Penn National training champ Thompson dies at age 75

Harry F. Thompson Jr., a trainer who won 2,671 races and took the Penn National trainer’s title seven times in a nine-year period, died on Tuesday in a Hershey, Penn., hospital, according to Penn National. Thompson Jr. was 75, the track said.

About 80 percent of Thompson’s career wins came at Penn National, the track said. A Virginia native, Thompson moved his stable to Penn National in 1989, and he took the trainer’s title at the year-round track from 1995-97, from 1999-2000, and from 2002-03, according to the track.

Although his career purse earnings of $16.4 million are well below the lifetime earnings of many other trainers on the sport’s major racing circuits, his 2,671 victories is 35th on the current all-time wins list. The late Dale Baird is first with 9,445 lifetime wins.

Thompson served in the U.S. Marine Corps and will be buried with military honors in Quantico, Va., the track said. Survivors include his wife, Lynn, and four sons.