Trainer David Kassen dead at 81

David Kassen, who began his career on the racetrack walking hots at age 9, died at 81 on Sunday in Lake Placid, New York.

Kassen, born in Cincinnati in 1939, was a groom, a gallop boy, and even a jockey’s agent before he lost 40 pounds to become a contract rider in 1959 for trainer Marvin Gaines at Keeneland. Kassen rode 12 years before becoming a trainer in 1971 and he trained into 2020 before bladder cancer forced him off the racetrack. Kassen and his wife, Bonnie, moved to New York several months ago as his condition worsened.

The Jockey Club lists Kassen with 927 winners from 7,053 runners during his long training career. While he stuck to the Florida circuit in recent years, Kassen raced regularly in the Midwest and was a longtime summer mainstay at Arlington. Memorably nicknamed “Concrete,” Kassen trained eight graded stakes winners, including Header Card, who won the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes in 1981. His most accomplished horse was Nikki’s Sandcastle, a multiple graded stakes winner, who raced between 2010 and 2014.

As a jockey, Kassen won the 1969 Kentucky Oaks on Hail to Patsy and the next year finished second aboard Needles and Pens in the Belmont Stakes.

According to the Lake Placid funeral home providing services for the Kassen family, Churchill Downs has scheduled a memorial service for Kassen on May 21. Family members and friends can share remembrances, post photos, and leave condolences on the funeral home’s website, which also lists charities toward which donations in Kassen’s name can be made in lieu of sending flowers.