Toby Sheets, longtime Asmussen assistant trainer in New York, found dead in Greece

Toby Sheets, a former assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, was found dead on Sunday afternoon on the Greek island of Mathraki, according to reports. Sheets was 55.

Sheets was reported missing on Thursday. His body was found by a tourist on a beach near the old port in Mathraki, according to ABC News. Mathraki is a sparsely populated island near Corfu, a tourist destination off the northwest coast of Greece.

The death was first reported by Thoroughbred Daily News.

The Athens News Agency said that Sheets was staying with a Greek-American friend on Mathraki. The body was transported to Corfu for an autopsy. An official cause of death had not been determined, according to the agency.

Sheets trained on his own from 1994-1999 and for a brief time in 2004 in which he won 46 races from 268 starts for purse earnings of $569,442. During his career under Asmussen, he was regularly placed in charge of the day-to-day operations for the trainer’s New York stable.

“Toby was an important part of our stable for over 20 years,” Asmussen said, citing his work with 2016 Belmont Stakes winner Creator and the stakes winners Haynesfield, Bankit, and Cluster.

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