Trainer Brian House dies at age 58
Brian House, a trainer who raced primarily in the Midwest and Southwest circuits but who raced for the first time this year in Saratoga, died Friday at his home in Lexington, Ky., after a bout with cancer. He was 58.
According to his wife Stacy, Brian House worked for the legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham when he had Sunday Silence and Ferdinand. Stacy House said her husband was aboard Ferdinand for his last workout before he won the 1986 Kentucky Derby.
According to Equibase statistics, Brian House, beginning in 1994, won 437 races from 2,554 starters and his horses earned $7,375,040 in purse money. He won stakes with horses Cajun Charlie, Man of Strife, R B J’s Blaze, and Ms Seneca Rock.
In recent years, House acquired horses from owner James Spry, who raised the caliber of horses House had in his barn. One of those horses was Winning Number, who finished first in the 2019 Iowa Derby but was disqualified to third.
It was horses owned by Spry that brought House to Saratoga, where he started seven horses at this meet, with two second-place finishes. Arturo Moreno ran House’s operation in Saratoga, and Jamie Johnson was another of House’s assistants. The filly Fullness of Life, owned by Spry and trained by House, was entered in a third-level allowance race at Saratoga on Wednesday.
“It was a lifelong dream to be able to handle horses of that caliber and Brian mentioned many times the credit the direction the stable was going in was with due to Mr. Spry,” Stacy House said. “He was really a great owner that had so much patience and allowed Brian to have his masterful way.”
Stacy House said that her husband never had a horse suffer a catastrophic injury while racing and fired owners who wanted to drop horses to the lowest claiming level to get rid of them.
“He was an advocate for racehorse safety before it was fashionable,” she said. “I am so proud of that, he fired so many owners that wanted to abuse those horses for dropping them down to $5,000 and ‘get what you can for them.’ He said ‘you’re not going to do that in my barn.’ “
Matthew Holloway, who works as an assistant trainer in Louisiana, said he worked for Brian House 22 years ago and has been best friends with him since.
“Brian was just a special man, if he loved you and he liked you he would go out of his way, he would fight like hell for you he was that kind of a guy,” Holloway said. “The horse racing world has lost a great man in Brian House.”
Stacy House said that in lieu of a funeral, there will be a Zoom call held on Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern “to celebrate Brian’s life,” she said.
For details on how to participate on that call, e-mail Stacy House at Stacyhouse59@icloud.com.