Bruce Edmund Headley (14 February 1934 – 15 January 2021) was a

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

and owner.

Biography

Involved with

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

since his teens, Headley worked as an exercise rider from 1949 until taking out his trainers license in 1959. Based in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, he first gained national attention with

Bertrando {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Bertrando , image = , caption = , sire = Skywalker , dam = Gentle Hands , damsire = Buffalo Lark , sex = Stallion , foaled = 1989 , country = United States , colour = Dark Bay , breeder = Ed Nahem , ...

who won the 1991 Norfolk Stakes by a record nine lengths and went on to a second-place finish behind a brilliant performance by

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an star, Arazi. Headley's greatest success to date came with the

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, an ...

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

horse

Kona Gold Kona Gold (March 19, 1994 – September 25, 2009) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Kona Gold was foaled at Carlos Perez's Twilite Farm outside LaGrange, Kentucky. He was sold as a yearling for $35,000 at the 1995 Keeneland Sept ...

, a winner of multiple stakes races including the 2000

Breeders' Cup Sprint The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for horses three years old and older. Run on dirt Corrected grade for Santa Anita sprintover a distance of 6 Furlongs ( mile), the race has been held annually si ...

. In addition to being the horse's trainer, Headley was also a one-third partner. He co-owned Kona Gold with

Irwin Molasky Irwin Molasky (February 22, 1927 – July 4, 2020) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist from Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the Chairman of The Molasky Group of Companies. Early life Irwin Molasky was born to a Jewish family on Fe ...

.A.D. Hoplinkas
Irwin Molasky
''

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal'' ...

'', September 12, 1999 In 2003, Headley trained

Got Koko {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Got Koko , image = , caption = , sire = Signal Tap , grandsire = Fappiano , dam = Baby North , damsire = Northern Baby , sex = Filly , foaled = 1999 , country = United States , colour = Bay , bree ...

, owned by his wife Aase in partnership with Paul Leung. The

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...

was just the third-ever winner of the ''La Cañada Series'' at

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

since its inception in 1975. The three-race series consists of the La Brea, El Encino and

La Cañada Stakes The La Cañada Stakes is a Grade III American thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares age four-years-old and older over a distance of one-and-one-sixteenth miles on the dirt track held annually in January at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Ca ...

for newly turning/turned 4-year old fillies run at an increasing distance.

Death

Headley died on 15 January 2021 at the age of 86 years.

References

External links

Bruce Headley at the NTRA

Bruce Headleys profile at Santa Anita Park
1934 births 2021 deaths People from Baldwin Park, California American horse trainers Sportspeople from California {{US-horseracing-bio-stub