NEWS
Donovan, trainer of Lost Code, dead at 75
Posted: Saturday, August 30, 2008 3:28 PM
Bill Donovan, trainer of multiple Grade 1 winner Lost Code, died from emphysema on Wednesday in Maryland. He was 75.
A West Virginia native, Donovan, and his wife, Donna, raced their horses at tracks around the nation but were best known in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Lost Code, campaigned by Donald Levinson’s Wendover Stable, was Donovan’s most prominent runner. The Codex colt won 15 of 27 career starts, including 12 stakes, topped by the 1988 Oaklawn Handicap (G1), in which he defeated Cryptoclearance and Gulch. His racing career concluded with a lifetime bankroll of $2,085,396.
As a three-year-year-old, Lost Code strung together seven consecutive victories, including the rare feat of four Derby wins. The skein included scores in the Alabama Derby, Illinois Derby (G3), Ohio Derby (G2), and St. Paul Derby (G3) and was capped by a victory in the Arlington Classic (G1). He followed with a third-place finish behind Bet Twice and Alysheba in the Haskell Invitational Handicap (G1), a third in the Philip H. Iselin Handicap (G1), and a runner-up finish to Cryptoclearance in the Pegasus Handicap (G1).
In addition to his victory in the Oaklawn Handicap as a four-year-old, Lost Code won the Razorback (G2), Massachusetts (G2), Michigan Mile and One-Eighth (G2), and National Jockey Club (G3) Handicaps.
Other graded stakes winners Donovan trained were Jacody and Diamond Duo.
“If you called Donovan a gypsy trainer, he took no offense,” Turf writer Bill Christine said in a column posted on horseraceinsider.com. “That was what he was, and he not only accepted the label, he wore it on his sleeve. Even with Lost Code, who won 12 stakes and earned $2-million, Donovan’s bags were always packed.”
Donovan is survived by his wife, and by sons Pat and Mike and a daughter, Sheeree.
