Van Berg a winner until the very end

HOT SPRINGS — Here’s how to go out Jack Van Berg’s way.

In his final days, it was made clear to

Van Berg that a combination of cancer, failing heart and lungs, and as a byproduct of those, kid- ney failure, was likely too much for him to overcome. He was 81. His four children were with him or on the way.

Horsemen at Oaklawn Park, strapped by hard work made harder by everything frozen, knew of Van Berg’s plight.

Those who didn’t know were surely aware of Van Berg’s glory. Over a career that lasted 60 years, he trained horses to the sport’s highest level, including Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup victories. He trained more winners over his career than

all but three others. He was a no-doubt member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Whereas most of those affiliated with Oaklawn witnessed Van Berg’s rise to greatness from afar, they had seen firsthand his career re- emerge after he moved his base from California to Hot Springs in 2014.

His trainees failed to win a race at Oaklawn that sea- son and won just once in 2015, but he trained 14 winners in 2016, eighth most at the racetrack, and 20 last season, tied for sixth, when his starters earned $699,690, ninth most.

Tom Van Berg, 48, had come in to assist his father, and he watched through last season as Jack Van Berg was first diagnosed with carcinoma in his jaw.

A series of complications led to pneumonia in June after the two had moved with their horses to Kentucky. Van Berg’s heart disease, long a nemesis, began to progress under the stress of his other health issues.

The effect of his illness- es ebbed and flowed, ever-worsening through each stage. Though he remained optimistic and fought to the finish, Van Berg’s goals had grown ever more short-term. He hoped, until his final days, to experience at least one more season at Oaklawn and perhaps to survive until his June 7 birthday.

Van Berg died on Dec. 27 at Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock.

Tom Van Berg said his father realized a day or two earlier that the end was imminent. He said Jack’s oncologist, Dr. Scott Stern, had told him of its nearly certain inevitability.

“They were keeping him going, but the doc said, ‘Because of the situation being what it is, your kidneys are shutting down,’” Tom Van Berg said.

“Dr. Stern had a heartto-heart with him. He said, ‘Jack, we can do dialysis.’ He said, ‘I’m not doing dialysis.’ Doc said, ‘Well, what’s happening is, if it were just your kidneys, we could work with it. If it were just your heart and lungs, we could work

on it.

“If it was just the cancer, but with all this stuff that you have going on, Jack, it’s an uphill battle. It’s going to be a tough one to beat.’ ’’

Tom Van Berg said his father had a final request that reflected an element of caring and deference that should surprise none of his friends or racing compatriots.

“At the end, he was making his demands like he always did,” Van Berg said. “He said, ‘I want my funeral after the first of the year, so the horsemen will be at Oaklawn. I want it before the beginning of the meet.

“I want it on a Monday or Tuesday when the big tracks are dark. I want it after training hours and before feed time.’

“So, you know, right to the end, he was still thinking about the horsemen and the racetrack.

“He didn’t want to put anybody out. He said, ‘I want to make it where they can do it. I don’t want to exclude anybody. I don’t want to take them out of their routine or away from their horses.’ ’’

Visitation is today from 9 a.m.-noon at Caruth-Hale Funeral Home in Hot Springs. The funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

“He wanted to get to another Derby,” Tom Van Berg said.

“He always had a hope for the next champion. Until his final days, he gave it a valiant fight, but I think he finally realized he wasn’t going to win this one.”

Van Berg