Trainer David Bernstein retires

David Bernstein recently retired from training in California after selling his last active runner, a situation he hopes is only temporary.

Bernstein, 83, had his last runner in March with Hoop Dream, who finished second in a $4,000 claimer at Golden Gate Fields. Hoop Dream was recently sold, Bernstein said.

“I ran out of horses,” Bernstein said on Wednesday from his home in Rancho Cucamonga. “We sold our last horse and that was it.”

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Bernstein said he would “absolutely” like to resume training if an opportunity arises.

“I’d like to do that,” he said.

Bernstein, whose retirement was first reported by the Orange County Register, is best known as the trainer of The Wicked North, the champion older male of 1994.

Aside from the championship, The Wicked North is well known for a controversial disqualification from first to fourth in the 1994 Santa Anita Handicap. The Wicked North won two Grade 1 races later that year – the Oaklawn Handicap and Californian Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Bernstein had his best year of training in 1994 with stable earnings of $1,445,522. In recent years, he had a small stable, and had his last winner in August 2020 at Del Mar with Hoop Dream.

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