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Frankel remembered as ‘one of greatest ever’

Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:58 AM

BOBBY FRANKEL

Patricia McQueen photo

by Steve Schuelein

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel was laid to rest at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Tuesday, one day after he died from lymphoma at the age of 68.

A standing-room only crowd, a group that included many racing industry leaders, colleagues, and friends, jammed a sanctuary for a final service and followed Frankel’s casket for burial on a sunny afternoon as brilliant as his career.

Rabbi Jason Weiner began the service with a summation of Frankel’s life and was followed to the dais with words from Bethenny Frankel, daughter of the trainer; Garrett O’Rourke, manager for main client Juddmonte Farms; and Joe Torre, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and a friend who owned horses with the late trainer.

All talked about a man whose gruff exterior belied a generous and compassionate inner being.
“ ‘Say what you mean and mean what you say,’ ” said Frankel’s 39-year-old daughter. “Those were words my father lived by. He never minced words. He was very honest. He would never B.S. anyone.”

O’Rourke likened the alliance between New York-born Frankel and Saudi Arabian prince Khalid Abdullah—the owner of Juddmonte—to “The Odd Couple.”
“But the two had a lot in common: they both liked to win,” he said of the two-decade alliance that propelled both to the top rung of the sport. “After we won one race, Bobby asked me if the prince was happy. I said, ’We won, didn’t we?’ That said it all.

“He was one of the greatest trainers ever,” O’Rourke said. “He’s probably up there in heaven now and getting on the phone to say he wants to get Humberto and Ruben [chief assistants Humberto Ascanio and Ruben Loza] up here and open a stable.”
Torre, who became friends with Frankel after being introduced to him at Yankee Stadium many years ago, admired his methods.

“I took an interest in watching Bobby do his job with little fanfare and a lot of determination,” Torre said. “He looked like this grumpy guy, but his eyes would light up when he talked about his horses or his dogs or his baseball cards.

“He was a tough son of a gun but he’s at peace now. He’s going to be missed. He’s really going to be missed.”

Trainers Julio Canani and Gary Jones and jockey agent Scotty McClellan added some humorous anecdotes during Frankel’s life.

Casket-bearers included Torre and Ascanio, longtime assistant who is overseeing his 32-horse stable at Hollywood Park.

A remembrance followed in the Sunset Room at Hollywood Park.

Steve Schuelein is a California correspondent of Thoroughbred Times