Sam Longo, owner, dead at 96

Horse owner Sam Longo died Oct. 16, two days before The Herc, a gelding he recently claimed, won the Sunny Slope Stakes at Santa Anita. Longo, 96, died at his home in Arcadia, Calif.

Longo campaigned such stakes winners as Bucky Raj, Dusty Heather and Lazy Slusan. In 2000, Longo and trainer John Dolan claimed Lazy Slusan for $62,500. The following year, she won the Santa Margarita Invitational and Milady Breeders' Cup handicaps.

Born in Sicily, Longo emigrated to the United States in 1917 and lived in Pennsylvania and Chicago before moving to California in 1954.

Funeral services were scheduled for Tuesday.