Owner Sharon Alesia dies at 83

Sharon Alesia, who co-owned such stakes winners as Ashleyluvsugar, Champagne Room, Dance With Fate, and Weemissfrankie in the last decade, died June 15 in Carlsbad, Calif., after an illness, according to her business manager, Howard Grossman.

Alesia was 83.

Alesia and her late husband, Frank, owned horses since the mid-1980s, always with trainer Peter Eurton. Sharon Alesia, who often owned horses in small partnerships, maintained the stable after Frank Alesia’s death in 2011.

The stable frequently had a leading runner at Southern California tracks in recent years. Weemissfrankie won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes prior to finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs in 2011.

Dance With Fate won the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in 2014 and was later sixth in the Kentucky Derby behind California Chrome. Champagne Room won the BC Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in 2016.

Ashleyluvssugar, a six-time stakes winner, won 10 of 38 starts and earned $1,488,083 racing from 2013 to March of this year.

The Alesias began their involvement in racing in 1984 when Sharon bought her husband a horse as an anniversary present. Frank Alesia was a stand-up comedian and actor who later directed episodes of the children’s program “Captain Kangaroo.”

“Sharon loved racing for the social elements, picking horses’ names, and watching Pete Eurton win,” Grossman said.

Services were recently held for immediate family, Grossman said.