 1995 Kentucky Derby undercard.

Perhaps Montano’s greatest legacy, however, is not as a horseman but as a family man. He is the father of seven grown children, most of whom were sports standouts in high school and college in Louisville. One son, Miguel, set a number of receiving records for the University of Louisville football team in the 1990s. Most of his children have been involved in rac-ing in one facet or another for decades.

Joey Montano said Juan Cano, his father’s longtime assistant, will take over a stable that currently numbers eight hors-es.

Besides his children, Montano also is survived by 22 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation is set for Wednesday from 2-8 p.m. Eastern at Ratterman’s at 12800 Shelbyville Road in Mid-dletown, Ky. A funeral service will be held at the funeral home at 10 a.m. Thursday. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be made to the Backside Learning Center at Churchill.