NEWS
Owner Gann dies at 86
Posted: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 2:28 PM
EDMUND GANN
Benoit & Associates photo
by Jeff Lowe
Edmund Gann, who raced multiple Grade 1 winners Medaglia d’Oro, You, Denon, and Peace Rules during a huge run in the early 2000s, died on Friday after a bout with cancer. He was 86.
The owner of a commercial fishing operation in Southern California, Gann raced Thoroughbreds for more than 40 years, and his biggest success came during a long association with Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel. They teamed to win the 1988 Japan Cup (Jpn-G1) with Pay the Butler and other major races with Al Mamoon, Filago, Double Wedge, Gravieres (Fr), Johnny’s Image, Louis Cyphre (Ire), Roi Normand, You and I, and Wickerr.
Beginning in 2001, Gann, Frankel, and bloodstock agent Mark Reid stocked the stable with a series of private purchases that yielded several stars. Medaglia d’Oro earned $5,754,720 while winning the 2002 Travers Stakes (G1) and ’03 Whitney Handicap (G1) and finishing second in the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) and two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). Gann sold him as a stallion prospect for $10.5-million.
You scored five Grade 1 wins and earned $2,101,353, and Peace Rules banked $3,084,278. Gann raced Denon, a four-time Grade 1 winner, in partnership with the Niarchos family.
An Eclipse Award finalist in 2003, Gann split with Frankel in ’06 and sent many of his horses to Marty Wolfson in Florida. They won the 2009 Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes and two graded stakes races with It’s a Bird.
Gann bred and owned You’s first foal You and I Forever, whom Wolfson scratched from the Donn Handicap (G1) on Saturday after a second-place finish to Quality Road in the Hal’s Hope Stakes (G3). Wolfson also trained Grade 3 winner Motovato for Gann and partner Michel Zerolo.
A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. PST at Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum in Culver City, California. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to San Diego Hospice, 4311 3rd Avenue, San Diego, California, 92103.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
