by Jenny Blandford

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Frank Yewell Whiteley Jr., who conditioned multiple champion Ruffian and three-time Horse of the Year Forego, died on Friday in Camden, South Carolina. He was 93.

A native of Centreville, Maryland, Whiteley took out his trainer’s license in 1936, sparking a career that spanned nearly a half century.

“I worked for him and his son, David,” Racing Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said. “Frank Whiteley was just a wonderful horseman, who did it the grassroots way, and there just aren’t that many around any more. When they got sick, he gave them aspirin. When they needed to be iced, he hosed them.

“He was a fun guy to work for, and he had great stories. He wasn’t easy, but the reason he wasn’t easy was because he was teaching you.”    

In the 1960s, Whiteley trained top grass performers Bronze Babu and Polarity. His first star performer came in the mid-‘60s with Chieftain and a few years later trained his half brother Tom Rolfe, who won the 1965 Preakness Stakes and five other stakes races that season and was the consensus champion in the three-year-old male division. Tom Rolfe finished third in that year’s Kentucky Derby and second in the Belmont Stakes.

Two years after Tom Rolfe won the Preakness, Whitely returned to win the race with Damascus, who also won the Belmont and Wood Memorial Stakes as well as the consensus as Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male.

In 1974, Whiteley began training one of his most famous horses, Ruffian, who was voted 1974 champion two-year-old filly and ’75 champion three-year-old filly. Ruffian won the 1975 New York triple crown, which consisted of the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Mother Goose (G1) and Acorn (G1) Stakes.

Ruffian’s climb to the top of the sport and tragic death following injuries sustained in a July 6, 1975 match race against Foolish Pleasure was documented in the television movie, “Ruffian”, which aired last year on ABC in June. Whiteley was portrayed by actor Sam Shepard in the film. 

 “He was one of the best horsemen I’ve ever been around,” said Racing Hall of Fame jockey Jacinto Vasquez, who was aboard Ruffian in the ill-fated match race. “I met him in 1963, and he was like a father to me. We spent a lot of time together, sometimes from 5:30 in the morning to 6 at night.
 
 “He had been very sick the last few months and was in and out of the hospital.” 

In 1976, Whiteley took over training 1974 and ’75 Horse of the Year Forego and conditioned him to a third Horse of the Year title in ’76. Forego, who won 14 Grade 1 races and a combined 24 stakes races, was also voted champion older horse in ’74, ’75, ’76, and ’77.

Whiteley was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1978. In later years, Whiteley broke young horses for top owners, including Phipps Stable.

He also began a trend that continues today when he began wintering horses at Marion DuPont Scott’s training center in Camden, South Carolina, in 1965. For his contribution to the Thoroughbred industry and the economy of Camden, in 2003 the city council honored him with a “Frank Whitely Day” and awarded him a key to the city. The same year, the Governor of South Carolina awarded him the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor.

Funeral arrangements for Whiteley are pending.

Jenny Blandford is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor