TRAINER DIES
Derby-winning trainer Lynn Whiting, 77, dies
Few Kentucky Derbys have produced a more popular winner locally than 1992 with Lil E. Tee, owned by Magnolia oilman and lumberman Cal Partee and ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day.
Lynn Whiting, the colt’s soft-spoken trainer, lost his health before he could properly celebrate the 25th anniversary of that career-defining triumph. A longtime fixture at Oaklawn Park and Churchill Downs, Whiting died Wednesday in his home near Louisville, Ky., after a long illness and stroke suffered in February. He was 77.
“He was home and back at the barn Monday and Tuesday and went suddenly this morning getting ready to go to the barn,” longtime friend Larry Edwards posted on Facebook.
Whiting’s last Oaklawn victory came March 10 with Jury Wise, a
7-year-old gelding owned by Choctaw Racing Stable and ridden by Geovanni Franco. Overall, he won 1,279 races in his career and his horses earned nearly
$24 million.
“He was more than just a trainer; he was a horseman,” said David Longinotti, Oaklawn’s director of racing. Listing Steve Hobby and Ron Moquett as examples, “He taught a lot of young trainers about the business,” Longinotti said.
A native of Great Falls, Mont., Whiting followed a family tradition, learning the business from his father, Lyle, a jockey and trainer in the 1920s. Lynn Whiting earned his first win in 1969 at Lincoln Downs in Rhode Island with a horse named Fortunatus.
His greatest success came with Lil E. Tee, one of six horses to win the Kentucky Derby after racing at Oaklawn. The Pennsylvania-bred colt bettered the fourth-place finish of sire and Whiting trainee At The Threshold in the 1984 Derby when he stunned heavily favored male juvenile champion Arazi in the 1992 Derby. Avenging two Oaklawn losses to eventual Preakness winner Pine Bluff, Lil E. Tee scored the only Derby triumph by Whiting and Day and for a sole Arkansas horseman, Partee paying $200,000 for the colt during its 2-year-old season.
“I don’t know how we got to the 25-year anniversary of that win so quickly,” Day, a 12-time Oaklawn riding champion, said on Bloodhorse.com Tuesday. “To win the storied Kentucky Derby was the highlight of my racing career, and it was extra special to do it with Lynn and for Mr. Cal Partee (also deceased).”
Second in the 1992 Rebel and Arkansas Derby, a 4-year-old Lil E. Tee won Oaklawn’s 1993 Razorback Handicap.
In later years, the Whiting-trained Cyber Secret gave Oaklawn president Charles J. Cella his biggest local victories as a horse owner in the 2013 Oaklawn and Razorback handicaps. In recent years, Whiting trained graded stakes winner Hebbronville, third in the 2015 Gazebo and Bachelor at Oaklawn.
“He was part of the Oaklawn family,” Longinotti said. “We both worked for the same man.”
Other of his top horses were 1997 Rebel winner Phantom On Tour, 1985 Rebel and Southwest winner Clever Allemont, three-time Oaklawn stakes winner Karen’s Tom, two-time Oaklawn stakes winner Classy Irene, 2010 Smarty Jones winner Dryfly (owned by Cella) and 2011 Northern Spur winner
Uncle Brent. Karen’s Tom has held Oaklawn’s six-furlong track record (1:07 4-5) since 1990.
Although a man of few words — Cella once called him “laconic” — Whiting had a sly sense of humor. At his father’s request, hoping to keep the colt’s mind focused, Lil E. Tee wore a shadow roll in the 1992 Kentucky Derby. Whiting was asked once about blinkers, another common equipment change to improve a horse’s performance.
“If you see me with blinkers, I won’t be doing any good,” he said. Asked if his horses had better luck racing with blinkers off, Whiting said, “They just might.”
For years, Oaklawn fans bet heavily on any Whiting trainee ridden by Day, especially if owned by Partee. After one such victory, noting that Day achieved maximum effort with little or no whipping, Whiting said, “He’s won most of his races for me with a hand ride.”
Said Longinotti: “He was never a guy who would have 40 horses here, 30 horses there and 20 horses someplace else. He wanted to be around his horses every day.”